SC - census basics: how many are here?

[Alderton, Philippa]

CBlackwill at aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 5/18/00 2:37:31 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> margaret at Health.State.OK.US writes:
> 
> > I think you have the right of it here, after all. I really think
> >  that what bothers us so much is that they aren't listening to us when we
> try
> >  to correct their knowledge.
> 
> No disrespect intended, but why would they listen to us?  Aside from a few
> here who probably have degrees in medieval history, aren't we all just a
> bunch of yokels who share a pretty bizzare hobby?  From an outsiders point of
> view, don't you think they might consider it the same as asking a group of
> Dungeons and Dragons players for a dissertation on life in medieval times?  I
> know there are a lot of people on this list who have spent many, many hours
> pouring over texts and such...but _they_ don't.

You raise an interesting point, something that's been bothering me a
little in this discussion. It was mentioned at one point that the
owner(s?) of the Medieval Times chain seem to have a passionate dislike
of the SCA. Like many, I'm sure, my bristles rose when I heard that, but
I stopped and thought a bit about why they might feel this way.

Could it be that an organization famous, rightly or wrongly, among
living history groups, for going about historical recreation the wrong
way, is not welcome to criticize the way somebody runs their business,
when MT's prinary goal is to, well, run a business? Could it further be
that _some_ of the people that have seen fit, over the years, to write
or call MT and Explain To Them Where They Are Wrong, are perceived as
cranks even by the SCA's fairly lax standards? Could it further be that
a measurable percentage of these people are perhaps not the most tactful
among our membership? Mind you, I'm not saying this is the case, but if
it were perceived so by the MT people, I wouldn't be surprised or feel
it totally unjustified.

I mean, given some of the criticism aimed at Emeril Lagasse (I love that
surname!) for the crime of not doing what we do as well as we do it (I
wanna be a brain surgeon! I hope nobody criticizes me!), perhaps we
should cut them a little slack. They're not interested in doing what we
do; _most_ people aren't. Why should this be taken as a personal affront
by so many? We are playing a different game and it is a bit unfair to
expect people playing a different game, be they TV chefs or theme
restaurants, to play by our rules just to please us.

If you don't like it, vote with your wallet and your feet. We are not
necessarily missionaries and it is not our job to change the ideologies
of the entire world. We do what we do because it is fun, and we're happy
to share with anybody, but we needn't get upset when we fail to make a
convert. 
 
Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com