No Easy Answers (essay)

You may be looking for the 1988 Starsky & Hutch zine, No Easy Answers.

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Title:	No Easy Answers
Creator:	M.J. Fisher
Date(s):	July 1978
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Topic:
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No Easy Answers is a 1978 essay by M.J. Fisher.

It was printed in Spectrum #38.

One thing Johnston mentions was "the upcoming movie," and how this would change fandom and fanworks. That upcoming movie was Star Trek: The Motion Picture which was released seventeen months after this essay was written.

Some Topics Discussed

• "Fandom has changed, and as someone once said, the times change, and we change with them.a So it must be in order to cope. All of the generations of fandom must re adapt their view of fandom in order to avoid misunderstanding. We don't have everything in common anymore, and we can't afford to continue to believe that we do."
• just because one is a fan of Star Trek doesn't mean they hold the same ideals, exceptions, and values as another fan
• fans become bored, and when that happens, they diversify
• it will be harder to find other fans and fanworks what you enjoy as fandom will be bigger and more spread out and more specialized
• Johnston often alludes to "different" kinds of fiction written and how some fans were telling other fans what they were allowed to read and write: this is a direct comment on the then-new genre of Kirk/Spock fan fiction -- see some further context: Open Letter by Winston A. Howlett Regarding His Review of "Alternative: Epilog to Orion" (1976-77) -- The SekWester*Con Porn Debate (1977) -- Open Letter by Mary Lou Regarding Explicit Fanworks (1977) -- Kirk and Spock: Do They or Don't They? (1978)

Excerpts

Most of us are familiar with the idea of the "generation gap," but it would come as a surprise to most people in fandom that we have a generation gap of our own, within STrekdom. Few people realize it, and that fact is causing a great deal of misunderstanding and turmoil.

In the mundane world, you can find yourself in a generation gap whenever members of one generation fail to understand the members of another. In any society that evolves quickly—as ours does- this problem is inevitable and unavoidable. As we grow up we tend to stick by the standards and cultural views that we learned during our growth. Of course, the earlier years of our lives are more impressionable than any other period in our lives, so that the things we learn during our formative years have a tendency to stick with us throughout our lives. People who are growing up now will have a different set of standards, a different outlook on life, than we have. That is because society in the United States—and in almost any part of the world today—is changing rapidly.

[snipped]

We must also expect to see generation gaps developing on a smaller scale. We have that problem now in fandom. It will get worse as time goes on, but we can deal with the problem by trying to understand it, and thus, keep it at a minimum. The worst thing to do is to ignore the problem. It will not make it go away, only allow it to proliferate.

I see three distinct generations within STrekdom. The first generation developed with the airing of the show back in the mid-sixties. Generation I was characterized by a lot of fledgling efforts. It was a difficult time for most fans because no solid lines of communication existed. This was the generation which laid the groundwork for all that was to follow. Generation II began when conventions multiplied almost overnight to become regular events in most major cities. This started in 1973. As conventions multiplied, it facilitated getting fans together and the lines of communication spread quickly. During generation II, the Star Trek Welcommittee grew it to its present proportions and the quality of ST fanzines and artwork, indeed the general quality of everything in fandom, took a quantum leap forward. But Generation II is ending. Generation III is coming in. We're in a period of flux right now. Many people who have been in fandom for years are leaving, and filling the gap, we see new faces finding their way into the fanzines and other positions. Of course, the turnover at the end of a "generation" of fandom is not total. I use "generation" as an arbitrary term to define those times in STrekdom when we've seen a large new wave of fans coming in, and a large change of events taking place. Other people might envision that there have been more than three generations in fandom. My own analysis has led me to the conclusion that we have only seen three complete generations.

The fact that we have more than one generation is what leads to problems. People within a given generation will, on the whole, see things in much the same light. But the people within one generation will not necessarily see things in the same way people in another generation see them. There is our generation gap. I can't say if there was such a gap between Generations I and II since I came into fandom roughly at the time Generation II began, but I am in a position now to see the gap between Generations II and III. The problem will grow worse for future generations unless we can recognize - and deal with it.

