Re: S.C.A. Moral Attractivness

[Wynn Klosky <klosky@meeker.UCAR.EDU>]

Poster: Wynn Klosky <klosky@meeker.UCAR.EDU>


Greetings from branwynn ottersby!

On Sun, 8 Sep 1996, Niall wrote:

> It is very difficult for a group of our size to change unless
> conditions come to a point where conditions become intolerable.
>    I'm not saying that the sca is turing to a scumpit as a whole
> I have seen numerous examples of extreame courtesy, honor and
> self sacrifice, as well as thievery, embezzlement, false witness
> and even cultism. I like to think that the latter is in the
> minority. However to my observance it seems to be spreading.
> How far will the disease go before we seek a cure?

These words of your heart reveal a sore wound that lies there,
and I am saddened that you must suffer with it. I hope that
what I say may let some hope in.

You feel that several types of negative behaviour seem in the SCA to
be spreading, but I'm not certain how to objectively quantify
such a thing. The amateur sociologist in me would point out that
as a population grows, a certain behaviour may increase in instances
while still staying low in percentages. I would opine that over
the past 10 years, the percentage of negative actions has remained
low relative to the swell in population we have experienced. Take
that into account. 

Another thing that happens when a population experiences significant
growth is that an element of anonymity creeps in. Part of what
discouraged most crime in the past is knowing every single person in
your group and the groups all around you (esp. camping). That just doesn't 
happen these days. Sometimes, you end up sharing common spaces with people
you haven't even met before. I'm not saying that they will be criminals,
but if you don't know exactly who should be coming and going from 
your areas, criminals can mix freely. This is VERY true of apartment
complexes across the U.S. right now. Virtually no one knows their neighbour.
Heck, it's true even of some entire house neighbourhoods! I lived
on several military bases growing up where there was ZERO anonymous crime
(like rip-offs, vandalism, etc.), not because there was no criminal 
element in society then, but because EVERYONE knew exactly who 
was and wasn't supposed to be there.

I have seen people take steps to combat anonymity. It is one area
where the society is NOT waiting until "conditions become intolerable"
and it is one of the easiest preventatives. Most groups have hospitalers,
etc., to deal with incoming new folks. Here where I live in the Outlands,
new people are taken in hand -- we are a smaller kingdom than Atlantia,
and new people stand out pretty easily. I can pretty confidentally
say that I could readily identify new people in my shire and the two
closest baronies (we only have five baronies out here, so that says
a lot, actually). I was never able to do that in Atlantia. I could
identify the people new to my barony, but keeping track of Caer
Mear and, uh, lessee, at that point, Storvik ;^) would be tough.

When I joined the SCA, I was thrust rather rapidly into the inner
workings of the beast, where one has occasion to witness a lot more
of the negatives than when one is concerned solely with attending
events, researching, etc. As baroness of Black Diamond, I heard
about thievery, embezzlement, yes, even cultism and worse. Thievery
was pretty uncommon, but we were never of the impression that
you should leave wallets in common areas unattended -- if you grew
up with that notion, it may be that things indeed got BETTER
since 1986! :^) Anyway, it is possible also that the longer you
are in the society, the more stories/experiences of this variety
you will be exposed to -- and what seems to be a growing wave of
bad behaviour can be partially understood in terms of sensitivity
to that area. Take that into account as well.

But, while it may not seem particularly helpful to know that bad
people have always been around, it is certainly helpful to know
that the good people have, too. For every one person who would pick
up and keep the wallet you left behind, there are easily 600 who
would see it returned to you. And that is how I remember it. :^)

Now, what you may see as *tolerance* of a disease, in some cases is
I think based in hesitancy and ineffectiveness. In some cases, people are
just as indignant as shorn hedgehogs, but wait to act because they
are not certain who should be handling things in the society. In
all cases, if a mundane crime (robbery, rape, assault, etc.) 
has been committed against you, it is the mundane authorities' business!!!! 
I don't care if it is the Archduke from Beyond Time. If it is an SCA crime
(didn't acknowledge my blow, is using my heraldry, is wearing a white
belt and pretending to be a knight, is playing "We Will Rock You"
out of a boombox, is banging a pan and yelling at 6:30 a.m., is
playing a doumbek poorly...ummm. These are all hypothetical, and 
certainly not meant to be describing the same person...), then go
through the appropriate SCA channels (which all start with talking
to the person yourself!).

To cure a disease, you must see the doctor and report the symptoms.

But generally, keeping bad stuff from happening to good people is
a matter of prevention rather than cure. We need to be PROACTIVE.
It is a lot easier to ask, "Who are you, and why have you got
Lord Torchlight's gerfligl?" than to try to track it down after
it is gone. (OR EVEN: "Excuse me, but that's the third time I've
hit you with that leg blow. You didn't acknowledge any of them,
which says to me you think they are no good. Is that what you are
meaning to say?" rather than saying nothing and just wingeing about
it later...) who rely on our innocent good nature will get antsy 
when they realize they are not going unnoticed.

Sort of on a side note, if you borrow something, make sure you
return it. Things like hammers go missing a lot at camping events
because Person X borrows a hammer. Y sees X using it and asks to
use it when he is done (and so on, and so on). Meanwhile, X has
his pavilion up and has gone off to find Z to talk about the job
they have tomorrow. Before you know it, it is the end of the event
and Person A wonders where his hammer is and Person Q wonders
"where the heck did this hammer come from?" (And sometimes Person
A doesn't even notice until the beginning of the NEXT event, when
he is trying to put up his pavilion in the dark :^)

Take care,
branwynn ottersby
(who realizes she has it pretty easy here in Colorado after
reading these and the Fran posts)

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