Re: Too many egos in charge

[jsrechts@imap.unc.edu]

Poster: jsrechts@imap.unc.edu


>It has been said, many times and by people whose intellect is probably
>deeper than mine, that Pennsic becomes an entity that resides outside
>of the normal sphere of reality. Anyone who has ever been to pennsic
can
>verify that there just isn't anything like it in the world. While this
>is no excuse for people ego's or tempers to get away from this, it
>would be childish not to recognize that temper and emotions do run
higher at
>the war than at any other event of the year. 

This is true - which is why we have to be aware of this fact and
recognize our heightened emotions before they
creep up on us and cause us to act before thinking.

>, but it is also
>hypocritical to place yourself in judgement of the people who have
>willingly placed themselves in positions of responsibility.

I believe the contrary, people in positions of responsibility must
accept the fact that they will be judged.  It comes with the territory.
They will be
judged by the contemporaries and by historians later down the road.
Look at Clinton - do you think it's innappropriate to criticise his
actions?  Or the actions of
Kenneth Starr?  If we don't question - we're in for a heap of trouble.
Questioning Authority is a Good Thing - it keeps those who are in line.

>Furthermore,
>your post tends to lead the reader to believe that the East and its
>EVIL ALLIES tried to do some form of harm to poor innocent Midrealm and
its
>ever chivalrous allies. I'm here to tell you..i don't know how many of
>the battles you were in, but i was in every single one of them, and i
>was witness to some of the most shocking and unbelievable behavior that
>i have ever seen...and almost all of it was perpetrated by someone with
>a red piece of tape on there helmet.


I fought all battles save the the woods and first field battle.  I did
not see an unchivalrous incident on either side.  That's not to say it
didn't happen, obviously in your case it did.
There are bad apples on every side.  I think that the actual behavior on
the field by your average combatant was better than in other Pennsics
I've seen.  Actually, I was slamming  the Mid and the East.  Actually,
the Kingdom of the West and some members of Ansteorra did not leave the
field with the Eastern army.   It is usually the case that the Midrealm
really doesn't care about who wins or loses.  In the meantime, the East
prepares
year round to beat the Midrealm at Pennsic.  A friend of mine once told
me a story of an Eastern knight asking her (A Midrealmer) why the
Midrealm doesn't get it's act together.  Her response was, "We don't
care about winning Pennsic."  Because of Jafar, the Midrealm got
nationalistic.  This behavior was wrong.  It was wrong for the Mid this
year and it is wrong for the East every year.
This time, because of Jafar, the Midrealm took the Eastern gusto to
fight and WIN to an extreme.  In short, the Mid adopted some bad habits
practiced in the past by the East.  Worse yet, they did it in Jafar's
name (hence my criticism about
honor).  The pervasive nationalism on the part of the East and the
behavior of the Committee behind the Throne of the Midrealm really
should have no part in our game.  It only excerbates heated situations.
There is such a thing as friendly competition - we had a wonderful
example of it during the World Cup match between Iran and the US.

>
>Wow...Hmm, remember that next time you put on your glasses at an event.
>Sure, there are tons of things from medieval literature that could be
>chanted to fire up the fighters. Hell, i could stand on a shield and go
>into the whole " we few...we noble few" speech from Henry V...and
>hopefully be cognizant enough of my surroundings to duck the vegetables
>that would be thrown at me. By now you probably feel that i am
>attacking you, and that is not my intent. Instead, let me give you my
read on the
>whole " Everybody fights, Nobody quits" scenario.

Actually my point was not that we ditch all of our anachronisms (Too
idealistic and impossible to do in the SCA) but I think it's high time
we got rid of the glaring ones.  For instance, a person who wears nasty
blue plastic armor is
likely to wear a tabard over it to hide some of the 20th century.  He
may still wear combat boots but he has obscured the glaring anachronism.
I compare my gripe about the modern war cries to someone wearing blue
plastic with no attempt to cover it.

>The forces of Atlantia, who were the main people doing the chanting,
>were laying on a sun baked field...exhaustion from the toils of
>fighting for thier kingdom dragging thier limbs to the ground with
leaden
>dullness. Atlantia had just faced a foe larger in numbers, but smaller
>in heart.

This is a nice view and if you gave a speech like that, it would be more
inspiring (at least to me and my friend with whom I fought - the war
cries turned him off too) than a quote from a movie based on a fascist
book.
In fact, there is a speech from the "Battle of Maldon" similar to what
you just wrote.  As I don't have the translation on me, I can't quote it
verbatim but the gist is "The Stronger the Mind, the Stronger the
Heart..."
When I heard "Everybody fights, Nobody Quits" I equated it with the
quotes from Monty Python that are repeated ad nauseum at SCA events.

Finally, in regard to the behavior of war leaders from all kingdoms,
past and present, it takes more than one to Tango.  Action and reaction
are not formed in vacuums.  

Lyanna

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