How to Kill the SCA (was Re: [MR] RE: Troll vs. Gatekeeper, etc.)

[Tatsushu .]

Andras wrote:
>It's a conflict between two different ideas about what kind of
>organization the
>SCA should be.  Personally, I think the traditional strength of the SCA
>has been
>that it was both kinds of organizations **at the same time**, with both
>camps
>being on friendly and respectful terms with one another.
>If either group is made to feel unwelcome or unappreciated, then our
>organization
>as a whole will suffer.

Hear, hear!

It seems to me that the best way to kill the SCA would be to get rid of one 
or the other of these two groups.  If you try to make it a strict historical 
re-enactment society like some out there then you would lose most of the 
membership who don't meet the strict standards thereof and it would be 
another tiny amateur historical society with a couple of events a year.  If 
everyone who wanted to actually study and re-enact history left then you 
would be left with a fantasy Arthurian society that is little different from 
any other LARP organization and you would lose a lot of people there, too.  
What I see in the SCA is the blending of these two groups to make an 
international organization that encourages scholarship and learning through 
our studies and our play.

I feel that to get rid of either group would kill the SCA as it is.  That 
said, it is appropriate to offer more options to people who wish to play 
their game a little differently through the use of different vocabulary.  
This should be seen as a benefit--the more options available to us, the more 
we have available to us.  An English teacher of mine once made a great point 
on this subject: You don't have to _use_ good grammar, but you should learn 
it.  If you know it, then you have the _option_ of using it or not.  If you 
don't know good grammar, then you are going to be lacking the tools if you 
ever decide you do want to use it.  Likewsie, the period terms for various 
positions allow us the option of using them if we so choose, or to stick 
with other terms if you prefer those.

-Ii

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