Maybe it is just me

[willjra.livejournal.com]

Maybe it is just me, but when I read the post on Va Tech fans = Abusive rednecks and then see how 11Alive reports mockingly on DC, it almost seems as if it 11Alive has the attitude that it is okay to mock people who are different.  If any of the VA fans talked about in the post were watching that report, I can imagine they would laugh and almost feel validated at their behavior.

Edit:
Either I used the wrong link or the orginal post was edited.  Sorry about that to anyone looking for that post.

Edit 2:
Here is the link to the report on the smell of DC.

Comments

[willjra.livejournal.com]

Just watched 11 tonight. They reported on Dragon Con. Their main point was the smell.

[fnordx.livejournal.com]

The only smell I noticed was outside in the smoking area.

[phantomminuet.livejournal.com]

The egging was an assault and should have been reported to the police as such, but the mocking? There's nothing new about that. Quite frankly, I heard tons of mocking from con attendees throughout the convention, and even some of it in panels. Hell, Bill Shatner was mocking southerners in his appearance with Leonard Nimoy.

One man's mocking is another man's attempt at wit. :-)

BTW I noticed the smell this year, my own self. I didn't run into nearly as many people who smelled sour and unwashed in the past years that I have attended the con as I did this year.

[tempest-omouthy.livejournal.com]

I don't know if someone else got egged, but I did report it and was basically told since I didn't get a tag number (by the time I realized what had happened, the white Escalade had made it through the light) I had really nothing to report.

I did not report the verbal fights because other than exchange of words, there was nothing to report.

[musicboxwaltz.livejournal.com]

gah, seriously? has no one e-mailed or contacted 11alive to tell them how upsetting it is they represented D*C in the worst way possible? someone needs to complain.

[catgirlnikki.livejournal.com]

I did.. and posted the response below.... I also sent the person who sent me the email a reply with a link to this post thread. So they understand its not just me.

[lizzyhamham.livejournal.com]

Hey Channel 11, I'm married as well, go to cons, and dress up. Shocking, I know. ::wink::

I found it light-hearted. I've never seen a news report that DIDN'T show the typical nerd. Because really, a nerd doing the "norm" isn't news worthy. :D Although, they should do the same report with football fans. I mean, they dress up (or wearing barely anything), tailgate, throw parties, watch a bunch of men jump each other to get a ball, and then discuss at great lengths about how so and so is better than so and so. It's all geek and they don't know it! :D

[creepyfnord.livejournal.com]

I've always had to laugh at jocks who claim we're the geeks, for playing fantasy games, since they pour tons of cash into their costumes, fantasy leagues, and big events. And yes, I am a geekl for being able to make a RP character without the book, but I'm not a geek with no neck who can recite every player and their position from the last 5 seasons of the NFL. Now thats some serious geekiness.

[scandalkitty.livejournal.com]

I think 11 Alive did a crummy job reporting but I'm not as worried about them as I am these VA tech people. I am currently in the process of emailing VA Tech's president and deans. I think a written letter will follow up as well. For now, here are the email addresses I could find. I think we need to show them just how many of us were put off by their schools representation in Atlanta this weekend.

president@vt.edu, dean.students@vt.edu

The president's address is:
Dr. Charles Steger
Office of the President
210 Burruss Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061

[gwenifyre.livejournal.com]

As someone with Virginia Tech who was at the Con, I'm appalled to learn about some of this happening.

Please DO write Steger. This sort of behavior is not acceptable in our Virginia Tech community.

I'm also contemplating a letter to the school paper. (http://www.collegiatetimes.com/) I'd like to know more about the incident, though. I think I missed the original thread on here, and now I can't find it.

[dustagorn.livejournal.com]

I've sent an email to both the president and dean of students as well. This kind of behavior is just appalling.

[whiteladyeowyn.livejournal.com]

I'm with you, brother.

[wildflowerz.livejournal.com]

The media does the same thing with Pride, I hear. They show THE most flamboyant, risque costumes from the parade and present it like it's ALL like that. However, in actuality, I think the whole thing is more just a festival-type event with "normal" (yeah, i know, what's that...) looking people (ie not in the risque costumes and such).

[athenienne.livejournal.com]

The media does the same thing with everything they report. "Normal" doesn't get ratings.

