[Sca-cooks] Not at all food related meta issue

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

this is really good. can I send it to some folks on a yahoo group I'm on?

--AM

On Thu Apr 20 11:03 , "Michael Gunter"  sent:

>Well, this whole discussion has been amusing and a bit academic.
>The Society is just that, a society. Any sociologist will tell you that
>group dynamics tend to follow certain trends and it doesn't matter
>if it is governments, families, villages, weird reenactment groups
>or biker gangs.
>Any position of leadership is a position of power, no matter how
>nebulous that power is. From the President of the US to the
>dungeon master, some are very good, some abuse it and many
>will gain that power at all costs.
>
>>So what's wrong with requiring SCA crowns to be charming and gracious?  
>>They're 'paid' with praise, attention, gifts, crown-bunnies, etc.
>
>There are several requirements to be Crown, often these are
>loopholed and overlooked by contenders. If solid requirements
>are overlooked, the rather esoteric graces can be quickly forgotten.
>There are no checks and balances for good behaviour within our
>Society other than your reputation. For many people reputation
>is secondary to rank.
>
>>Historically, *every* crown was good enough to enough people for enough 
>>time...at least for a while.  Again, I don't think anybody is promoting the 
>>idea of cruel, hateful, rude, abusive crowns in the SCA.  That's a bad 
>>marketing strategy.  It's a sanitized view of Medieval life, so why not 
>>simply have a sanitized form of Medieval kings?
>
>Well, I think I beg to differ on this point. I guess I can agree with
>you that "every" crown was good enough for the people simply
>because he had an army that made sure everyone liked him. And
>the peasants of the time, like the general public now, really
>didn't care one whit who was King as long as he left them alone
>to live their own lives.
>
>There are several Royal Peers subscribed, myself being one of them
>so maybe we can give a better perspective about what sitting in
>the Big Chair is all about.
>
>The number one thing to remember is that nobody is a villan in their
>own mind. When you become the Crown all of a sudden you get to
>do the stuff you have always dreamed of the King doing in the SCA.
>And often you think you are doing the best job you can. For some
>people all they care about is winning the list and getting the title
>and having people bow and scrape to you. Unfortunately you also
>have to run the State, make sure you don't piss people off, attend
>tedious meetings, be nice to people you don't like, and basically BE
>the head of state. Many of the people who only want the title have
>a hard time with this. Funny, often the same thing happend with
>real life power grabbers too. For every bad SCA Crown I can point
>to a Caligula, Nero, Ivan, Nixon, etc...
>
>The power of SCA Crowns is true power, it may only exist in our
>little group but it is nonetheless power. Why do people bow and
>scrape to me because I won a tournament 5 years ago? Why do
>guys who are total nerd losers in real life have ladies wanting to
>have sex with them because they have a shiny hat? We change
>policy and affect the lives of thousands of people with our actions.
>With any power comes the opportunity to either use it or abuse
>it. Fire is a very good thing. It heats our huts and cooks food and
>converts iron to steel. It also burns, hurts, kills and destroys. Like
>power, it is how it is used. And you can't tell fire to "be nice" you
>have to control it. Some Crowns truly believe in what we do and
>work their tails off to be what everyone wants a King and Queen
>to be. Some Crowns want stuff, and babes and respect and the
>opportunity to give stuff to their buddies and to hell with those
>pansy rapier fighters or artisans or archers because we don't play
>their game.
>
>Guess what? That happens with elected leaders, real world Kings
>and CEOs.
>
>We cannot force good behavior on our Crowns, we can only
>encourage it and pray something sticks.  Being Crown is a major
>pain in the butt as well. You are on call 24/7. Everything you do
>is commented upon, shoot people know when you go to the
>bathroom. Everyone expects you to solve their problems, you get
>blamed if it rains! You have to arrange courts, attend every meeting,
>handle problems, make constant decisions and try to look good doing
>it. Some do it better than others and if it looks like they had an
>easy reign it only means they kept the nasty stuff from getting out.
>
>As far as alternate Crown Tournaments go, there have been a couple.
>An Tir tried it once, it was determined a lot of fun and very interesting
>and never do it again. There was the Principality list that was mentioned
>earlier.  And there may have been others. I know groups like Amptgard
>have Wars where people gather warbands to fight and I don't think
>their leaders have been any different from any other system.
>
>Personally I look at Crown Tournament as a series of battles, my personal
>skill is the "army" I was able to build. The tournament is a scaled down
>"War of Roses" in which armies are destroyed and assimilated until it's
>down to two commanders who have climbed to the top of the heap.
>In war, you are never quite sure who's head will have the circlet and
>who's will be on the block.
>
>>Do anything to embarrass the organization and you're out, determined by 
>>some committee or the BoD.  You want to avoid bad behavior?  Identify it 
>>ahead of time and explain the consequences.  New example comes up?  Add it 
>>to the consequences explanation.
>
>Oh, Lordy! I can just imagine the squirrel cage that would be. The
>problem is that we often have "morals" discussions about members
>but all too often there are 50 different sides to the argument. The
>ugliest Crown that I've ever seen was when the two fighters in the
>Final had to win at all costs, "to save the kingdom from the other".
>
>Honor and reputation are the only coins that really matter within the
>Society. You an have all the rank in the world, have every award and
>still get no respect from anyone if your behavior was that bad. There
>have been a couple of dukes given lifetime banishments because of
>their actions. Getting respect is the only thing that really matters
>and respect only comes from your behavior.
>
>Perhaps there could be a clause that the people decide if a Crown
>who steps down be given Royal rank. But that could be a lot of
>fun to do as well.
>
>>You seem convinced that your fellow SCA members will back-stab, lie, cheat 
>>& steal in order to gain victory at any price.  I'm just not willing to 
>>accept that.
>
>Unfortunately, it does happen. Not as often as it seems to be because
>of the fact that we talk about that more than the good ones.  But,
>yeah, people will lie, cheat and manipulate to gain even our pretend
>power. A hell of a lot more actually believe in this game we play and
>make it worth being here for. It's for those that this Society has
>grown and thrived for 40 years!
>
>>Duriel
>
>Gunthar
>
>
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