ANST - BELTLESS PEERS

Patrick Cuccurello pat at adtelusa.com
Wed Nov 3 04:32:47 PST 1999


> Dear Master Petruccio
>  You have a lot of good points and we can agree to disagree 
> but there is
> one thing I would ague with you. The term politics is defined 
> in Social
> Science as the way people interact to get things done. Any time two or
> more people interact they have to use some form of politics.  It is a
> fault in our culture to be so afraid of the term "politics" 
> that we are
> always coming up with new terms.

Unfortunately, we are discussing the term politics as it is defined
within the Society for Creative Anachronism.  I think you will find
that the definition there is somewhat different.  It usually involves
gaining social advantage for the furtherance of one's personal goals.
Usually in the belief that those goals are best for the group despite
how people feel about the situation themselves.  Many times because
the person involved may think "they know best" because of titles or
levels of involvement.

Hence the only true politics with this organization is the ability to
find a consensus and built upon it.  Yes, a Crown, Officer, or Autocrat
can indeed make a decision contrary to the consensus of the whole. However,
as with any volunteer organization, it's no fun going to a Birthday 
Party if no one shows up. 

The reason that people in this organization are so afraid of the term
"politics" is because so many people who believe themselves experts in
the field end up making things worse.

<<<snippage>>>>

> I am
> a student of small group politics and  it doesn't matter if 
> you are going
> for power and prestige or a goal you can cause lots of damage 
> if you use
> techniques that harm people. Because people do not take the 
> time to study
> the ways and means of politic they often make big mistakes. 
> 
> Willow
> 

If someone is using politics for prestige in this group, my
recommendation is that they join the Rotary Club.

By defining an entire Peerage as being political you do a 
disservice to those individuals who may have received that
order plainly for hard work.  On the other side, by making
the Pelican a political peerage you ostracize those 
individuals who may work extremely hard in bettering this
organization, but don't care for political interaction. That
alienates an entire portion of the group and decreases your
work pool.  How's that for a "bad political decision"?

It has been my experience within the Society that people who
think they understand politics, often make big mistakes.  

Petruccio
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