[amelia-80.livejournal.com]

I used to work at Virginia Tech and I talked with several younger alumni this weekend who were attending the game and D*C. It is unfortunate that these fans put forth such a horrible example for the school. 90% of the time, the Hokie community is respectful and accepting. I am sorry for what they did to offend con members. Please don't let them ruin your opinion of a great university.

[gwenifyre.livejournal.com]

Yes. I'm at VT now, and this is not acceptable or representative.

[comix-geek.livejournal.com]

Last year my girl, my younger brother, and myself stayed at the Glenn and walked to the Con from there and what's funny is with the Alabama/Clemson fans we got photographed more by them then at the Con and when we went into the CNN building that was filled their fans we got some strange looks but overall they were nicer then I expected them to be. These VA Tech kids and I say that because I'm probably old enough to be their dad, received either not a lot of attention at home or their parents are just as disrespectful towards others. As far as the con goers that ridiculed other fans those people are Con virgins or not as into what conventions are about. I did see quite a few people that just did not look like they fit into the con spirit and may have just been there to get into a party or hit on the cute geek girls that come to Dragon*Con.

[blinkidybah.livejournal.com]

Yeah we ran into several Alabama fans who (while drunk) were perfectly nice, curious, etc. Several asked to take pictures or got an obvious kick out of our costumes, and one girl even asked about our bodypaint (her school face paint was not so great). I didn't know people were getting any problems from the sports fans, but then we only saw AR fans and not many VT peeps.

[coleoptera.livejournal.com]

You know, I hate to say it, but writing the schools in question isn't really going to do a lot of good. The majority of people I observed in VT or Alabama clothing did not appear to be students. The schools are not responsible for their behavior, even if it does reflect poorly on them in the instances where they are poor guests of Atlanta.

I might also add that I doubt DragonCon participants would appreciate being lumped into one stereotyped group, so if you really want to be righteous about it (eggs and insults aside) you're not better than they are if you're so insulting about people who enjoy football. It's easy and fun for some people to mock them, as it's easy and fun for some football fans to mock costumers and such, but it gets no one anywhere.

Apology from 11 Alive

[catgirlnikki.livejournal.com]

I posted on Atlanta Mom's Like Me (which is sponsored by 11 Alive)about how offended and disappointed I was in the tone and comments of the story. Here is the email I received shortly after.


"Nikki, I read your post on Moms Like Me and we just wanted to apologize if you were offended by the 11Alive coverage of DragonCon. We in no way meant to offend anyone. Many people on our staff are huge, huge DrangonCon fans and we look forward to covering it every year. We find people who attend have a great sense of humor and love the coverage and the fun way we always portray the festival. From all of us at 11Alive we want to apologize and let you know your viewership is so important to us. We will be more careful next year not to cover it in a way that would offend the participants. Thank you for opening our eyes to the problem.

Ellen M. Crooke
Vice President News and Information Center
WXIA 11 Alive / Myatltv
Atlanta, Georgia
www.11alive.com
404-733-2210
ecrooke@wxia.gannett.com"

Re: Apology from 11 Alive

[willjra.livejournal.com]

Thanks for finding the right place to post that and for sharing the response you got.

[cavaticat.livejournal.com]

Dear 11Alive:

I'm female, socially well-adjusted, height-weight proportionate, and do not live at home with my parents. I have a college degree and good personal hygiene. I'm a HUGE fan of "What Not to Wear." I'm an artist's model, which means people pay to draw, paint, or sculpt me naked. Look at my LJ icon. Wouldn't YOU want a picture of that ass hanging on your wall?

Yet somehow, in defiance of all that must be true about the universe, I'm the track director of Anne McCaffrey's Pern, where, yes: I wear costumes and dance along to Celtic music and talk about fictional people on fictional planets having lots of fictional drama. I've got autographs from most of the Battlestar Galactica main cast. I can totally sing the songs from the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King movie soundtrack. My costume this year was Steampunk Leia -- double the genres, double the nerd -- and it took me a lot of time, money, and love. I was pretty proud of it. People took loads of pictures of me! When was the last time YOU sewed a vinyl corset?

I also have TONS of hot sex with my darling nerdboy of 4+ years, who I did not meet on the Internet, who does not have a creepy relationship with his mother, and who is a well-liked, extroverted actor in the local theater community.

