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Alchemist, v. 1, issue 4, December 1940
Page 12
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12 ALCHEMIST cion that the whole business is nothing but an illusion, sold for profit to gullible young people. Is it any wonder that sensitive and intellectual fans may resort to suicide? Is it any wonder that those few who become scientists denounce science-fiction and science fiction magazines? For not every sensitive fan has the opportunity of learning that there is hope for a science-fictional future, and that science-fiction itself is not an illusion. A great deal of hypocrisy on the part of editors and authors is forgivable because it cannot be helped. They as much as anyone else are the victims of the present order of society. As individuals, they are as likely to have been warped by the present system as anyone else, and, were they to be displaced, as individuals, by sincere fans, the situation would not be changed greatly. For the new editors would soon discover that their hands were tied, that the cards were stacked against them. The editors of science-fiction magazines cannot come out with their own honest opinions unless those opinions are what the present order demands of them. however, there is a considerable amount of sheer stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy on the part of science-fiction (magazine) editors and authors that is not necessary at all. And it is this unnecessary hypocrisy, stupidity, and ignorance which we Michelists heartily condemn. The career of a sensitive and intellectual fan may well be cited as an example of the dialectical negation of negations. The first step is a negation of reality; the fan abjures this drab and hideous world, wants no part of it, is not interested, and turns to science-fiction and fandom for relief. But eventually there comes a time
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12 ALCHEMIST cion that the whole business is nothing but an illusion, sold for profit to gullible young people. Is it any wonder that sensitive and intellectual fans may resort to suicide? Is it any wonder that those few who become scientists denounce science-fiction and science fiction magazines? For not every sensitive fan has the opportunity of learning that there is hope for a science-fictional future, and that science-fiction itself is not an illusion. A great deal of hypocrisy on the part of editors and authors is forgivable because it cannot be helped. They as much as anyone else are the victims of the present order of society. As individuals, they are as likely to have been warped by the present system as anyone else, and, were they to be displaced, as individuals, by sincere fans, the situation would not be changed greatly. For the new editors would soon discover that their hands were tied, that the cards were stacked against them. The editors of science-fiction magazines cannot come out with their own honest opinions unless those opinions are what the present order demands of them. however, there is a considerable amount of sheer stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy on the part of science-fiction (magazine) editors and authors that is not necessary at all. And it is this unnecessary hypocrisy, stupidity, and ignorance which we Michelists heartily condemn. The career of a sensitive and intellectual fan may well be cited as an example of the dialectical negation of negations. The first step is a negation of reality; the fan abjures this drab and hideous world, wants no part of it, is not interested, and turns to science-fiction and fandom for relief. But eventually there comes a time
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