[Ansteorra] (IN)Authenticity Police

[Fitzmorgan at aol.com]

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Some longish philosophical ramblings.  Skip if you're in a hurry.

       I've been reading the various threads on slang, trolls, authenticity
and so on for a few days now and find all it a bit puzzling.   I have been
playing for about 17 years now and I have never, not once, had someone
criticize me for doing or wearing something that wasn't period, or accurate.
Based on my own personal experience I would have to say that the Authenticity
Police are as mythical as Trolls.  I've heard about them but I've never seen
one.
       It can't be that I'm so authentic that no one sees anything to
criticize.  Ask anyone who knows me, that isn't it.  I suppose that it might
be that the "Authenticity Police" (AP) are afraid to give me a hard time.
I've been told that some people find me intimidating.  I tend to doubt that
though as I haven't noticed any shortage of people willing to tell me if they
don't like something I've done or said.   I figure I'm just lucky, or that
the AP are in fact attacking me and I'm just too oblivious to notice.  (Hey!
I like the worlds inside my head and spend a lot of time there.)
       I haven't encountered any members of the Inauthenticity Police (IP)
either.  The ones who get all worked up if anyone tries to be "More Period
than Thou".  Again, I've heard about them but never actually seen one.
Perhaps they hang around with the Dragons.  I suppose in this case I just
stay below their radar.  I work for authenticity in my bardic performances,
and no one seems to have a proublem with that.  However the only time I'm
really in persona is when I'm performing, in court or when I'm around other
people who are in persona.  Most of the time there isn't that much difference
between Robert Fitzmorgan and Scott Fridenberg.
       I don't doubt that there are people who behave like jerks, either for
or against more authenticy.  I've met my share of jerks in the SCA,  just not
these particular ones.  I wonder if it's not in part a matter of perception.

       To my view we each have our own Ansteorra.  No two people experience
the same event.  They come to an event with different experiences, different
expectations. They participate in different activities.  I sometimes listened
to someone complain about a bad event and thought to myself that they clearly
didn't attend the same event I did. and of course they didn't.  In the same
way no two people experience the same Ansteorra.  My Ansteorra doesn't have
(AP) or (IP), perhaps in large part because I don't expect to see them so I
don't notice them if they are there.  They don't intrude on my world to the
point of actually catching my attention.  On the other hand I notice all the
time comments by people who don't like bards, it's something I'm sensitive
to.  Just like you might hear someone behind you say your name in a loud and
crowded room and through all the noise you will hear your name and turn and
focus on that person, you are sensitive to your name.  I might be walking
through the feast hall and hear someone say "hostage dinner theater" and will
turn and focus on that person.  I'm sensitive to those sorts of comments.
       My Ansteorra exists only in my head and in my heart.  My Ansteorra
doesn't have (AP) or (IP) but it's chock full of people who don't like bards.
 And there's not much I can do about it.  If those comments are being made
anywhere near me I'm going to notice them.  I'm sensitive to them.  I'm not
particularly sensitive to people who resent others being more authentic than
themselves, so if those sorts of comments are being made around me unless
that person already has my attention I probably won't notice.  I'll be too
focused on the Lady complaining about court heralds who can't pronounce her
name correctly.

Robert Fitzmorgan
Bard, Herald and Amateur Philosopher