Dragonconned

 

 

It’s no secret that I, Paul Landri AKA Paulie Von Doom am a big fan of conventions. I enjoy pretty much everything about them. The interesting cosplayers, the special guests, the carnival atmosphere that lasts an entire weekend, the collective celebration of fandoms from all genres and the people who love those When I heard there was a boycott of Dragon*Con needless to say I was puzzled. Why would anyone want to boycott this convention, anyway? Who was Boycotting it and why? At first I thought it was those Westboro idiots because they sometimes come out of their hate-cocoons to boycott comic book conventions like back in 2010 when they picketed San Diego Comic Con. Turns out they weren’t picketing and I still had no idea why anyone would want to boycott such a great event. I got to meet Stan Lee at this convention, my hero Billy West (twice!) and even Chewbacca himself, Peter Meyhew.

This was the biggest convention I had ever attended and I loved it. The cosplayers, the art dealer’s room where I began a quasi friendship with Magic: The Gathering card artist Mark Poole, The interesting panels about astronomy, the Marvel photo shoots I was a part of. Little did I know that the founders of this convention were withholding a dark secret, one that they have been trying (and failing) to hide.

You see, one of the grandfathers of the convention is a known pedophile and not only have they done little to distance themselves from this guy, but the money you and I have shelled out or potentially will shell out for this conventions has been going towards his legal defense. Few crimes are as heinous as pedophilia. The act itself is reprehensible but the psychological damage it reaps is what really matters here. There is a certain innocence to these conventions. In order to make them work you have to have a certain childlike sense of wonder to have tens of thousands of people descend upon a city for an entire weekend dressed up as stormtroopers, Dr. Who, and pretty much every fictional character in existence. You have to believe in heroes and villains and magic in order to make something like a convention work. It’s a celebration and celebrations are good things, at least they’re supposed to be.

When you sit down and think about it, what does pedophilia actually do? Possibly the worst part of it is the stripping of innocence from a child, you see, there are no heroes, only villains who seek to take away that childlike wonder with sticky, perverted, and lusty fingers which leaves nothing but a shell of a person that will take years of therapy to rebuild. Upon closer investigation we find that back in 2011, 150,000 dollars of revenue from Dragon*Con went to the convicted pedophile Ed Kramer’s legal defense. I went to Dragon*Con in 2011. It sickens me to think that a part of my membership to this convention went towards his lawyers stalling the legal process and keeping this man out of jail while he gets to enjoy the benefits of a free society.

I have said it before, but one of the things that makes any society great is sticking to the unspoken social contract that allows for law, order, justice, and safety. Ed Kramer has violated that social contract and should be in a prison cell right now. He stripped children of their innocence by using the convention as a way in to their lives and other places where he could do the most damage. Yet, he is still a free man. It makes me wonder why the organizers of Dragon*Con haven’t done more to distance themselves from this person completely and sever ties with him outright. I understand Georgia Law dictates that you cannot dissolve a company with pending legal proceedings and I am fine with that, that law is there for a reason, but what I see is nothing more than hand wringing and idle fretting.

I suppose it says a lot about the founders and organizers of this convention. They really don’t care about their members at the end of the day. If they did certainly they would have done something about this back in 2000 when he was convicted the first time. I suppose though, when you lie with pedophiles you don’t exactly have much of a moral compass, but hey, what do I know? I’m just a guy who feels ripped off and angry that my hard earned money, cash I had to bust my ass for, cash my girlfriend had to bust her ass for, cash thousands and thousands of people had to bust their asses for, went towards Kramer’s 33% minority share. All so he could pay his people to keep him free so he could abuse children as he pleases. If this doesn’t make you angry, fellow convention goers, then I don’t know what will.

It’s supposed to be a celebration. We geeks don’t have much of a say in our society. We’re still marginalized and relegated to the basement of pop culture. At the end of the day these conventions remind us that all we really have is each other, because most “normal” people don’t understand our love and passion for the things we care deeply about. Dragon*Con could have been one of the best, but the shadow of the evil deeds Ed Kramer repeatedly perpetrated hangs over them like a noose just waiting to be tightened to hang them all.

And we have the power to do it. When you buy admission to a convention, you’re buying a membership to the company. For one year you have a say in a convention that is for fans, by fans. If we, the fans, put enough pressure on the founders of this could-be-great convention to cut ties with Ed Kramer and join forces with us in an effort to see this sick, social contract breaking criminal, behind bars, perhaps the shadow can be lifted and Atlanta can boast the biggest convention in the US one day.

It’s a pipe dream, I know. In much the same way I hope that our politicians will stop screwing over the American people (that’s another op-ed for another day,) it is my sincerest hope that the organizers of Dragon*Con can stop condoning the screwing of little boys.

-Paul Landri aka Paulie Von Doom