Yusuf on Culture

Greetings all,

While EB gave me credit for this idea it was more of a synthesis of people's ,one of whom was EB, ideas and EB's hard work, credit where credit is due. I know of many people have been interested in a comprehensive history of An Tir for quite a while and the trick is to capture the culture. Our culture is mostly spoken. As time goes by and the history is filled in and our living history is added as it happens we will gain a fabulous wealth of understanding about what it is that we are actually doing. New members will be able to look up the old paragons of the society that we all miss so much and tell stories about. They will be able to get a rounded picture of the people who we cherrish. I tried asking a resonably large group of roughly 5 year sca veterans if they knew who the dowager princess of An Tir was. The response? Whats a dowager princess? This is lost, and so much more. With everyone being able to comment and reflect on what they found special at events, or what they did not we will be able to refer back to events that we have been to and gain an insight from many different views into the goings on there. That in my mind is a blessing for all of us.

This is a two year old email that I posted to some list or another, it is essentially when I realized that the culture of the SCA that I had grown up in had changed. I understood through discussions with many old timers that we had to try and bring it back. The SCA is supposed to be a place where we leave our mundane shackles behind and live as we would think living well would befit us.

Thanks for reading my rants. Regards Yusuf

Greetings,

I had this disturbing thought when putting a bunch of unrelated things together.

I posted a hastily written rant earlier and, after pondering the private responses and the other posts that I have read today, I find that I must clarify and expand on my earlier post. Understand I am not claiming to be high and mighty here; the level of absurdity in me trying to be anything other than what I am is making me laugh as I type. There are many who will read this that have probably, at some point when I was younger, found me drunk as a skunk wrapped around a rock in the morning after a good loud Saturday night party. I am posting my perceptions of cultural change within the SCA, well, honestly, in An Tir where I play.

The causes for this rant.

The post from an injured person who was shocked that no-one checked on their screams (What? Where I live my neighbors would do that and the SCA is supposed to be better)

The posts about armour and weapons being stolen from the war field at An Tir West War (I am actually horrified)

The posts about Authenticity being a requirement at crown level events in other kingdoms (A desperate try to filter out the 'bad elements')

The various 'flame' wars that go on regularly (Childish; leave the egos behind the scenes)

Watching a couple of Adults at An Tir West have a giant argument about something so trivial that my children (who are 4 and 7) could do a better job at finding something to argue about.

These things are indicative of what I am beginning to think is a cultural crisis within the SCA. The culture of the SCA has been carried in a very historically correct word-of-mouth fashion. We do not have a written culture in the SCA and I am not sure that writing is considered or recognized as a peer level art form (correct me if I am wrong). I recently posted a hasty rant on the Steps about the growth spurts within the SCA over the last 10 years causing a tremendous amount of cultural diffusion.

When I first joined as a young teenager (over twenty years ago) the growth was slow enough that every new person was exposed to a large amount of behaviour by example. The culture was easy for a newcomer to assimilate and understand as it was all around them all the time at events, potlucks, practices etc... The behavior of every person that I was exposed to was noble; even the wild party animals could be considered noble savages. They all bowed to the thrones, they all greeted most everyone they saw with a smile, they all helped out whenever they could. If there were personality clashes they were held in check in public and handled strictly in private, to the point of people arranging to camp on opposite sides of campsites if they were at the same event. The society had a culture that was distinctly different from the mundane world. There were people who were utter rogues in mundane life who were angels and examples of honesty and integrity in the SCA, no kidding. This is not to say that there were not problems and issues like we have today, but they were, for the most part, handled quietly.

(excerpt from my earlier post to the steps below)

I have the advantage of returning to the society after a long sabbatical. I stopped playing more than once or twice a year about 10 years ago. I watched the first and second major growth spikes and the dramatic changes that they had on our culture. Currently older and (I hope) wiser I can reflect upon what our society is and what it was with some detachment. I was not jaded through the years as many old timers have been, which has saddened me to no end (more on this later).

When I was first in the Society our barony was small, (I am going to use arbitrary numbers here so please don't jump down my throat for inaccuracies). Our Barony had about 100 people in it. Crown tourneys in the early days of An Tir were in the low hundreds, if that, and most everyone knew each other by face if not by name. If 5 people joined in our barony they had 100 people to learn from by example and discussions. The concept of a screaming match between people was dim, although not unheard of. Those 5 people were taught, taken under wing and brought within the 'current middle ages'; a completely different world from mundane. A world where everyone helped everyone, everyone was civil and kind and helpful. Those 5 people either found a place in the society or did not. Growth was slow and stable.

