judging ethics

[James Crouchet]

On Thu, 27 Apr 1995 C11Hartel at aol.com wrote:

> I myself find there to be NO problems in judging a competition that my wife
> has entered.  If I had a s/s/c/p I still don't think I'ld have any problems.
>  I am, in the real world, a Sergent in the Army and therefore have learned
>> how to control some ethical delimnas.  I have set a rule for myself that I
>> would not vote for her entrees.  To the best of my knowledge, there are no
>> rules reguarding this subject except the ones imposed by ourselves.
>> 
>> Eldred
>> 

>
>Eldred your a better man then I. I tend to pull for friends and loved ones.
>                  Anas ibn Haroun al-Zaki

I agree with Eldred. There are no rules concerning such judging, but I 
feel it is unwise for a person to judge their Significant Other's work, 
but I think many people CAN fairly judge the work of others in the same 
competition.

What one must guard against is people like Haroun, above, who are unable
or unwilling to be objective in their judging (I assume that is what his
message meant).  In this case the gentle is wise enough to recognize this
about himself and, I assume, honorable enough that he would avoid judging
such a contest. 

There is certainly room for abuse in a system that does not regulate 
this, but I am not in favor of placing rules and restrictions on it. One 
of the primary concepts of the SCA is that the gentles who play with us 
should conduct themselves honorably. But in order to behave honorably one 
must be given the opportunity to behave DIShonorably.

An analogy I often use is a man who finds himself in front of a large 
pile of money but does not steal any of it.  If the reason he did not 
take the money was because there was an armed guard in front of the money 
this man has not demonstrated that he is honest, just that he is not 
stupid enough to do something that he will be shot for.

In fact, these situations also provide the opportunity for people to learn
how to be honorable. Of course, there is not just one right answer. A
person might refuse to judge a competition with a good friend in it, or
one might strive to be objective, and there are surely other honorable
ways of handling such situations. If one choose an inappropriate method of 
dealing with it (such as making sure your buddies get all the awards) 
there will be unpleasant social consequences and hopefully that person 
will learn a valuable lesson.

I believe the competition itself is relatively unimportant in the overall 
scheme of things, but the opportunity it provides to be honorable, or to 
learn how to be honorable is important.


Savian