We find ourselves with a gap because we have been changed by time and by events. We are no longer what we once were and our fandom isn't populated by the same kinds of people or ruled by the same circumstances. Those of you who have been in fandom for several years can recall that things were much simpler. There was a lot less misunderstanding within fandom. There was less squabbling, fewer feuds, and public attacks between fans were never conducted in open forums like the letter- zine debates that rage currently. The problem is not with the individual fans as much as it is with fandom in general. We are failing to see the ear-markings of the tremendous wave of change. In the past we had an easier time because most of the fans had a great deal in common. We had the same goals in common: to revive the show, to find other fans, and to improve things within fandom. And many of us had the same problems: getting out to cons, finding out about things, starting up groups or publications and organizing an efficient fandom. The common goals and the common problems bound many of us together. We were in the same boat. But that isn't true any longer. We have accomplished most of our goals and solved many of our problem. We aren't bound together by any central set of conditions. Fans inside fandom are more individualized now and many of them are drifting off on tangents. While this has the benefit of bringing more diverse ideas into fandom it also has decentralized us to the point where we could not recreate the letter campaigns of yesterday without a much greater effort.

So, the fans entering fandom new will see at least two types of fans in fandom: the ones like themselves who are still filled with the enthusiasm and vigor that we expect of the neofen, and there are also the fans who have nothing better to do than bicker and complain. Each group of fans is likely to be at a total loss to communicate well with the other. This is the generation gap that is going to become more and more evident as time goes on. Yet, the generation gap in fandom is not the big problem. It is a symptom of a problem that runs deeper. It is the tip

of an iceberg that goes down deep to the very roots of fandom and ultimately effects everyone and everything connected to it. We should be able to see the gap in fandom as a warning signal so that we can find a way to eliminate the underlying cause if possible. But the underlying problem behind the generation gap and many other problems in fandom is not complex, but it is massive just the same. The great problem that we have to cope with is change. Time is the big culprit in this scenario. Time induces change, and nothing in our world is immune to it. It is immutable. We can't alter time's passing, and it is pointless to ignore the change that is left in its wake.

As I stated in my article in Spectrum 37, the "Boredom Factor" takes its toll within our ranks. You can become bored with almost any aspect of fandom, or find one particular aspect of fandom so interesting that you might devote yourself to it to the exclusion of everything else fandom has to offer. Yet, many people in fandom still believe that we all have the same interests. Realistically, the only thing that you can assume someone else in Star Trek fandom has in common with you is fandom itself. Period. You can't assume that another person in fandom even has Star Trek in common with you. Because a person is in fandom does not mean that they still share the same feeling that you have for the original show. Personally, I haven't seen a Trek episode in over half a year and I have no desire to see one, even though it is aired locally during a time that I could watch it. I liked the show and spent many happy hours discussing it and enjoying it, but it is old hat now. I much prefer fanfic over the aired episodes. Fanfic is not static or monotonous and written literature offers far more potential than television does. There are others like me, people who aren't excited in the least by the series, but who still enjoy fandom because fandom has other things to offer. Yet there are countless people in fandom who talk about the way Star Trek fans feel toward the show by lumping us all together. You can't do that anymore. We don't all love the show, we don't all admire the actors, we don't all like rewatching the episodes, we don't all like the same three major characters in stories, we don't all share the same optimism toward the future and we don't all feel that the relationships and structure of the original series was the best. We don't. Not every one. Not any more. We've changed. We've differentiated. We've grown, and we don't all have the same ideas anymore. Now, when you talk to another person in fandom you can't assume anything about them other than the fact that they are in fandom.

... I know of some who consider the concept a complete farce. So we must realize that we can't make any generalizations about "Star Trek fans" anymore, since the term has become so vague and nebulous that in some cases people in Star Trek fandom are no longer fans of the show. Science fiction fandom has had this problem for years. You cannot make gross generalizations about what all science fiction fans feel. SF fandom is too diverse for that. It's as absurd as saying that all children like ice cream. True, most children probably do, but I could probably find a few who do not. Our misconceptions about fandom are more serious than that however since there are a lot of people who truly believe that the other fans in fandom think the same way that they do. It has resulted in an enormous amount of misunderstanding among ourselves. We can't assume much anymore about what fans believe in or what fans like. Some of the more physical traits about fans will remain the same. In the future you will still be able to say that most fans corme from cities and have higher-than-average IQ's in general. But those are aspects of demographics. The reasons behind each fan's interest in fandom will no longer be the same. You can't expect that it will be. You have to expect that some of the fans you encounter will have almost nothing in common with you except that they are in fandom in one capacity of another. If we can expect differences like these in fandom, we can avoid a lot of violent clashes. Of course, the definition of "fandom" or of a "Star Trek fan will become continuously more nebulous, but I believe that is inevitable.

