[MR] Re: authenticity...and the SCA as a joke

[Michael Houghton]

Howdy!

On Tue, Oct 28, 2003 at 11:03:44AM -0500, Ladykatheryne at aol.com wrote:
> Bonjour all
> 
> I have found these emails long winded, and stressful. When Duke Logan speaks, 
> How can so many take what he says for granted? He is only speaking of the 
> truth. The SCA as we know it now, does NOT look like, or act as it should! How 

There is less than full agreement among us here that he speaks TRVTH (which is
not to be construed as calling him a lair!). Neither is it axiomatic that the
SCA fails to act as it "should". 

> can I bring my children to an event, where their is people that choose to run 
> around flaunting themselves, in a "bad" manner? How do I tell my children that 
> nipple rings are not period? We all try to recreate the living history. But why 

Plain English? 

> should some of those be over looked??
> As the "Knights" in blue jeans........COME ON!....Atleast wear jogging pants. 

...that assumes that said jogging pants are less intrusively modern in their
appearance -- something I don't take as a given.
> 
> 
> I don't think ganging up on someone and nit picking his every word, is 
> respectable. In our society, he is a Duke. He deserves some respect. I am tired of 
> listening to people gang up on others, because they don't know the "REAL" 
> person.

Being a Duke does not automatically mean that someone gets a free pass on poor
reasoning or ill behavior. If Duke So-and-so stands up and asserts that the sun
rises in the west and sets in the east, am I to blindly accept that? Logan has
certainly given an ant hill a swift kick. I'll accept that his motives were
good, even if I think the implementation leaves something to be desired.
> 
> Everyone in the SCA should "Try" their best to make the most "authentic" 
> chairs, garb, etc., to the period they portray.  I cannot say as much as chairs, 
> Mine is still a work in progress, but my "Coleman" chair is well covered. 

That assumes that everyone has a particular period they aim to protray -- an
assumption that is observably incorrect and not supported by formal and
informal documents. One thing about the SCA is that people are free to focus
their creative energies (and authenticist bones) on the particular facets of
the temporal and cultural scope of the SCA that interest them while at the 
same time giving scant attention to the rest. They may be the leading 
authority on 13th century Hungarian narfing irons while dressing in basic
T-tunics. Such a person should not be cast out from our midst for the latter.
I fear that Logan's initiatives lean too much toward doing just that.

yours,
Herveus
-- 
Michael and MJ Houghton   | Herveus d'Ormonde and Megan O'Donnelly
herveus at radix.net         | White Wolf and the Phoenix
Bowie, MD, USA            | Tablet and Inkle bands, and other stuff
                          | http://www.radix.net/~herveus/