DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Fantasite, v. 2, issue 2, May-June 1942

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Fantasite, v. 2, issue 2, May-June 1942

Page 11

THE FANTASITE 11

THE TALE OF THE HOOTEN
By
T. BRUCE YERKE

RECORDS WHICH have survived the old Aryan civilization tell of a strange creature, which we of this later date believe to typify the general ignorance that featured that age.

It seems that in the flats of New Jersey, a particularly unfavored land which was referred to by the New Yorkers as the place "where New Yorkers go to die," there was a creature called the Hooten.

This Hooten, so-called probably because of the meaningless noises which it made in emulation of the owl, who was supposed to have been a feathered bird with a solemn and foreboding front, but no intelligence to back it up, was continually making splashes upon the quiet lives of his fellow hobbyists.

Once upon a time he called himself the Pro-Scientist and came out with much tintintabulations about the fact that he was for science and against stories of an inconsequential nature which were published in "pulp" magazines showing science causing the trouble in the world.

This, alone, is evidence that the Hooten was basically a semantically mal-adjusted individual, suffering from psychophysiological neural tensions that confused his orders of abstraction. It lived in a world of verbology. Words were the thing to the Hooten, who confuses the actual empirical phenomenon he was observing with the words he used to describe the foresaid.

For quite some time the Hooten expressed himself in a column entitled "The Hooten Says." The meanderings in these published items, along with the title, definitely show that the Hooten was suffering from illusions of grandeur in which it was the authority for something or another. The fact that it took this "position" carefully demonstrated this fact.

The last thing which we have as a record of the Hooten is a sloppy mimeographed pamphlet which attacked an organization known as "Technocracy". Here again we see that the Hooten was suffering from semantic maladjustment. It flung words about in a fiery fury and made charges which were so ludicrous that no no one was more than amused.

The Hooten, which had proclaimed itself as a pro-scientist, quoted the unreliable reports in a newspaper called the "People's World" regarding this organization and attached to it with typical Hooten carelessness the title "fascist". Not only that, but he then went and labelled certain people as fascists.

The people didn't mind. They laughed like hell. It was very funny. It was even ridiculous. You see, the Hooten, who was the very essence of pro-science, never even bothered to check on its sources of information.

I am sure that if the foreign magazine called "Tecknokratie" was really put out by an American organization, the Hooten could have shown this information to the proper authorities of its government and had them immediately ban the organization. You see, it was legally incorporated in the state of New York at the time.

The tale is not included herewith to hold the Hooten up to ridicule. One does not ridicule the lesser animals, of which we assume the Hooten was one, since there are no other records. One has a kindly, helpful feeling toward them.

The point of the story is merely to show us of the more enlightened age how those of that distant time thought.

Instead of even bothering to actually research in an orderly manner upon the topic at hand in a scientific way, they would set down in print whatever thoughts sprang into their heads, often motivated by "personal" malice to someone else.

Actually, few people were ever hurt by these insane outbursts, especially those coming from the Hooten. It only served to those who heard this strange 

(Continued on page 16.)

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THE FANTASITE 11 THE TALE OF THE HOOTEN By T. BRUCE YERKE RECORDS WHICH have survived the old Aryan civilization tell of a strange creature, which we of this later date believe to typify the general ignorance that featured that age. It seems that in the flats of New Jersey, a particularly unfavored land which was referred to by the New Yorkers as the place "where New Yorkers go to die," there was a creature called the Hooten. This Hooten, so-called probably because of the meaningless noises which it made in emulation of the owl, who was supposed to have been a feathered bird with a solemn and foreboding front, but no intelligence to back it up, was continually making splashes upon the quiet lives of his fellow hobbyists. Once upon a time he called himself the Pro-Scientist and came out with much tintintabulations about the fact that he was for science and against stories of an inconsequential nature which were published in "pulp" magazines showing science causing the trouble in the world. This, alone, is evidence that the Hooten was basically a semantically mal-adjusted individual, suffering from psychophysiological neural tensions that confused his orders of abstraction. It lived in a world of verbology. Words were the thing to the Hooten, who confuses the actual empirical phenomenon he was observing with the words he used to describe the foresaid. For quite some time the Hooten expressed himself in a column entitled "The Hooten Says." The meanderings in these published items, along with the title, definitely show that the Hooten was suffering from illusions of grandeur in which it was the authority for something or another. The fact that it took this "position" carefully demonstrated this fact. The last thing which we have as a record of the Hooten is a sloppy mimeographed pamphlet which attacked an organization known as "Technocracy". Here again we see that the Hooten was suffering from semantic maladjustment. It flung words about in a fiery fury and made charges which were so ludicrous that no no one was more than amused. The Hooten, which had proclaimed itself as a pro-scientist, quoted the unreliable reports in a newspaper called the "People's World" regarding this organization and attached to it with typical Hooten carelessness the title "fascist". Not only that, but he then went and labelled certain people as fascists. The people didn't mind. They laughed like hell. It was very funny. It was even ridiculous. You see, the Hooten, who was the very essence of pro-science, never even bothered to check on its sources of information. I am sure that if the foreign magazine called "Tecknokratie" was really put out by an American organization, the Hooten could have shown this information to the proper authorities of its government and had them immediately ban the organization. You see, it was legally incorporated in the state of New York at the time. The tale is not included herewith to hold the Hooten up to ridicule. One does not ridicule the lesser animals, of which we assume the Hooten was one, since there are no other records. One has a kindly, helpful feeling toward them. The point of the story is merely to show us of the more enlightened age how those of that distant time thought. Instead of even bothering to actually research in an orderly manner upon the topic at hand in a scientific way, they would set down in print whatever thoughts sprang into their heads, often motivated by "personal" malice to someone else. Actually, few people were ever hurt by these insane outbursts, especially those coming from the Hooten. It only served to those who heard this strange (Continued on page 16.)