Conventions, political activism: The wrong time to be right | Opinion
Logan Walters, Staff Writer
FSView
Oct. 14, 2026, 9:01 a.m. ET
Beginning on Oct. 8, 2026, New York Comic Con took over the streets of Manhattan as it transformed the city into a weekend of pop culture and superhero celebration. Florida State University can’t compete with such a large event, but it is also home to its own local convention, FreeCon, which attempts to emulate a similar environment.
It’s widely understood that the goal of these conventions is to bring a weekend of unification among communities. People who enjoy comic books, movies, shows, and fandoms in general are given a place to come together and celebrate their interests without critique or judgment.
There is nothing wrong with this concept, but it doesn’t always come to be as simple as it seems. In fact, it usually has strong political undertones. Different comic artists and writers express their views, guests dress in political cosplays, and companies make political statements almost religiously to promote their products and services.
This is simple to understand, but the bigger question is whether this activism is properly placed. It would seem that an event specifically created to promote unity among people and meant to create a fun environment should not attempt to eliminate that ambiance by allowing it to turn into a war between people’s ability to represent their political views.
Polarization
Although the types of fandoms that gather at cons differ greatly, they all share a strong unified belief in progressive ideas and policy. This is not because fandoms make people in favor of certain social privileges or rights but rather because those who are already in favor of these things (often younger, many LGBTQ+) are the ones primarily joining and engaging with fandoms at conventions.
As a result, there are strong levels of polarization between the younger generations hoping to meet their favorite actors and the older parents of these children who most often grow up under very conservative social standards.
Strong-headed liberals here would just accept the way things are at conventions. If your parents are in favor of Trump, they’re not going to be welcomed into the Javits Center wearing a MAGA hat and might actually cause a commotion. On the other side, people wearing shirts commemorating the death of I.C.E agents are responded to with many photos and pictures.
The ideal situation would be that both people could wear their political memorabilia without judgement, but, of course, that isn’t possible. Instead, both parties should understand that being polarizing because you want people to know how you think is an immature approach to the scenario you’ve put yourself in.
You wouldn’t wear a baseball cap and a soccer jersey to a nice steakhouse to send a message about your dislike of dress codes, so why is a convention any different?
You’re there to enjoy a fandom, not to anger those who disagree with you.
The crazy prescription
Nothing good has ever come from limiting freedom of speech and expression, especially with respect to a group of passionate people. However, if it were to happen, it may make the event much more likely to be for everyone.
For example, I see FreeCon here in Tallahassee as largely targeted toward pro-left-wing participants. However, if the Bryce Crawford debate is any evidence, there are plenty of religious and conservative students on campus who would feel left out by the way FreeCon is represented.
If FreeCon is truly meant to be an experience for students, and there is no way to accurately represent every student’s beliefs, then removing the right for guests to openly display political memorabilia, political messaging, or political beliefs would likely make the experience more enjoyable for a larger population of students.
Besides the impossibility of this being established, the harder question would be to ask what would count under this type of rule. Superheroes like Green Arrow exist as political figureheads who represent, as an example, anti-wealth and pro-egalitarian qualities. Would a Green Arrow t-shirt be a political symbol?
I think the more nuanced but still radical position would be to ban any political paraphernalia that exists to promote a real-world issue. A MAGA hat, an anti-ICE shirt, a Marxism shirt, the types of clothing that aren’t hiding a message but rather openly make one.
Conclusion
Conventions are marketed as community spaces, but the current political climate is as polarizing as it can be. In order to keep conventions, including ones here as apolitical and pro-fandom as possible, it seems like the best course of action would be to limit the political proponent as much as possible.
Instead, people should focus on the things that they enjoy and the people they enjoy meeting without worrying that those around them will look at them differently because they decided to promote an unpopular idea.
Logan Walters is a Management Information Systems major at Florida State University and a Staff Writer for the Views section of the FSView & Florida Flambeau, the student-run, independent online news service for the FSU community. Email our staff atcontact@fsview.com.
