[Ansteorra] Same-Gender Consort Proposal

[Bree Flowers]

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 2:29 PM, Tim McDaniel <tmcd at panix.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Jul 2012, Bree Flowers <evethejust at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> [someone]
>>>
>>> [someone else]
>>>>
>>>> [someone else else, or perhaps someone #1 -- all the attributions
>>>> were stripped and I can't summon the energy to check
>>>> lists.ansteorra.org]
>>>>
>>>>> This should be the BoD's decision and they are passing the buck.
>>>>> As Lord Miles Grey pointed out, the majority of the populace is
>>>>> not wanting this.
>>>
>>>
>>> it was not a majority of the populace, the majority of the populace
>>> never " bothered " to take the time to fill out the census in the
>>> 1st place .
>>
>>
>> Yes, and additionally, it was not the majority of the respondents
>> either, just the majority of respondents with an opinion. There was
>> a significant number that answered "don't care". It was the majority
>> (over 50%) only among respondents from 2 kingdoms.
>
>
> That's not what I see in the survey results.

Let me try this again... Among respondents, more people said "change
bad" than said "change good", but a large number of folks said "don't
care" so that there was not a majority (defined by 50% or greater)
saying "change bad", except in 2 kingdoms. In other words, I'm saying
what you're saying, just trying to say it in a shorter way.

It is true that more people are against the change than are in favor
of it, but it's not a landslide majority by any stretch. Additionally,
a fair number of the folks against the change are the people who have
benefited from the current system (people with peerages, particularly
royal peers), which gives me a bit of a fox-henhouse feeling. One
could also argue that they are the most active players and that their
opinion should therefore carry more weight (since it will affect them
more).

I don't like the new wording either. While I support the change, I
would prefer simply removing "of the opposite sex". Simplicity appeals
to me. I will write to the BOD with that opinion. The other benefit of
the simple option is that any Kingdom could change their own wording
to require opposite sex pairs if they really felt that was necessary.
It wouldn't be against corpora, just an additional layer of
requirements, like the requirements to submit written intent to enter
(required in some kingdoms, but not all).

Truth be told, I think the entire system of choosing royalty is
ridiculous. As someone pointed out, there's very little in the current
system to keep out "skunks", but there's even less inherent in the
system to encourage excellence. And this is not meant as a slight at
any royalty past or present, but if what we're trying to achieve is
someone with diplomacy, great public speaking skills and an impressive
physical presence (either from their attire or manner), I have to say
a sword fight isn't exactly selecting for those things. And while some
argue that the consort picks up the slack, there's nothing dictating a
fighter HAS to pick someone that would make a great ruler, they're
just as likely to select someone simply because they love and respect
them. And let's face it, not everyone we love is an example of great
diplomacy, public speaking or royal presence, since that's not what
one generally uses as criteria when selecting a mate, friend or parent
(the 3 categories I see being fought for most often). But since I
don't see a new system being brought in any time soon, I fully support
a change that might allow for some of the fighters to try to place on
the throne some worthy non-fighting men. If it was up to me I think I
would support a system where a champion could fight for a couple and
not sit the throne themselves. Whether that couple would have to be
opposite sex or not is irrelevant to me, I think I'd just appreciate
seeing a different POV on the thrones, though at the end of the day,
the fighters would still have the "power" as they would choose who is
worthy of being fought for.

~Astridr