[Ansteorra] the Attack of the "Authenticity Police"

Scott Barrett barrett1 at cox.net
Tue Jul 12 23:45:47 PDT 2005


I have a question. Who are they? Where are they?

  For fifteen years I have called Ansteorra home, yet I've resided in 
Caid, Drachenwald and visited Ealdormere, the East and the Outlands. 
I've played for what I consider to be a reasonable amount of time, so I 
feel confident in stating that I understand how the majority of this 
Game works.
  Since I began I have heard of these people, these authenticity police, 
mavins,... some are even so outraged that they call them Nazi's. I've 
heard about this dread conclave of Tolkeinesque tyrants since my first 
event, and yet I have never encountered a single person who thought 
that their task was to attack other members of the society concerning 
historic accuracy. I've met some who have said they like history (it's 
a medieval enthusiasts group, so no big surprise there), some who try 
to lead by example, some who like to discuss what is understood about 
medieval life and some who offer to help those interested in focusing 
more on their time period of choice.

I have even met some who have figured that authenticity IS fun, they 
just had to try it in order to discover this.

Yet I have never in my life met authenticity police, or nazi's or 
mavins or whatever. In fact, in this thread alone, a conversation, a 
discussion, an open exchange, someone pointed out that "troll" was not 
exactly a documentable name. Well, okay, true enough, what were other 
names? Could "troll" be justified? Who likes troll and why?
  No one suggested shunning pro-trollers or bombing Planned Trollhood 
clinics, it was just a topic of discussion. Now people are discussing 
authenticity and fun like they are two separate things (weird for a 
history-focused club, ya gotta admit) and they are decrying control and 
police and 'my camp' and the Peerage influence in media, the rise of 
authenticity while household values are ignored, whether we were lied 
to about "Creative Anachronism" or the protection of Corpora from 
activist BOD members...okay, well, it's not that bad, but I still see 
some over the top reactions here.
  I never see authenticity police. I do see people not wanting to even 
discuss history. In fact, I see people threatened by discussing history 
or anything medieval, usually while standing in tunics and wearing 
daggers on their belts.
If you think folks who dress as Klingons and go to cons are odd, 
imagine meeting one who has no interest in Star Trek and is offended if 
you try and discuss it with him. That would be creepy, 
they-know-who-you-are tinfoil creepy, the kind of thing that makes you 
wanna buy pepper spray and and an irritable dog.
  So I'll discuss any topic I like, thanks, but I'll do us both the 
favor of staying out of your camp.

~Finnacan


On Tuesday, July 12, 2005, at 11:59 PM, george basore wrote:

>   You see, the "authenticity police" don't care about
> authenticity, that is just an excuse to get you to do
> things their way.  The issue is CONTROL, they are
> control freeks!  This whole HOORAH is an excuse to
> make others bend to their will.
>
>   I have a piece of advice for all "authenticity
> police". Do NOT expect to win if you enter MY camp.
>
>   Ship's Captain "Black" Robert Haddock
>   Incipient Canton of River's Run
>
>
>
> 		
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