[Ravensfort] Let me see if I can keep from making an ass of myself

[Charley Atchley]

It has been brought to my attention that I may have offended people with my
"petty politics comment" at populace. It was never my intent to do this. As
I also stated, I like peace. When Lorain asked me what I meant by petty
politics, I was not able to articulate what I meant, because I did not want
to piss off someone. I am going to try to clarify what I meant with a
carefully worded letter. I hope that no one is offended.

Athaulf's definition of petty politics: A state that occurs when a person
with power, (office, autocrat, in charge of something, final say on a
subject, etc.) uses that power to be totally uncompromising even when they
are about to screw up or their idea is inferior to another one. A condition
that can be summed up as "My way or the highway." It becomes petty when the
stands that are being taken are about unimportant things.

I have seen good ideas shot down by officers because they wanted something
done their way, or they did not like the person who made the suggestion.
Most of the time this is not things that are dictated by kingdom law. Most
of the time it is little things. Like where the tables need to be put for
arts and science. I had to move the tables around the list field after an
event started one time because we set up in the wrong tent. (We set up in
the one this nameless guy had chosen, and this nameless guy was on someone's
crap list.) That is an example of petty. I have seen ideas come up and seen
officers dismiss them with no discussion, because the idea did not fit their
preconceived idea of what they wanted to see happen, or they would choke
before they did something that a particular person wanted.

When I brought up the "North-sea Raids" example I was not thinking about how
we pulled it off with out having to hassle with all of the rules and
regulations. I was thinking about how a few of us came up with an idea, then
the idea started growing because other people got excited, and they put in
their input. We incorporated things that we had not thought of at first. We
gave up things that we had thought of, because they were not as good as some
of the ideas that other people had. I was thinking of the synergy that comes
when people stop thinking that they personally must win and start trying to
do things so that the whole group wins. We had our share of people that
wanted things done a certain way, but we compromised. (It took three
meetings with the kingdom earl marshal before everyone could agree on the
rules for the boat battle.) In the end everyone had fun even if there were
archers in some of the boats even if we had to drop the boats to fight from
them. The important thing was that no one took sole possession of the idea
it was the whole group's idea to shape and bend. The format for arts and
sciences changed several times before we did the event. We ended up with
"Best Thor's hammer in any media." Not my personal choice. I wanted to do
mead, but everyone claimed that the brewers needed a year to get ready for a
contest, and they wanted one that everyone could enter. It was one of the
coolest arts and science shows that I had seen.

It was never my intent to offend everyone. I know I have still not given any
specific examples of what I am referring to with my comment. I do not think
that naming names in public will help. I would not have brought up this
comment, but we were discussing the goals and direction that we wanted to
see happen. I hope that by more clearly describing what I am talking about
that I can avoid pointing fingers at some officer who has done a lot of
great things with their office, but has done this a few times. (We have good
officers who care a lot about their office, and the SCA.) I guess everyone
is still reeling from our "Summer of love" that happened this year. Those
were not petty politics. They were down right shitty politics. Please if
anything I have written here offends you, then respond to me privately. I do
not want a big crap-fest to start over my comment or my letter.

Athaulf Sweinbrothar
==:++:==:++:==:++:==:++:==:++:==:++:==:++:==:++:==
If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried
before.