[MR] The SCA as a "joke"

[Michael Houghton]

Howdy!

On Tue, Oct 28, 2003 at 11:44:09AM -0500, logan wrote:
> apparently you did not read what i wrote.  i will attempt to summarize.
> 
> "a reasonable attempt" is the battle cry of people, such as yourself, that
> disagree with what i have said.  first, i have never suggested that the sca
> become a strictly authentic organization.  never.  i have suggested that we
> make, uh oh, a "reasonable attempt".  now tell me what attempt at pre 1600
> items are exposed plastic barrels, gorms nylon coleman chair, blue jeans,
> tennis shoes, or anything else that i specifically have mentioned?  there is
> no attempt at all.

I question not your motivation, but your methods. To me, you appear to be
dictating one way of reducing modernity. I find the stick unappealing. It
occurs to me that one could give positive encouragement to work toward that
end instead of trying to suppress by legislation.

[snip freon can, etc]
> 
> and, i never said that the sca was a joke.  what i said was the statement
> that the sca is a living history group is a joke.  the sca claims, in its
> charter, that it is a living history group, an educational group and it
> requires its participants to make a "reasonable attempt".  yet it fails at
> all of these things and there is, for some bizarre reason, an effort to
> ignore those simple requirements.

The blurb at the top of <http://www.sca.org> says:

   The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an international
   organization dedicated to researching and re-creating pre-17th-century
   European history. All persons interested in such study are invited to
   use these pages to obtain information about the SCA.

This does not say "living history" -- a phrase with quite different
semantics. The By-Laws speak of re-creation as one of the purposes; again
a different meaning.

Corpora II.B says:
   
   B. Requirements for Participants at Society events
   
   Anyone may attend Society events provided he or she wears an attempt at
   pre-17th century clothing, conforms to the provisions in Corpora, and
   complies with any other requirements (such as site fees or waivers)
   which may be imposed. At business meetings and informal classes, the
   requirement to wear pre-17th century dress may be waived. All
   participants are expected to behave as ladies or gentlemen.

This only requires "an attempt". Not a "reasonable attempt". It's a real
low bar, and I'll freely concede that some people's attempt is hard to
see. However, this only speaks to clothing. Not furniture. Not tents.

> sorry to hear that you had some problems with hospitality in your area.  not
> sure that has anything to do with this topic though.
> 
> 
> 
> look, it boils down to a few simple facts.  one of those is that so many
> people in the sca like to react emotionally to things they do not, on the
> surface, agree with.  they attack the author and not the message. to date a
> few people have disagreed with what i have said on this topic and every one
> of them has made claims about me wanting to have everyone live up to my
> level of authenticity, or that i expect exact period techniques and
> materials.  obviously none of them have actually read what i have written.
> not a surprise, its fairly common.  the big thing that is lacking in all of
> these retorts is an argument against what i have suggested.  i have only
> suggested that the rules that are in place in the charter of the sca be
> followed.  why there are people that take the option to join an organization
> and then refuse to follow its rules is beyond me.  do you guys smoke in non
> smoking sections?  of course not.  just because there is no fear of being
> thrown out of an event for drinking out of a mello yello bottle doesnt mean
> we should spit on or ignore the rules.  that is the point.  not what i want
> to see.  frankly it doesnt really matter to me and its not my problem any
> longer.  i am only addressing it because i signed a check a few months ago
> and i support what we did.

That's not a productive response. It dismisses the very real concerns that
have been articulated -- articulated in responses that spoke to the substance
of the issue, not to the author. Arguments have been raised that question
the policy and show how it has (perhaps) unintended effects. 

Further, you assert that the rules of the SCA say things that I have not
been able to discover, and that would be inconsistent with the citations
I have given. Pray show where in the governing documents it actually says
what you claim it says.

You complain about being attacked as author, yet you turn around and return
the favore wholesale.

> so please, if anyone else wishes to step up and trumpet the greatness of
> coleman chairs or the impossibility of taking the field in anything but
> exposed plastic and tennis shoes also include why you think its ok to refuse
> to follow the rules.  perhaps the rules should be changed.  until they are
> why should you (general statement) be above them?  few other organizations
> would cater to such active disregard.

The "rules" (at least at the corporate level) do not forbid any of these 
things. I do not claim that they should be encouraged, but trying to 
legislate them out of the game is a dangerous path to take, and one which
will (has?) create needless strife.

I'm all for improving the ambiance. I'm not for trying to formally turn the
SCA into a high-authenticity organization. I'll support getting people to
disguise or discard modernities by positive encouragement. It doesn't work
on every one, but it pisses off far fewer people.

If I am faced with a demand that I do something, I am less likely to go the
extra mile to do it really well; I'll be more likely to do just enough to
get by, or a bit less if I can. I've got things I do prefer to do, and I'd
rather not have my limited resources frittered away on impositions. Make
it easy.

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/