Fred Phillips
1278 Grand Concourse,
Bronx, N.Y., 10456
Stephen Pickering's observations regarding the dilemma of the sercon fan
confronted with an undercurrent of unorganized anti-intellectualism in APA fan-
circles is a particularly brilliant, valid, and wholly justifiable resentment
of the human condition which threatens to obfuscate and perhaps destroy the
cogent and indispensible contributions to fandom (i.e., fandom as an
expostulation of sf as a literary genre) which its sercon intellectuals have
made. I agree with him wholeheartedly; APA fandom is a clique, a circle open
only to minute factions, which perpetrates a no-longer tacit spirit of
mediocrity to prevade the greater value which sf fandom represents to its share
in the cultural life of the United States. Heinlein, if you will remember, was
concerned with anti-intellectualism in the afterword of "Revolt in 2100"; he,
Pickering, and every sercon fan who is worth his salt have, indeed, great cause
for concern.
What the interested observer might generally expect of the quality of the woof
and weave in the fabric of American fandom is by no means what he will find.
Many people in the mundane world, and this is almost a classic folk tradition
in Americana, over the years, have tended to regard people who read science-
fiction with peasant-like suspicion on the grounds that their psi-makeup,
outlook, and interest are different, unrecognizable to the hoi-polloi as they
are, therefore unknown and unknowable, and finally (ergo) dangerous. It is a
pretty folk-myth... "them science-fellers with all their crazy books about new-
fangled doo-hickies"; "if God had meant man to fly..." etc. etc. (I might
point out that Darwin's Theory of Evolution had the same trouble some years
back in Tennessee.) The majority of fandom, especially the trivia and
frivolousness which stigmatizes APA fandom and is a constant obstacle to its
capacity as a vehicle for the free exchange of meaningful ideas, is drawn from
the generation of the American middle-class directly antecedent of the one
represented by Mr. Scopes of "Inherit The Wind" fame. The distrust based on
primitive superstition is a moral demon which dies hard, if at all, and
unfortunately science-fiction fandom, more specifically APA fandom, is saddled
and bridled by this demon. I, for one, most urgently believe that Mr.
Pickering's article in NEM 9 should reach every single genzine faned in the
country. I believe fandom is rich beyond calculation when it can boast a voice
as strong and clear as his. I would be proud and flattered to shake his hand
and assure him that there will always exist a stratum of free enquiry among the
most addlepated subcultures which, paradoxically, guarantees their life and the
continuation of their existence, if not the improvement of their collective
intelligence. Fandom nees more Stephen Pickerings.
(Incidentally, in spite of Wynn Manners' much-appreciated compliment at the end
of his comments in the lettercol of NEM 9, I would like to point out that the
criticism of Pickering's excellent and erudite vocabulary is the last refuge of
the type of adolescent mind which is not yet sufficiently mature to cope with
the brilliance and moment of his ideas. I respectfully suggest that Mr.
Manners hand in his paper to a sociology professor instead of a frosh lit.
prof, and then see what kind of mark he gets. The pity of it is that Manners
is a college student; if he were a genuine intellectual, he would be able to
come to grips with Pickering on the basis of the logic and applicability of his
ideas, and not defer to the Reynard's 'sour grapes' ploy of ineffectual
objection to what is clearly a manifestly superior vocabulary, of all things.
Shame, shame, Mr. Manners. Stop envying the Stephen Pickerings of this world,
go take a guided tour through you soul, and please grow up. I enjoy your
parables immensely.)
[pp. 40 - 42, "Your Five Cents Worth," Letter 5, NO-EYED MONSTER #10, Winter
1966-67]
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