[Namron] Dealing with period police

[William Herron]

Chass asks:

> Prey tell how does everyone deal with the period police?

I start off by asking myself if I really do care what the person who
is "trying to explain" thinks.  I usually determine that by evaluating
who that person is.  If I don't know him/her, then I'll go to someone
that I do know like Gwyneth or Ulf and say "who is that, and is that
person's opinion something I should worry about?"  Once I've decided
if I should care about that person's opinion, then I will decide how
much I want to care about it.  Finally, I have to decide if their
recommendation is something that I am willing to adjust to or not. 
For example:

> The reason I am
> asking is the last event we went to a lady in a very lovely gown approached
> me and started in telling me that my wheel chair was not period and I
> shouldn't come to events in it.

How would you fix this problem?  You could try to come up with a
period version of a wheelchair, or you could drag yourself around on
the ground like someone might have done in period.  But I think both
of those possibilities are a bit too much.

Remember that the Society's rules state that you must make an attempt
at a pre-17th Century costume.  If you've done that, then your mundane
wheelchair should be able to be overlooked much like people's mundane
eyeglasses or mundane footwear.

> No I don't know her name nor where she resides from (yes
> this happened at Protectorate) and welp I have mulled it over and not gone
> to events thinking this over. Suggestions?

I would politely suggest to you that you're giving the woman's
comments way too much merit.  I would also not-so-politely suggest to
you that you're an idiot for allowing this woman's comments to prevent
you from attending events.

Go to the events.  Have a good time.  When someone comes up to you and
suggests that your wheelchair isn't period, thank them for their
opinion and promptly ignore it.  If they attempt to become stupid and
tell you that you have to leave, find a seneschal or a landed noble to
speak on your behalf.  (The Crown works quite nicely, too.)  And if
you happen to find that rare event that *I* am also there, come and
get me.  I'd love to have that discussion with someone, and let them
decide if we're going to have it privately or in public with lots of
volume.

Rudeness was period, too.  That doesn't mean we have to tolerate it today.

Care,
Bubba