SC - questions/kinda long, sorry

[KallipygosRed@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/15/00 1:01:24 AM Pacific Daylight Time, ddfr at best.com 
writes:

> You are being inconsistent.
>  
>  If "the only group that matters at the moment the feast is being 
>  held" is the people attending it, and all that matters is what they 
>  currently want, then why not accept that standard for yourself?

Because I choose not to accept that standard for myself.  However, I do not 
have the right to insist that others meet my standards.  There is nothing 
inconsistent with that.

>  By 
>  saying that you don't, you imply that you believe that something else 
>  does matter--perhaps that it is worth making the SCA better, which 
>  includes educating the people who would enjoy an out of period feast 
>  so that they will enjoy a period feast instead.

By saying that, I am merely implying that something else matters "to me".  I 
am saying that it is worth making the SCA better "for me".  There is no world 
but that which I maketh myself...  It is my sincere belief that those who 
will enjoy a period feast will come about it in their own time, and in their 
own way.  The same holds true for garb, illumination, brewing, singing, etc 
ad nauseum...

 But if you believe 
>  that, then why shouldn't you encourage other people in that belief?

I do encourage others in that belief.  I do not, however, do so by providing 
negativism and nay-saying.  I cannot, in good conscience, do that.  It does 
not detract from my enjoyment of the Society to see others running around in 
a tunic-over-jeans ensamble and gnawing on stuffed baked potatoes at an 
event.  I am not that, for lack of a better word, anal-retentive.
  
>  You keep jumping from the question of whether things are "all right" 
>  to the question of whether you can "make the choice for them." Those 
>  are wholly different questions. You write as if expressing an opinion 
>  about what other people ought to do is the same thing as being a 
>  dictator forcing them to do it.

The questions are the same, Your Grace.  If it is their will, then it is 
"allright" by me.  I cannot impose my will upon them, nor would I consider 
attempting to do so.  I do not equate "what other people ought to do" with 
"forcing them to do it".  I do however, equate it with "attempting" to force 
them to do it, by means of intimidation and ridicule.  Gentle suggestions 
made tactfully are endorsed by this author.  Bellicose and belligerant 
rantings about someone elses lack of enthusiasm and dedication are, clearly, 
not.  I hope this clears things up a bit.

Balthazar of Blackmoor

>  


Mr. Wizard, what happens when you combine pasta and antipasta?