Re: Pennsic Letter

[AEdric the Grene <AEdric@mindspring.com>]

Poster: AEdric the Grene <AEdric@mindspring.com>

>Poster: Denise McMahon <baroness@stierbach.org>
>
>Everyone's human- let's try to remember that and act accordingly. What
>distresses me 
>most is reading the latest version of the "rules and regulations for proper
>Pennsic attendance"
>every year and seeing how it's starting to drift towards something more akin
>to a Penal Code. 

I wonder if this isn't inevitable.  10,000+ people living in one place for
an extended period sounds an awful lot like a town to me, and every town I
know of has some sorts of laws to deal with the conflicts that _will_ arise.

On the other hand, I do not see this applying to clothes.  While one can
question the wisdom of a reminder of what one *shouldn't* wear, the
clothing is still left up to the individuals.  No authorisation for any
sort of "period police" is given.

>It would serve us as a Society (in my humble opinion) to question what it is
>we are trying to
>acheive by writing a rule- and then attempt to address that need in as a
>respectful and courteous way
>as possible and carefully avoid the Them and Us mindset of most "rule makers"
>attitudes.  We 

Agreed completely.  I've always thought the clothing rule trying to achieve
the goal of visually defining the Society and a good way of letting people
know how to "fit in".  Additionally, the rule helps define what the SCA is
not: Starfleet, VTSFFC, FanTek, Technicon, CastleCon, Balticon, or any
other SF/Fantasy group or convention (even though a good portion of
SCAdians may belong to one or more of these other groups).  

OTOH, I have also long been sorely disappointed in the way the rule has
been maliciously(?) "enforced" by (hopefully unsciously) self-righteous
people who find it their duty to inform people of how their clothing
doesn't meet the standard (which is ridiculous, since the rule says only
that "a reasonable attempt" is needed).  There are, of course, more people
than those who are kind and helpful and try to assist people in a
non-threatening way.  However, unsurprisingly, people better remember the
rude and the ridiculous a lot more.  If nothing else, the stories are far
more amusing and horrifying than that of someone being nice and helpful.
This, I think, is the big problem people have with the rule: they don't
want to pay attention to it, since those "enforcing" it are such jerks,
intentionally or not.  All of which is a shame, since it's not a hard rule
to follow and following the rule can lead to a greater enjoyment of events,
especially when modern people are impressed enough to ask if you're in a
play (I really do think they mean it as a compliment).


AEdric the Grene
House Howling Mouse

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