Mindscanner
Issue #65
Summer 2003

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From Twisted Minds...
By KwISt

"THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING KAG"

Showmanship. No summary of KAG's history or function would be complete without talking about Showmanship. Keep that word capitalized. Use permanent marker. Teach it to your kids in seven languages, then encourage them to use it in naming your grandkids. If KAG ever stops being about Showmanship, then it has lost its roots that set it apart so brightly from the drek that saturates the rest of Fandom. I call that the "Put Up or Shut the Hell Up Factor." (Feel free to abbreviate that "PUSHUF.")

KAG was born on a stage in Indianapolis. Not in a letterbox on someone's desk. Not in a basement, nor a candle-filled monastary. It was born on a stage, in front of a cheering crowd. It was born during a time when it was easy to conform to the mainstream by playing the role of a federation officer. Or worse, not playing the role, just filling out paperwork. Words without substance. Tell me, where's the Fun in that?

Sentience. It took independent thinkers to want to play Klingon. It took production-minded, vision radiating, tenaciously persistant, bright, creative loons to give it substance. And it took an experienced leader to build it on as simple a foundation as The Five Rules of KAG.

Throughout the fan community, organizations were repeating the same mistakes... Bureaucratic architects would run amuck turning a simple hobby into an overregulated rat's maze, based on imaginary bean counting, or ego-centric loyalties, or insulating members from communications ...anything but a common interest. (It's worth noting that a cult is easily identified if it abuses members' time, money, and relationships. To KAG's credit, our leadership has worked hard to prevent any such abuse from entering KAG.)

Clubs in that day took big bucks to run. Email and the web hadn't taken off yet, so phone bills and a lot of postal correspondence made the bloodline of such organizations. Dues were charged, sometimes on multiple levels. Financial considerations could only add to the unfairness of clubs in that day.

Along came KAG and introduced so much that the fan community needed desparately. No dues required, Promotion based on communication and cooperation... the level of service we provide to our many fellow warriors. You get out of it just what you put into it. Glory is Chief. Humor is celebrated. Why? Because it's all for the Fun.

Success. Since the time of KAG's birth, many attempts have come and gone, trying to outdo the success of KAG. Strangely enough, none of them really tried beating KAG at its own game. Where KAG deregulates, they craft their countless bureaucratic commandments to "re-regulate" fandom. Where KAG builds community, they isolate and insulate their own membership lifeline. Where KAG puts substance and action to their talk, "Lightning before Thunder," the others degenerate into paper empires and self-aggrandizing titles. It's little wonder that the death of such clubs often comes quickly.

So KAG grows due to its openness, its simplicity, its lunacy, and its Showmanship. In short, it grows for its Fun.

- KwISt "the twistai guy"

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