Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
You're right, I shouldn't make blanket assumptions like that. At any rate, it doesn't sound like an organization you'd much want to join...
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I've been involved in organized SF fan activities for a long time, as a member of local fan groups, and as someone who helps put on SF conventions. I've been around long enough that I've at least met a good number of folks in the field, and some I consider friends.
SFWA reminds me of various of the fan groups I've been involved with. Ultimately, the group is a collection of people, with different motivations and levels of maturity.
There are folks in fan groups whose motivation is a desire to get together and do things SF related. There are others whose motivation is ego, status, and being a big frog in a tiny pond.
So it is with SFWA. While all are technically selling professionals, you have the same diversity of motivation, and not a few who see membership in SFWA as conferring an exalted status, and for whom the organization is an exclusive little club that they are privileged to be members of. Making membership more broadly available debases the status currency, so to speak.
I used to say about SF fandom "On a scale of real world imporatnce from 1 to 10, this stuff rates about a -2. Don't these folks have more
important things to worry about?" after observing various of the feuds. Then I decided "No, perhaps they are lucky. Perhaps they
don't have anything more important to be concerned with, and can afford to devote their energies to things I consider fundamentally trivial."
I feel roughly the same about SFWA. There are genuine issues facing writers that SFWA can be useful in addressing, like contracts, grievances, intellectual property rights, and health care coverage. (I contribute to the SFWA Emergency Medical Fund, because I've known folks who needed it.) And the organization does try to address these issues, when it isn't tied up arguing about how to do so.
If I were to sell enough SF to qualify (have to write some first), I'd join, because I think the organization can be of value and there are services I could offer. But staying tactful and diplomatic, and
not laughing out loud at various self-important denizens might be a challenge.
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Dennis