ANST - barbarians & propaganda ... was: 13 Warrior

[j'lynn yeates]

if one reads the period accounts from the primary sources listed in _The 
Barbain Chronicles_ (see a previous posting from today), and understands the 
concpts of propaganda as developed into a high form of manipulation in this 
century (germany and then the modern media / advertising / political venus) one 
is struck with some interesting simularities with this FICTIONAL 
*entertainment* (disclaimer for too serious or reality challenged ... grin) ... 

through the eye's a "civiliized" individual amongst a "barbarian" people you 
see a race of cannibilistic "monsters", coming out of the darkness, to prey on 
"civilization", who must be destroyed, etc ... read the primaries and you will 
see the same details painted about many peoples we know historically - Huns', 
Vikings, Irish, Tartars, Mongols, ...  it is always interesting, when your 
enemies accounts are what primarily survive to define who you are.

when faced with the "stranger", especially the "barbarian stranger" who appears 
in mass from the unknown quarters, it is far easier to spread fear, turn 
attention away from internal problems, stregthen political control, and rally 
support against them if you villify and dehumanise them as subhuman's ( ... who 
remembers the lessons learned from WWII in this century?) ... paint them as a 
"monsters" attempting to "destroy civilization" and "pull everything down into 
darkness" ... looking at things in that light, certain historically infamous 
groups within the SCA tend to come to mind, eh?  (g).

gotta dig into my Parabola collection, seem to remember several related issues 
that have articles of relevence.

another point to consider, without the "barbarian cultural renewal", the 
medieval world that the SCA idealizes (and many cases idolizes) would have 
never existed.  the development of feudalism (and it's fantasies ...) is a 
direct response to the collapse of structured roman culture that was already in 
decline and finally shattered by the barbarian incursions that led to the "dark 
ages".... 

consider nature ... preditors keep the balance in their prey species and keep 
them healthy, remove the preditors and the prey species grow weak and decline.  
culturally, the barbians were always those preditors that kept the cultures 
strong (through "feeding" upon them and regular infusuions of "new cultural 
blood")

way i look at it, interesting lessons to be learned here from such 
*entertainments" ... unless of course they *are* simply cannibalistic, 
barbarian morlocks and you're on the menu (g).  that of course falls under the 
"exterminate the brutes" catagory (++g) 
   
'wolf
.. the street finds uses for things ... and there are always lessons to be 
learned in everything


... truth is the sword of us all (lords of the new church)
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