On behalf of his fully functional penis, I'd like to request that next year, your interviewer NOT be a resentful, snarky fratboy who gets his rocks off taking potshots at people who: a) Have perfectly good self-esteem and healthy social lives, and to whom your asinine assumptions are baffling and irrelevant, or b) Don't have great self-esteem and who don't need to be humiliated in front of a hostile audience, especially when they've worked their asses -- yes, their fat, flabby, sagging, or nonexistent, non-supermodel-like asses -- off to come have fun sans judgment.

(P.S. -- Some of those people your idiot journalist interviewed were perfectly attractive and well-adjusted. Why on EARTH would you think that chick with the awesome rack couldn't get a spouse without help from Match.com?)

I suggest you ask CNN what it's like to report respectfully (http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/09/08/geeks.romance.dragon.con/index.html) about counterculture.

If you can't manage that, tell your reporter to wear a cup next year. Otherwise, his 2010 report on "How I got my tiny dick kicked in by Master Chief" will probably not earn him a Pulitzer.

Kisses,

Charlotte, who is SO glad not to be normal.

[catgirlnikki.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this... I hope the VP who emailed me from 11 Alive uses the link I sent them and reads every post.

[datavortex.livejournal.com]

11Alive should be banned from con for a few years. Their reporting on this topic is as idiotic and poorly researched as the rest of their work.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Not to mention making the elevator situation worse to get their footage from inside it, through multiple stops.

[dramatikpanther.livejournal.com]

I'm shocked that some of the VT fans behaved that way :( all of the ones my friends and i encountered (including the older adult Hokies) were really nice! I asked a few Friday night if I could get my pic with them, but since I was wearing a red corset and black mini, they said "No, can we get *our* picture with *you*?!" They were really nice, we chatted for a bit, and they were having a blast just being in the middle of the fun. It's horrible that some people have to resort to egging and bullying.

And I only saw 11Alive's report last night on youtube. My long-term boyfriend (whom I met at church when we were teens) and i were appalled at the snarkyness of the reporter.

[wynnegruffyd.livejournal.com]

I'm a middle school teacher. What the Twilight books has done for reading on the middle school level was never accomplished by the Harry Potter books. Last year there were so many kids reading the Twilight books that the library couldn't keep them in stock and the waiting list was unreal. Lots of language arts teachers resorted to buying copies to loan out to students. I read the books myself and I enjoyed them. I wanted to be able to talk to my kids about them. (I love vampire stories and have read everything from The Southern Vampire Stories- Sookie Stackhouse to the Vampire Finishing School books by P.C. Cast which I loved and the Vampire Diaries which I wasn't that thrilled about.) I saw the movie Twilight and enjoyed it for what it was. I will watch the Vampire Diaries on tv. All in all, anything that gets our kids to read is a plus in my book. Although Twilight is not my fandom and I have yet to read the Potter books (have seen every movie however), I would never make fun of or mock another person and their fandom of choice. I am not into Anime or gaming but I know many like those areas. It is not my place to put someone else down. As I tell my students each day, we are all human with our own likes and dislikes, it is not your place to put your likes off on someone else or to put down someone else. Who knows, getting to know the person who is different from yourself might teach you something.

[dismaldelight.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. I love anything vampire (though this new vampire trend is kind of weird). I've also read the Marked series. Granted, I wasn't extremely happy with the whole sparkly vamp thing in twilight and I seriously thought the first 3 books read like a poor fan fic, but It was entertaining none the less.

I don't understand why some of the Twilight fans are so defensive. I get crap from my friends for having read the books (I'm 26) but I just laugh along with them when they give me shit. Cause all of it is pretty silly, especially with the whole moron influence.

I dunno, I'm not really involved in the twilight fandom. My main fandom would be Doctor Who/Torchwood, but I guess I'd get kind of defensive is someone started talking smack about The Doctor.

[rebelliousrose.livejournal.com]

Here's my note to 11 Alive.

I am a resident of Atlanta, and I attend DragonCon, and I wanted to let you know that I found your coverage to be mean-spirited and offensive, as well as rude. I've been to football games, educational events, and art gallery openings that also contain people with odor issues. I've never seen a special report focusing on how bad people smell in a bar after the UGA game.

Not everyone at DragonCon smells. I don't, and take great pains to ensure that I don't, regardless of heat and crowds.

