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Dawn, issue 11, combined with The Imaginative Collector, issue 1, November 1950
Page 14
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(14) run short. I don't know how the fans will like it because I'm not much of a writer but I get a wham[[?]] out of trying to write along your lines of thought. Here's luck to Dawn and all if it's members. KURTIS GORDON WOLLGIEN HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSAS DEAR DAWN MEN: (Original salutation, eh what?) I just received 3 issues of the mag so pursuant to your request, am sitting down at faithful Royal to write you a letter. The main thing lacking in your otherwise good mag is a good subject for discussion. The flying disc business and the A and H*-bombs have been done to death, and nothing new has come up. (I don't call deros new.) At least, this the situation in the #9 issue. At any rate, I think a new discussion field should be opened up, so, not belatedly I trust, may I mention ----(fanfare) Dianetics! If no one to date has written to you on this, let me be the first to do so. Around new York, this subject has easily been the most-discussed among fans of any. Even Bradbury and the latest issue of ________ (fill in the name of your favorite mag here here) have been ignored. In fact, so much has been said about it that N.Y. fen began singing. to the tune of that "Cinderella" song- "Dianetics, Dianetics, All I hear is Dianetics".. etc. Therefore, perhaps your readers could light into it. The results should be highly interesting. Judging from the letters in the latest Brass Tacks, the attitude of fandom as a whole has to date taken it blindly and unquestioningly accepted it. This is not good. The scientific attitude should always be cultivated. Hubbard invites [[?[[off--all right, let's give it to him. A bit more research, please, before endorsing[[?]] it so enthusiastically. By that I mean, of course, try some of the techniques, or at least talk to those who have. I personally believe in it, with reservations. The public does, too, at least at latest reports, enough to make it the #7 nationwide best seller among non*-fiction books. Of course, that doesn't mean a thing. They made Velikovsky #1! If it were'nt so ridiculous, I'd suggest that as another subject for discussion. But, oh well,to return to my original train of thought, the critics all seem to be rather down on it. Time called it a new cult, the N.Y Post was highly sarcastic, and the N.Y. Times ditto. Altho the latter printed follow-up letters on it, including a reply from L.R.H. The critics, correctly or not, seem to judge the book by it's wordage alone, without even thinking of evidence, and unanimously condemn it as ridiculous. What really made my blood boil was the comment of several of the reviewers, that it was first printed in ASF--implying that , of course, fans and editors will believe anything, no matter how far fetched, and that this alone should condemn it! The arguments I have heard against it so far don't seem very valid. Lester Del Ray has called it a kind of streamlined hypnotism. By this he meant that it was auto-suggestion administered by an outside agent, the auditor. Unfortunatly, this doesn't account for the fact that the insane, who according to modern authority cannot be hypnotised without drugs, were given Dianetic Therapy successfully. My authority for this as yet unpublished statement is editor Campbell's speech at the 4th N.Y. conclave last May. A logical sounding argument is the one which says that the human embryo is incapable of picking up any sound at all while in the womb. del Rey suggest
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(14) run short. I don't know how the fans will like it because I'm not much of a writer but I get a wham[[?]] out of trying to write along your lines of thought. Here's luck to Dawn and all if it's members. KURTIS GORDON WOLLGIEN HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSAS DEAR DAWN MEN: (Original salutation, eh what?) I just received 3 issues of the mag so pursuant to your request, am sitting down at faithful Royal to write you a letter. The main thing lacking in your otherwise good mag is a good subject for discussion. The flying disc business and the A and H*-bombs have been done to death, and nothing new has come up. (I don't call deros new.) At least, this the situation in the #9 issue. At any rate, I think a new discussion field should be opened up, so, not belatedly I trust, may I mention ----(fanfare) Dianetics! If no one to date has written to you on this, let me be the first to do so. Around new York, this subject has easily been the most-discussed among fans of any. Even Bradbury and the latest issue of ________ (fill in the name of your favorite mag here here) have been ignored. In fact, so much has been said about it that N.Y. fen began singing. to the tune of that "Cinderella" song- "Dianetics, Dianetics, All I hear is Dianetics".. etc. Therefore, perhaps your readers could light into it. The results should be highly interesting. Judging from the letters in the latest Brass Tacks, the attitude of fandom as a whole has to date taken it blindly and unquestioningly accepted it. This is not good. The scientific attitude should always be cultivated. Hubbard invites [[?[[off--all right, let's give it to him. A bit more research, please, before endorsing[[?]] it so enthusiastically. By that I mean, of course, try some of the techniques, or at least talk to those who have. I personally believe in it, with reservations. The public does, too, at least at latest reports, enough to make it the #7 nationwide best seller among non*-fiction books. Of course, that doesn't mean a thing. They made Velikovsky #1! If it were'nt so ridiculous, I'd suggest that as another subject for discussion. But, oh well,to return to my original train of thought, the critics all seem to be rather down on it. Time called it a new cult, the N.Y Post was highly sarcastic, and the N.Y. Times ditto. Altho the latter printed follow-up letters on it, including a reply from L.R.H. The critics, correctly or not, seem to judge the book by it's wordage alone, without even thinking of evidence, and unanimously condemn it as ridiculous. What really made my blood boil was the comment of several of the reviewers, that it was first printed in ASF--implying that , of course, fans and editors will believe anything, no matter how far fetched, and that this alone should condemn it! The arguments I have heard against it so far don't seem very valid. Lester Del Ray has called it a kind of streamlined hypnotism. By this he meant that it was auto-suggestion administered by an outside agent, the auditor. Unfortunatly, this doesn't account for the fact that the insane, who according to modern authority cannot be hypnotised without drugs, were given Dianetic Therapy successfully. My authority for this as yet unpublished statement is editor Campbell's speech at the 4th N.Y. conclave last May. A logical sounding argument is the one which says that the human embryo is incapable of picking up any sound at all while in the womb. del Rey suggest
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