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Fan Slants, v. 1, issue 1, September 1943
Page 30
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30...................................................................FAN SLANTS [title in box] FAN FOUT [subtitle in smaller text outside of box] JiKe Blows His Top It seems that there is a new term abroad in fandom. Or, at least, it is fairly new to your correspondent. So, going on the assumption that there might be one or two others in some isolated corner of slan-dom who are equally unfamiliar with it, I'll explain. Once upon a time, there was an organization called the Minneapolis Fantasy Society. And there was also a member of said club who pos-sessed a younger brother----said younger brother being rather adept at making novel contributions to the already adequate vocabulary of the English (!?) lingo. So, one fair eve, as the Bronsonian version of this legend goes, this youthful gentleman at some provocation, and in considerable disgust, loudly uttered the previously meaningless word, FOUT!!! And a new fan term was born. It is not my purpose here to discuss all the various and sundry derivatives which have made their appearance. For I have a column to write. And with a last word for the reader who has not as yet realized the extreme feeling of disgust the word expresses, i dive forthwith into the column itself. [underlined] PROMOTION DAY: There comes a time in the life of every fan when he must sever the ties that have formerly bound him, and establish himself in greener pastures. Thus came the time when I was to sever my worldly connec-tions with the organization formerly known as the Golden Gate Fantasy Society. Then, moving to Hollywood, I joined the LASFS. I had before this lost most of my interest in fandom, but a pleasant surprise was in store for me. I soon discovered several points of difference be-tween the two clubs. The prime difference was in size, for where the GGFS had been constantly on the verge of collapsing, which it has fi-nally done, the Los Angeles group is a large and going concern. And the club room and its use was a hardly negligible factor in the club's favor. But the more important difference is one of attitudes, and that brings me to my purpose in this section of the column. On the whole, the LASFS is far more mature than the GGFS. There was, in the latter, an overwhelming spirit of cynicism, which, thank god (not that he had anything to do with the matter) is less prevalent in the former. Too many fans are inclined to be overcritical. This is little more than a form of snobbery. Many fans love to sneer at anything, story, picture, or individual, which does not meet their extremely high stan-dards. For instance, and I here stick my neck out, the jajority of the established fans can hardly permit the names of the ZIFF DAVIS mags to be mentioned in their presence. And why not? Isn't AMAZING the oldest of the stf mags? so they contain a lot of hack. Of course they do, but it's not quite as bad as most fans claim. Merely because the mags have fallen into general ill repute, fans would prefer to damn every writer or artist who appears in their pages, without even thinking of the possibility of giving his work a fair chance. Not that I myself would have no criticism to offer these mags---far from that. But I do not condemn them wholly because of certain flaws.
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30...................................................................FAN SLANTS [title in box] FAN FOUT [subtitle in smaller text outside of box] JiKe Blows His Top It seems that there is a new term abroad in fandom. Or, at least, it is fairly new to your correspondent. So, going on the assumption that there might be one or two others in some isolated corner of slan-dom who are equally unfamiliar with it, I'll explain. Once upon a time, there was an organization called the Minneapolis Fantasy Society. And there was also a member of said club who pos-sessed a younger brother----said younger brother being rather adept at making novel contributions to the already adequate vocabulary of the English (!?) lingo. So, one fair eve, as the Bronsonian version of this legend goes, this youthful gentleman at some provocation, and in considerable disgust, loudly uttered the previously meaningless word, FOUT!!! And a new fan term was born. It is not my purpose here to discuss all the various and sundry derivatives which have made their appearance. For I have a column to write. And with a last word for the reader who has not as yet realized the extreme feeling of disgust the word expresses, i dive forthwith into the column itself. [underlined] PROMOTION DAY: There comes a time in the life of every fan when he must sever the ties that have formerly bound him, and establish himself in greener pastures. Thus came the time when I was to sever my worldly connec-tions with the organization formerly known as the Golden Gate Fantasy Society. Then, moving to Hollywood, I joined the LASFS. I had before this lost most of my interest in fandom, but a pleasant surprise was in store for me. I soon discovered several points of difference be-tween the two clubs. The prime difference was in size, for where the GGFS had been constantly on the verge of collapsing, which it has fi-nally done, the Los Angeles group is a large and going concern. And the club room and its use was a hardly negligible factor in the club's favor. But the more important difference is one of attitudes, and that brings me to my purpose in this section of the column. On the whole, the LASFS is far more mature than the GGFS. There was, in the latter, an overwhelming spirit of cynicism, which, thank god (not that he had anything to do with the matter) is less prevalent in the former. Too many fans are inclined to be overcritical. This is little more than a form of snobbery. Many fans love to sneer at anything, story, picture, or individual, which does not meet their extremely high stan-dards. For instance, and I here stick my neck out, the jajority of the established fans can hardly permit the names of the ZIFF DAVIS mags to be mentioned in their presence. And why not? Isn't AMAZING the oldest of the stf mags? so they contain a lot of hack. Of course they do, but it's not quite as bad as most fans claim. Merely because the mags have fallen into general ill repute, fans would prefer to damn every writer or artist who appears in their pages, without even thinking of the possibility of giving his work a fair chance. Not that I myself would have no criticism to offer these mags---far from that. But I do not condemn them wholly because of certain flaws.
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