That story, however, stinks. Your reporter should be ashamed.

I will say that some people are pretty damn whiffy, but most people take pains to shower.

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

I got eau de garbage anytime I walked via the street from the area of Hilton/Marriott to the Sheraton, but other than that, the cigarette smoke notwithstanding (SECRET TUNNEL! SECRET TUNNEL!) I didn't encounter the musk of the unwashed human in such quantity I was able to detect and be offended by it.

What does offend me thoughb is that the news seems to think it amusing to bash the geeks. Last year somebody on CNN said "what a bunch of losers" and this year, it's comments on the smell. Nevermind how much income we bring into Atlanta, stimulating the local economy year after year. Nevermind the blood drive. Nevermind the charity work. We're just a bunch of smelly losers to the news media and the jocks. By the way, why is it acceptable for jocks to get drunk enough to throw up on themselves, acceptable for them to strip naked, throw things, and paint their bodies up even in cold weather, but we're losers? That really gets on my nerves. A lot.

As for the twi-hards, I'm not a fan. I admit I smiled and gave an invisible, silent, mental high 5 to anyone wearing an anti-Twilight shirt, but I didn't mock, or sneer. I can sort of understand why other fans do, even if I don't feel it appropriate to outwardly slam anybody.

I like Charlaine Harris' vampires. Stoker's. And Whedon's. And Anne Rice's. They all have a few things in common. And they have a couple of things in common with Meyer's, but the lack of commonality with the genre is a lot of the reason that people seem to have a problem with them. Some of the criticisms I've heard:

* Meyer writes her stories as an extended allegory of the Mormon path for young people.
* The vampires sparkle in the sunlight. Sunlight is generally a fairly quick and painful death to vampires, and a pretty significant and nigh-universal part of the genre, so to neuter a major weakness to the undead and then turn it into "sparkles" comes across to many fans as sort of cute-ifying something to make it less terrifying. "Sparkles" generally is a word reserved for the pretty, pink, glittery things that little girls like. My Little Pony. Disney Fairies. Bratz and the like...so it comes off like "pretty pink girl stuff" even if that's not all there is to it.
* Meyer has also gone on record as saying she intentionally ignored all vampire genre stuff prior to writing Twilight. Which can come across as an arrogant disrespect to the genre as it has existed for hundreds of years. (A lot of TV shows have suffered from this. Vampire: The Masquerade and Being Human both film day scenes which rankled the hardcore vampfans in the viewer base, yours truly included)
* Meyer's also got this thing of werewolves imprinting their true lifemate on any opposite sex person, including small children, which comes a bit close to pedophilia squick for some people.
* Meyer's Bella comes across as lacking in agency which comes across to offensive to a lot of feminists (same as the Disney Princesses who just want to be rescued by the prince).

Despite all of the above, it's popular, the fans seem to ignore those drawbacks, and Twilight fans have gotten hostile to people not sharing their love of the series. I mean, riots at Hot Topic (http://www.reelzchannel.com/movie-news/2168/twilight-fans-start-mini-riot-in-san-francisco-mall).

But live and let live. My philosophy is the one for Mindful Speech, so I don't say anything to any of the Twi-Hards and figure they don't have to say anything to me about the fandoms I like.

[ldsman.livejournal.com]

Mormon path? What makes you say that? (Just curious)

[mnenyver.livejournal.com]

Wow, the 11 Alive reporter really didn't do any homework. That's pretty funny that he has no idea what kind of nightlife Dragon*Con has, or the variety of people attending. :)

[mir280.livejournal.com]

With all the interesting things going on at Dragon Con you would think that a news reporter could, I don't know maybe, research something and report on something more interesting than the smell? How dissapointing. Maybe next year they could talk to the people who reported on Comic Con and figure out how to do a story about an interesting convention...maybe tell people what kinds of tracks there are and make it seem more interesting, fun, and educational rather than stupid, freaky and stinky.

[legal-padawan.livejournal.com]

I didn't encounter much rudeness from the football fans. Amusingly, just a couple VA fans in the lift at the Marriott who were shocked at the number of people in the lobby.

The most shocking thing for me was the group of D*C attendees who, on Monday as my friends and I were taking the escalator up to the restaurant level of the Marriott, felt the need to toss the word "DragonCunts" in our general direction.

