[Ansteorra] Kansas State historical society bans re-enactments of war or violence

[Jennifer Smith]

On 27 Feb 2002 at 17:01, knotwork at juno.com wrote:
> Since most SCA activities are not intended to be historically accurate
> re-enactments of specific battles,  I would think that Kansas should
> allow events as martial arts demonstrations.  We shed less blood than the
> stylized violence of games like football.

Actually, the important thing here to note is that this doesn't affect the
SCA at all -- aside from demos and suchlike, we don't put on *public events*.

A similar thing came up about a year ago, at Roman Nose State Park in
Oklahoma. Some open-to-the-public recreation of 1868 or something, which
featured -- I kid you not -- a re-enactment of "vigilante justice", a nice
hanging.

The problem, you see, was that the busloads of kids from school, families,
and whatnot weren't expecting to see anything like that, and complaints were
filed. I quote from a boyscout page I found on their troop's visit: "This was
one, seriously real drama that left most of the on-lookers feeling pretty
uneasy about 'frontier justice'."  The park officials asked the organizers to
Tone It Down next year.

Yes, that kind of stuff really happened in the past, certainly, and it
shouldn't be forgotten.  But I do think there is room for a bit of common
sense and courtesy.  If your audience is warned ahead of time, fine. I know I
would be upset if I'd taken a young child and seen something like that
without warning.

Anyway.  People who come to SCA events know what to expect.

-Emma de Fetherstan

--
Jennifer Smith
jds at randomgang.com