Some people are jealous of the fandom they originally joined, and they want to keep it from changing and prevent it from evolving into something different. As long as there are new fans entering fandom however, you can't keep it from changing and growing in new directions. Many fans have been rebelling against the new trends in fandom. Fans have attacked fanfic that deviates from the show s original concepts, they have attacked other fans for joining other fandoms, they have attacked new forms of literature that dare to be different and they have attacked other fans who just won't "conform" to what the BNFs say is proper. There is a dangerous trend toward suicidal conservatism in STrekdom because we won't readjust our thinking to the idea that many of the changes feared are inevitable. Indeed many people have been driven out of fandom by the conservationists inside. Just stop to consider how many fans we lost completely to Star Wars fandom or Space: 1999 fandom. The pleas for reconciliation that we've all read in the letterzines are coming from people who urge us to remember our original inspirations and to get back to basics, yet it won't work because many people in fandom no longer are tied to the same bases that they used to have. Rather than reject someone in fandom for being different we have to expect it. The only way to keep fandom from "corrupting influences" is to expel everyone who doesn't think the same way you do. And that doesn't work very well. And we must learn to accept the changes and cope with them. Those who cannot will become more and more alienated. Change is cumulative, and the more time that passes, the more things evolve, until you reach a point where you can't recognize the end product as being anything like the original. We can't expect STrekdom to be an exception to this. The more time that passes, the more change will occur. We have to learn to cope with it now, and to anticipate It, because the pace will only get worse.

Of all of the conservative trends exhibited so far, the most dangerous are those directed toward new forms of fanfic. The future of fandom lies in fanfic. To restrict it is to restrict fandom and to possibly kill it. Looking ahead to the future it should be evident that fanfic will be the only new thing left to explore after Star Trek has lost its public appeal. Even though that may take several years, we must realize that the American public isn't going to remain enamored of the show in another ten years. To the vast majority of people the ST reruns will be as drab and as ho-hum as just another episode of "I Love Lucy." The fans may still enjoy it, but the enthusiasm in public circles is waning even now as evidenced in the declining number of attendees at giganticons (big cons with attendances over 10,000 may quickly be a thing of the past since they depend upon the armchair-fans or the people off the street, for their numbers). So in order to preserve any life within fandom we must retain something that we can build with, and I believe that fanfic is the only base that we have. The original show might still be used as a starting off point, but we have to remember that after the movie is out. We'll be back where we started from, and the enthusiasm will peak for awhile, but can we expect another movie or another series? Can we expect anyone to make ST last forever but ourselves? No. We have to keep it alive if we want to preserve any part of it, so we have to keep fandom alive and dynamic. Fanfic will allow us to keep the show new and alive. Fanfic is the pulse of fandom and we cannot allow it to falter...yet some people are busy right now tying tourniquets around the throat of fandom by snuffing out unwanted forms of fanfic. This is suicidal for fandom. Remember that since the fans within fandom are striking off in different directions, and diversifying their interests, we must also expect the pattern to follow the same course with Treklit. As the fans change, and grow so too will fanfic grow with them and diversify. As we must expect the fans to become more and more different, we must also expect the fiction they write to become more and more different with them. Fandom is diversifying and branching out. We'll see it in almost every aspect of our little sub-culture as time goes on.

... as fandom diversifies even more it will be more difficult finding what you want in fandom because you'll have to search for it. We don't have one type of fanzine anymore, and the genzine has almost vanished from the scene. To find a fanzine you'll like you're going to have to pick from a wide variety of zines, each of which might cater to one particular taste in fiction...some of which you may find distasteful. To find a friend in fandom you'll have to pick from a wide variety of cliques and in-groups who have banded together because they like only one peculiar aspect of fandom and not another. I doubt that in the future there will be many fans left who will be able to be active in all aspects of fandom because there will just be too many. You'll have to pick and choose which particular one you're best suited to.

No, we have no easy answers left to us. Like the rest of the country, fandom is in the grip of a progressing tide of forward motion, of social and evolutionary change. It's some thing that we can't shake our heads at and pooh-pooh away. We have to deal with it. If we can look at fandom and see the trends we can readjust our thinking to better accept the inevitable. We can minimize the gap between the "generations" within fandom, we can account for the changes that the "boredom factor" induces within fandom, we can learn to accept fans who show interest in new and different things, and we can learn to cope with the growing complexity of fandom so that we can find a way to fit in.

We must eliminate the urge to reject new and different things just because they are new and different. It is pointless to attack a person for writing something that someone has arbitrarily decided should not be written. There is a difference between voicing an opinion and telling someone what should not be done. There has been entirely too much of the latter going on lately, and we are restricting fandom's growth because of it, and actively forcing others out for good. The tide of change has swept down upon us, and we must flow with it or be drowned. The ones who can't understand what is happening will only drag the rest of us down. It is time for a renaissance in fandom, a new birth, a new awakening, a new awareness. We have to open our eyes to the things around us. I believe that STrekdom has few alternatives: renaissance now, or revolution later.

