[Ansteorra] A social aside (was tractions and problems)

[Marc Carlson]

Your Grace, Mistress Gunnora and anyone I might have missed.

I hope you will forgive my presumption for speaking out of place on this, a
topic that clearly has nothing to do with me.  However, if I may be so bold,
I would like to make some suggestions base upon simple observation.

I am pleased that the Peerage and Nobles are being encouraged in interact
with the populace, but clearly this seems to have created some confusions on
both side of the semi-permeable barrier that separates us: peer and
populace.  This is unfortunate since it is from such confusions that lack of
interactions can arise.

As Mistress Gunnora suggested with regards the people complaining - some of
them may well be doing you the honor of assuming that you can do something
whatever the problem is.  On the other hand, they may just be responding to
the chance for someone "important" to just -hear- them, and what they have
to say.

This should, in no way, be considered a statement of how the peerage should
behave, whether what has happened in the past is appropriate, or even
universal.  None of that.  I am simply noting observations.

The mere fact that the people have -responded- to the request that the
Peerage interact says quite a bit in and of itself.  My observation is that
the people, in general, feel unheard.  Certain some will never be heard
because they can't be bothered to try to make their way to those who might
listen (these may be because they are too inhibited, while others feel (with
justification or not) that they've been smacked down for expressing
themselves once too often).  The concept of "peer fear" is so deeply
integrated into the Society that it rivals the whole "authenticity police"
phobia - and while it may be as baseless in reality (if we are to believe
the 81 Rialto messages, and at least 42 web pages that have discussed it
online) the fear is still present.

On the other hand, there are many times Peers and people of importance (for
whatever reason) -do- appear to be unapproachable (before people start
jumping in to defend the Peerage - it's really not needed.  Yes, we all know
that there are Peers who are eminently approachable and friendly.  I'm
trying to look at an overall response to the whole.  If you don't agree with
my conclusions, I would be happy to discuss it with you privately).
Sometimes people are busy, tired, distracted, clueless, shy, and sometimes
they ARE unapproachable (trust me, I'm accused of it too).

I have a suspicion about how this view has evolved in the context of the
Society.

In the Middle Ages, as we all know, the Peerage (which consisted pretty much
of the Nobility (those with titles)) and were considered an ontologically
different form of human than the average commoner.  The peerage were
considered by their societies to be closer to God, and therefore, by
definition just better people.  From this ground sprang the intertwined
concepts of Noblesse Oblige and knowing your place.  Noblesse Oblige, in
case there are those who have not heard of this, is the Victorian notion of
the obligations of the Nobility to those beneath them -- since the Peerage
is superior to those beneath them, they have the obligation to care for
those beneath them socially, as parents care for children (as an aside, this
is the ultimate origin of the other 19th century concept of the "White Man's
Burden" which helped colonialism so well).  Because your social place is
assigned by God, that social position really can't change all that much, if
at all. From that "a place for everything and everything in its place"
culture, people were encouraged to "know their place", which would help them
know what was expected of them, and what they could expect of others.

Now, in such a system, it is -unthinkable- for say, me, a Gentleman yes, but
still a "non-noble" to even _approach_ a noble without some great reason,
much less talk to them and ask them how to do something.  Not because I
suffer from "peer fear" (since clearly I don't :) ), but because it's
socially inappropriate to do so.  They can approach me and talk to me to
their hearts content, and I can respond to that, but that's all.  [For the
record, this is how I -try- to play my persona -- although when dealing with
my local peers, keeping my distance is harder]

Now, in the US we try to pretend that we have no such social distinctions,
and especially here in this part of the country, there is an attitude of the
Hat's just a job, and when it's not on, I'm just like you all.  This is
even, to a certain degree, implicit in the assumption that "we are all
noble".

The difficulties emerge since there IS a de facto difference between SCA
Peers and non-Peers (that award), to the degree that I daresay that many
people view the SCA Peers *as* the Nobility, and the populace as the commons
[for which you might look at long standing disagreements over time about the
names given the various awards and how they are viewed.  Also the use of the
term "Peer" to refer to a specific subset of the Nobility when, historically
this was not the case].  The fact that we have developed a subtle parallel
isn't either surprising or singular (there are other parallels - some far
more annoying from an educational perspective...).  Most people just happen
to SEE Peers as being different and more important than they are.

Over the years there has developed an uncomfortable dichotomy of "are they
different from the populace or aren't they", "are they like medieval peers
or aren't they".  And I know this makes some people uncomfortable (to be
honest, most Americans find the whole topic of social class distasteful and
tend to accuse those who bring it up at all of being "snobs").  We really
want to be just "one of the herd".  This stress is made more difficult by
the fact that different Peers have different views on the topic.

Now, having gone through all this, I'd like to make a suggestion, if I may.
You will recall that I said I wasn't going to tell anyone the
responsibilities of the peer, and I'm still not.  Yes, I have my opinions,
but that's all they are.  I'm just going to point out that if the Peerage
can't come to a consensus about how they should be viewed, treated or
approached, the Populace certainly isn't in the position to do it for them.

Thank you for your time.

Diarmaid O'Duinn/Marc Carlson

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