terrshee's Diaryland Diary

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A Gentle Authenticity Rant

The Laurel list is having some give and take on the subject of declining authenticity. It is a subject I was bemoaning just last night at dinner with Fin and KnitGeek.

I do sort of wonder if this is just one of the cyclical lows, or if in fact there is a cultural shift in the SCA.

At the moment I'm rather favoring the cultural shift theory.

While there are pockets of protectors who reach for better things, I suspect we are losing the battle to the necessary evils of bureaucracy.

Way back when I joined up (rocks had solidified a bit by then) we just weren't hammered into shape by rules and the regnum. There was a little breathing space for originality.

Today if you join there are ample opportunities for service and involvement, but relatively little that hasn't already got its organization in place. The organic is absent.

I cannot say I regret that we have more controls over finances and such (I cringe to think of the potential for petty (or not so petty) pilfering that used to be ignored in favor of the naive attitude that only honest people are in the SCA).

I do not regret that we have acknowledged that the fighting aspects present some physical dangers and that we require fighters to have at least minimal training and equipment.

But the regimentation of the arts, the weight of social expectations that members will join households or have high level of group association, the event planner mentality (we must have heavy and rapier lists, a feast and court in order to succeed) have all combined to sap more than a little of the freshness from participation.

Some is simply bowing to the reality of dealing with the real world (sites are getting more expensive and harder to find, we are more likely to be sued for bad behavior on the part of one person, etc.). And of course size plays a part; in order to have thousands interact, you do have to set some ground rules.

But a lot of it strikes me as unnecessary and letting the officious overrun the sensible.

How can you expect people to bring enthusiam and attention to the details of participation when they first have to do the hoop jumping?

11:06 a.m. - 2006-04-03
1 comments

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