Every once in a while, in communities of which I consider myself a part, I come across something that makes me wonder whether I was ever a part of the community in the first place. This post over at Boing Boing directed me to a debate over at io9.com, on whether or not “Young Adult” sci-fi was . . . well, I’m not sure what the debate is over. As best I can tell, one side thinks that YA sci-fi is a good introduction to the larger sci-fi genre, and the other thinks that it is threatening to all but hollow sci-fi out from the inside and collapse it. Now, I’m sure anyone involved in that argument who reads my summary would be appalled. They’d probably say that I’m oversimplying the sides, misunderstanding the participants, and lack appreciation for the ultimate importance of the problem. And to an extent, they’d be right. But mostly I’d just say that I don’t really care, and that I enjoyed Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress in 6th grade and Scott Westerfeld’s So Yesterday just a couple of years ago. Good sci-fi is good sci-fi to me, and it’s something I’ve enjoyed all of my reading life. Thus these epic arguments over what appears to be a lot of nothing just seem a little silly. Sure, it matters quite a bit to those engaged in the argument, but in the bigger scheme? Not so much, I think. It’s easier to see that when you’re not all that involved with the community.
What’s my point? Well, it’s not just the sci-fi lit community that can waste a lot of energy navel gazing. It’s a point that I think a number of us who spend a lot of time talking and acting on and worrying about political races would do well to remember, too. We tease meaning out of every movement, angle, and word. And while each of those movements, angles, and words may actually have been intended to impart some meaning, the vast majority of the people out there will miss it. And even if you point it out? They won’t care. Obama to Hawaii? Don’t care. McCain’s cross in the dirt? Don’t care. Former-Abramhoff-business-partner-and-failed-candidate-Ralph-Reed-was-going-to-attend-a fundraiser-for-former-Abramhoff-investigating-committee-chair-McCain? Don’t care. We can spend our time spinning over the details. And perhaps that’s even useful, from time to time. But we’d do well to remember that it’s the big picture that matters to most. If it even matters to them at all. Try not to lose sight of that.
Karen
Believe me, even some of us who are involved in the community can see that these sorts of arguments don’t matter much. The only difference is that we have to put up with all the people who keep on having them.
MB
I wonder if the expanded ability to draw others into those conversations (via the internet) has given more oxygen to these silly little fires. I am rather convinced that the internet is responsible for the hundred-fold increase in the number of people who fancy themselves political pundits these days.