Fan Comments

From "Spectrum"

"No Easy Answers" was very, very thoughtfully written. By and large, I could agree with many (even most) of its statements. I think that part of the change in Star Trek fandom is related to the better means of correspondence and communication that exists now — there are more fanzines now, so ideas get tossed around simultaneously in different places. When I first got involved in fandom, I had no idea what I was getting into, and had the naive idea of collecting everything that had ever been written in regards to Star Trek. I still collect all I can, but have been forced by finances and sheer lack of space to limit myself to the topics that most interest me. I don't see diversification as a bad thing, and like you, suspect that this very diversification is the one thing that will keep fandom going. You can't get bored of something if it is constantly growing and diversifying. Or can you?

I do like the points you have managed to bring up in your column. Change and resistance to change do seem to be major problems in all areas of life, not only fandom. Change is growth. We have to learn to accept or we have to realize we have stopped growing. That doesn't mean we have to embrace all forms of change, just look at them with an open mind. It is surprising what additions one can make to their thinking processes by just investigating new things. It is also amazing to see how many good things are discovered that way—things that otherwise would have gone unnoticed and undiscovered.

Debate is good, as it brings out many sides of an issue. It is only when that debate becomes vindictive that it becomes nonproductive. Discussion helps us to see each side of a problem and understand the opposing viewpoint a little more. However, that debate/discussion must be entered into with an open mind. The mind must be free to accept certain new ideas that have merit. Of course, we are free to reject those with which we disagree. However, we must also realize that not all people think alike and that divergence of thought helps create the framework that is life.

How boring this world would be if we all thought exactly alike. New and different ideas offer stimulation and a spurring-on of the mind to seek areas previously untrod. After exploring, we may decide that for us, the old is the best way. But we do have to get cosmopolitan enough to accept that not all will agree, nor should all do so.

In response to your column, "No Easy Answers," I would like to point out that perhaps you should consider not three, but four generations of fans. I agree with your definitions of generations I and II, especially the second generation, having lived through all of the NY cons (and out of town east coast ones), there is a definite group of fans who became faaans as a result of conventions.

(I was.) I would tend to think that there should be considered [another] generation — those fans who joined because of the printed media, especially Star Trek Lives! (4000 letters received by Helen Young, 5000 Directories sold within a space of less than a year is nothing to sneeze at.)

Individuality is all too sparse today. We need people to question and to seek. Otherwise stagnation sets in and that leads to eventual death. As long as the mind is kept active and seeking new realms, it is alive and growing. Let's hope that life is never dimmed.

From "Atavachron"

Too many BNFs are gafiating, Star Wars, CE3K and sex are threatening our stability, and let's face it folks, the movie has us all a little worried. Then I read in Spectrum Michael Fisher's piece on his generation theory of fandom -- that there were the progenitors: the Bastas, Bjo, Ruth Berman; then there are the middle generation folk: Faddis, Downes, Menagerie, Warped Space; and of late, new talent: Teri White, Susan K. James, the K/S theme. (These are very broad generalizations, and they are not Michael's, they are mine. I don't want anyone claiming I quoted him directly and then holding him responsible for this stuff. The idea of generations is his, the names and opinions are mine.)

At any rate, we have seen random evolve, new themes pap up and old authors drop out. And it really scared me. For someone who came of age on T-Negative and Connie Reich (remember her?) , it was very disconcerting to realize that the old institutions (old within fandom, of course) were gone or transformed so as to not resemble their previous selves. And all of the sudden, people were calling each other names, accusing each other of Shusterisms. Maybe it's like being seven years old and watching your parents fight, praying they won't split up and abandon you. The sheer threat of it all made me realize just how much I depend on fandom. I already knew how important Star Trek was to me.

Then, reading Michael's piece, I realized we are not dying, we are evolving. We have to, don't we? ST may be a world of its own, but the people in it are of both worlds. Times change, people marry, have children, divorce, die. In short, everything changes. It was the degree of change, and the ferocity of the controversy that startled me.

I guess I'm just not as worried now about fandom dying. I'm just not that afraid of the changes that are taking place in the fen themselves. Because people like Dixie Owen don't believe it's dying. And Johanna Cantor and Jean Lorrah are as prolific as ever. And bless them, we now have a whole zine, Archives, that is dedicated to acclimating the neofen. (Of course, we were all there once, some of us more than once.) And best of all, there are people like Amy Falkowitz, Gerry Downes, Signe, Beverly and others who are just as active or dedicated to ST and fan-fic as ever. In other words, I was so busy worrying about the gafiaters, I forgot we have a wonderfully enthusiastic group still with us.