[Sca-cooks] OT- Input request from SCA BoD/politics

[Philip & Susan Troy]

>Every social club or group has politics.

A glance at the dictionary definition of "politics" might explain
this phenomenon. Of course every group has politics, and anyone who
denies this is, well, to put it tactfully, mistaken. Mostly the
groups that have suffered from _bad_ politics, backbiting, power
struggles, and the like, are said to be rife with politics, while
those groups where interaction involves teamwork, fun, leadership by
example, and honorable behavior (all characteristics of proper
politics), are said to have _no_ politics. This is because politics
is assumed to be a bad thing, which is silly.

>I have to admit I have tended to take a rather flippant view about
>those people who leave the SCA because of politics:  They leave not
>because of politics, but because they tried playing and weren't
>competent at them. Cynical and a bit cruel I know - but the reality
>is that you can spend 20 years in the SCA without having politics
>touch you. You can be a productive, useful, active member of the
>society, even become a peer, and still have politics not affect you.
>But if you choose to step into the arena, then you risk getting
>bitten.

I think some of this may be just a bit harsh, but it's not too
different from what I was trying to say. There probably really are
people who simply do not understand why someone would be mean to them
(and the person being mean may not even be aware of this behavior),
people who have always behaved honorably and have simply suffered at
the hands of others to the point where this game is no longer fun for
them. However, most of the people I have met who have "left because
of politics" are  people who have engaged in some kind of
manipulative or coercive behavior and failed to get the results they
wanted, and the fact that discussing practical historical recreation
with like-minded friends  has become odious suggests to me that
"doing what the SCA does", or at least is supposed to do, is probably
not what they joined for in the first place.

A year or so ago I received a rather whiny letter from a person
complaining about their placement in an A&S competition: they were
upset about having projects that gained them certain rankings in the
Embroiderer's Guild of America, but did not seem to be having a
sufficiently impressed effect on the Kingdom needleworker's guild.
The rules were posted and easily available, they just didn't like
them. Their stated and clear intention was to corner the market on
needlework in the kingdom, and they didn't succeed at doing this, so
they complained long and loud to the Kingdom MoAS (me), the Kingdom
Seneschal, and the Crown, alleging all kinds of improper action on
the part of the judges, the guildmistress, etc. Mention was made
about Evil Politics (of course), and I confess that I have never been
so happy at the prospect of seeing the back of a newbie than I was
then. I also wonder what kind of Evil Politics drove these people out
of the Embroiderer's Guild of America (if any).

>I suspect most people in Lochac would view me as a political animal:
>it is true that I do get involved in politics at times _when
>something that is important to me is being discussed_, and it is
>also true that I usually end up "winning".  I haven't always been
>right, and haven't always won - however I have always believed in my
>cause and I don't do things that are against my principles. But when
>it comes to things that don't affect/bother me, I am happy to sit
>back and let others worry about them.

I live in a group with a lot of Scots personae. It comes in handy,
since our group has a lot in common with Brigadoon. We sometimes go
for a reign or two with our little local events, nobody hears a peep
out of us, and everybody's happy, because if some of the kingdom
_did_ hear a peep out of us, they might not like what they hear (I
expect such a period to begin soon, BTW). Then the kingdom remembers
how good we are at fundraising, how we can put together a Kingdom
event in a couple of weeks, and all of a sudden everybody loves us
again.

>But I saw terrible politics in the St Vincent de Paul society I was
>in too. None of the politics I have seen in the SCA compare to that
>"christian" society, where a friend of mine ended up homeless
>because of the politics of the group.  There were terrible, painful
>politics in "Antioch" which tore people's lives and personalities
>apart.  The SCA just doesn't rate a mention compared to them.

I'm not at all surprised. As I mentioned, I've seen some stuff in the
Cub Scouts (among the parents and leaders, anyway), and the PTA at my
son's school, that would come as no surprise at all to the average
seasoned SCAdian. What is actually fun is when I talk to parents
about PTA activity and am able to predict, accurately, exactly what
such-and-such a parent is going to say and do... people look at me as
if I'm Nostradamus or something, and I just say, I've seen this
before -- I'm in this club, see...

Bottom line. Do the right thing. Speak the truth. Stay as long as it
is fun, and don't forget why you're here. These are ways to help
achieve "good politics". Oh, and wash dishes ;-)

Adamantius