Prejudices within Our Society

Michael Gunter michael_gunter1 at msmail.fnts.com
Tue Nov 19 11:11:23 PST 1996


Greetings once again,

I would first like to thank all who have written in so far for keeping this
discussion in the manner in which it was presented.  The responses, so far,
have been well-thought, articulate, and even with touches of wry humor.  I
feared emotional bombast and luckily everyone has kept it the open discussion
it was meant to be.  Thank you.

I would like to comment upon some of the counter-points raised against Sir
Lyonel's and my original arguments.  I guess I did not make one point clear
and that was that many of the actions which caused the prejudices were done
in the past and are now being worked out by concerted efforts from both the
pro- and anti- rapier communities.  There are many more rapier fighters
helping out at armored events and vice-versa.  It is not uncommon to see a
knight marshalling a swash list.  Some of the points I raised were old scars
that have left lasting impressions.  Some points are still valid. 

HE Zara Zina wrote (in part) much of the problems between the groups is based
on a small, visible minority.  I most heartily agree!  But it is this
minority, on both sides, which needs to be sanctioned.  Because of this small
minority some rapier lists require a site token to be presented to the
Minister of the List to show that the fighter had paid.  It's the bad apples
of any group that make the rest lose their luster.

We tend not to notice the amout of red belts and red scarves running around
doing all the chores at an event.  I think if we made a concentrated effort
to notice we would be surprised at the amount of work done by both sides.  We
just don't seem to notice because they aren't wearing the white.  (By the way
Your Excellancy, I believe if you think back you'll notice that there were
more members of the Chivalry at LPT & Queen's than you first thought.  I
counted and was surprised at the number.)

I agree that facing gonnes and cannon requires courage far beyond mine and
those soldiers in the times of gunpowder were indeed brave.  However I cannot
see the correlation between rapier fighters and those who faced down cannon. 
Besides, one of the attractive aspects of the SCA to me personally was that
this was an age before guns made everyone equal.  I know I'm not talking REAL
history but the romantic fiction which inspired me.

There has been some discussion on the rapier-net about the "fear of the
sword" in duels which is lacking in our "safe" sport.  That is one reason I
mentioned the "fear and pain" aspect of armored combat.  The other is another
explaination of the arrogance of some heavy fighters over rapier fighters. 
Not reasonable, I agree, but there nonetheless.

Another point I'd like to address is the mis-conception over my comment about
light-fighters during heavy lists.  As Sir Lyonel, my fingers seemed to lack
some of the input my brain started.  I have no problems with people doing
embroidery, wandering the merchants, talking politics or what-have-you. 
These activities are frequently done around the tourney field and add to the
ambiance of the whole show.  Even I don't watch every bout.  I gossip, visit
merchants, etc...  The problem wasn't the light fighters sitting off in a
group during the list, but they would practice fighting just off to the side.
 That was when people had problems.  To be fair this practice has declined
greatly in the past couple of years, but this was another early dig that
caused the ill-will in the first place.

I agree that there are bad apples in all groups.  The stories of horrible
knights are shameful.  There are Laurels who delight in picking apart
someone's work.  All groups have thier shame as well as their greatness. 
Ansteorra has come far in tearing down the walls against the rapier community
and the walls crumble a little more every day.  This isn't so much a fight
between "stick-jocks" and "wire-weenies" that is just the most visible
aspect.  I welcome those whose work in the rapier community have elevated
them to the Laurel or Pelican.  Tivar is a wonderful example of this.

Yers,

Gunthar
 




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