Then the first spike hit. 100 new people. There was not the cultural strength to teach them all by example. Within these rifts grew some very different attitudes and behaviours. The concept of exhibiting honor, chivalry, kindness etc, was watered down. The idea that awards were something to hunt, slay and get because they were your right rather than a recognition became pronounced. The ignoring of people at events because they did not groove with your way of doing things became common. I have met people that have been in the society for 5 years and had no idea what a peer was. I've had people that have been in for years ask me why I bow to the empty thrones. The culture in our group is mostly maintained by word-of-mouth. There is no definitive "Why we are the way we are, why we jump to help shoulder another's burden" booklet. There is only what can be learned by word-of-mouth. With two major growth spikes that were reasonably close together the culture was watered down.

(end of excerpt)

In the earlier days my parents asked me if the SCA was a cult on numerous occasions. They finally figured that it was keeping me out of trouble and that I was being more polite and actually going to school, so why jump on a good thing. They also met many members of Lions Gate and got along famously with them and the SCA, although weird, made no cult-like demands on me. Back in the earlier days, if someone stole something they were ostracized, they were shunned, they were invited never to come back and everyone knew about it because everyone knew everyone. If I was too young to know why so-and-so was to be avoided I was told that there was good reason. Everyone was on the same page.

We have something wonderful here we must protect it and ourselves. I have only recently begun to feel ill at ease with my campsite being empty, with my wallet being in the open. For crying out loud, at one event one of my roommates lost a pouch with $1200 and no I.D. no nothing in it, just cash, and it was turned in. (Lucky for us; it was our rent money and it having been lost on Friday meant that we were not tempted to drink any of it.) The solution is simple, if someone is doing something bad, you get some people together and have a little talk with them. Ideally you get a couple of peers and at least one Knight (some muscle for symbolic value). But then the whole definition of what is bad gets involved and it becomes a giant nightmare. I have a couple of things to say.

We are not police, we are not anyone's moral judge and the temptation to become these things in an environment where we are becoming afraid is all too strong. And we are becoming afraid, A culture of fear will destroy the SCA as we know it.

I believe (and I am sure that I will get flack for this but this is what I believe and we live in reasonably free democratic nations), If someone's behavior is harmful to someone else then we get involved. (eg. sexual predators, violent offenders, thieves, etc.) If someone's behavior is harmful to themselves and not anyone else, but not terminal then we leave them alone and let Darwin sort it out.(this is sorta hardline and generally not really what happens, it just sounded so good that I could not resist including it as it was written)

Then the mundane law topic. It's simple and everyone should figure it out. IF the police get called in to events on a regular basis for minor legal infractions, the SCA will become the 'bug in the microscope'. So people, behave yourselves.

We in the SCA are all considered to be nobility. We are expected to be responsible for our own actions and answerable to ourselves and those who we owe fealty to. We are supposed to behave with honour and have a word of honour.We, within the confines of the SCA, are to behave as such. We are supposed to be able to go to an event or practice and BE in persona. TO BE NOBLE. We are playing this game to leave all the SHITE of mundane life out of it for a couple of days.

I don't even know if I am making sense any more.

How do we change this? It's actually very simple.

Every event you go to you befriend somone who you don't know. If you don't like somone too much well, thats life. 80% of the people in the SCA will not be your kind of person, 5% will be the kind of people that you wished you had as friends 20 years ago, 2% of the people will become closer to you than you can justify when you only see them 5 times a year. You get to know your event neighbours, you help them set up or take down or carry something heavy, you share with them etc. You talk about the culture in the SCA and how neat it is to leave the culture of fear behind for a weekend. You find newbies and you explain kindly the difference between person and persona, between mundane and medieval. You share what you think is fantastic in the SCA.

With this done, we will live in a small town again. In two years no one will be able to walk off with anything without 5 or 6 other people asking them if they wan't a hand taking Marius's armour back to his camp.

The challenge. The Glove.

If we want the SCA to be better than the mundane world then we need to be better as well. I shall endeavour to try, anyone else?

Think about it

Regards Yusuf ben Joseph Squire to Duke Eirik Thorrinson

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