[kimberworld.livejournal.com]

1. Don't we attendees make fun of our smell? Don't we list in our "rules" of DragonCon to please shower and use deodorant? We do tend to get a bit ripe because, as the reporter said, latex doesn't breathe. I was sweating just wearing a t-shirt and a mini-skirt, so I can't imagine how miserable the more intricate costumers were.

We do stink. Let's embrace it and move on.

2. Vampires do not sparkle, Star Wars is better than Star Trek, and although I love the look of Steampunk, I don't "get" it. Those are MY opinions, and if they differ from yours, get over it. I hated, despised, returned the Twilight book. I was embarrassed it was even in my house! Now, will I stand in the back of a Twilight fan panel and make open fun of you all? No. Will I proudly wear my "Vampires don't sparkle" t-shirt? Yes. There's being a jerk and there's being a non-fan, and those that openly mock any fan base are jerks.

3. Twilight has nothing on readership of Harry Potter. Not even close.

4. I was one of the organizers of the "Thriller" dance, and I cannot even count how many times I heard insulting comments about it. Guess what? I don't give a shit. We had almost 1,000 people come together to do something new and exciting. Wonder what the haters did? Drink themselves silly then pass out in their rooms alone? Probably.

Best D*C ever for me even with my blown out knee.

[willjra.livejournal.com]

You are a local TV reporter. You have 3 minutes to report on the SuperBowl. Would you spend 2 1/2 talking about how people smell?

[g-sabine.livejournal.com]

That report is patently ridiculous; more to the point, it's not news. I shudder to think what kind of mongolid viewership 11 Alive was passing this off to as a "human interest" story. It was an attack on the con.

I mean christ, call me paranoid, but I wonder if monied interests seeking to damage and/or move the con paid for that piece?

My Response to 11Alive

[mrwewiii.livejournal.com]

This is the email I just sent to 11Alive

"I just caught Doug Richards, Keith Whitney and Steven (last name unknown) coverage of DragonCon http://www.11alive.com/video/default.aspx?aid=111752&storyid=134817 and and was completely insulted. Is this part of your "seeking truth, answers and solutions" mission? Slandering and ridiculing something you at best dont understand and at worst appear to have some active dislike for? What happened to impartiality in journalism? How many other groups who have functions in your city have you actively and blatantly derided in this way? I'd guess not many because most wouldn't tolerate it. Where was the piece on the OBAP and the horribly racist commentary to go along with it? What about the piece on how violently intolerant the National Baptist Convention is? What about the SCLC and what a joke they are? No, you want slander and belittle these organizations like this because you know there would be a national outcry and you be lucky to come through it with a license to broadcast let alone your jobs. But our little group, since we are so tolerant and small, you are more than happy to kick around a little bit. I should also point out the ridiculous irony of a city that is more than 60% African American allowing one of its primary news organizations to ridicule a visiting group for being tolerant if its individuals.

How about a piece focusing on the sights and sounds associated projectile vomiting at the VT/ALA game? Or even better maybe you could have tried some real journalism and done a piece focusing on the tension created by the intolerance of a group of Virginia Tech students who were accosting con-goers? Or just the dichotomy of both of these events being in the same city at the same time. Its a shame you missed this chance to do some real and interesting work in favor of openly mocking and insulting con-goers.

It is fascinating to me that these pieces were allowed to run. Were they not screened first? Was there no one that looked at these after they ran and had any kind of reservations? How many people were involved in the decision to run this piece?

Make no doubt about it your group is a joke and a smear on the face of journalism as a whole and if you had a shred of self respect left you would all tender your resignations.

I cant call it racist and I cant call it sexist but your reports were intolerant, offensive and insulting. And I will do my utmost best to NOT do business with any of your advertisers and I will let each of your advertisers know why. I will also do everything in my power to see to it that none of the 40,000 attendees next year frequent any of your advertisers."

We are not going to start getting kicked around.

I forgot!

[mrwewiii.livejournal.com]

I almost forgot! I also hit 11Alive on their twitter account here>> http://twitter.com/11AliveNews <<Let them know what you think and lets see if we can get some action on this.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

There's an SF fan on the staff of 11Alive with whom I am acquainted. I have mentioned to him how this particular story does not make fandom look good. He agreed that it was not the greatest story. I asked if there was anything he could do about it. Haven't heard back from him yet.