An Armed Camp?
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | An Armed Camp? |
| Creator: | Joy Harrison |
| Date(s): | November 1987 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | |
| Topic: | |
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| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
An Armed Camp? is a 1987 essay by Joy Harrison.
It was printed in The Osiris Files #1.
The topic is weapons and weapon-play at conventions.
Some Topics Discussed
- the con mentioned ("Weaponscon") was likely the very first Dragon*Con which took place Labor Day Weekend 1987
- weapons carried at conventions for costume displays, for fun
- weapons as dangerous items handled by fans who are unfamiliar with them
- conventions are getting bigger and bigger and more popular, which means the propensity for danger is higher
- weapons and weapon play at cons is immature
The Essay
There is a growing tendency in the community loosely called "fandom" that we, as concerned members of that community, find highly disturbing. It is the tendency to mimic one aspect of what we refer to as the mundane world, and take weapons with us wherever we go.
This past summer marked the first "Weaponscon" in Atlanta, Georgia, an event where all fans attending had to carry a weapon of some sort at all times. For those who didn't bring one, the convention committee obligingly provided a "weapon" for everyone — in the form of a membership badge shaped like a dagger. Not every weapon at the convention was real — but they might have been. And this — the very concept of Weaponscon — is what disturbs us.
More and more, we read about accidents involving weapons. And more and more, we see fans at conventions wandering from room to room, panel to panel, event to event, carrying their assorted knives, swords, and guns with them wherever they go. We grant certain weapons have their place — but only at certain times, and under certain conditions. While there is certainly no need to wield a sword in an art show, we admit a fantasy barbarian would probably look quite ridiculous in a masquerade presentation if he stalked his enemy without one.
We feel a serious problem concerning weapons — both ancient and futuristic — exists in fandom today. Every time a sword or dagger is drawn to display to a friend or acquaintance, there is a potential for disaster. As examples, we present two possible scenarios.
A fan holds a drawn sword in his hand, showing it to a friend in a crowded dealers' room. Some one accidentally jostles him in the crowd — and someone else equally accidentally gets cut, perhaps badly.
A fan fires his fully functional home-made laser into the air as part of a presentation at a masquerade, just as someone enters the room from the rear. Unfortunately, the newcomer Is directly in the line of fire — and equally unfortunately, that person finds himself permanently blinded, the delicate retina of his eye destroyed by an invisible laser beam.
Impossible? Not at all. It is no more impossible than a child accidentally killing his best friend with his father's gun — and that, as we well know, happens all too often. Nearly every fan who attends major conventions has seen potentially hazardous incidents occur time and time again. That these accidents have not yet resulted in serious injury is more or less a matter of luck.
Time is against us in this, for more and more people are attending science fiction conventions — and many of these people simply do not know how to handle themselves around weapons, or how to handle the weapons themselves. The danger is very real.
And there is no reason for this danger to exist at all. Why should fans need to carry weapons at a convention? As the conventions become larger, as more and more people discover the wonders of science fiction, fantasy, and fandom, we find amongst ourselves an increasing need for a new maturity. Anyone so insecure as to need a knife, sword, or gun on his person while wandering the halls of a convention hotel is far too immature to be allowed to attend a convention by himself. He is a danger, both to himself and to all those around him.
We maintain that the possibilities for disaster are endless, isn't it time fandom grew up, at least a little?