a small matter of morality
Arastorm the Golden
To the Gentles of the Rialto, From Arastorm the Golden:
You have heard me ride many hobby horses in this forum, and I
did want to mention that, by and large, the people that I have met
in the SCA are the most wonderful, moral, chivalrous group of
individuals I have ever had the opportunity to deal with. Indeed, the
worst thing (well, truthfully the second worst thing) about being
on the throne was meeting so many people who I could tell I could
become REALLY good freinds with, but who were so far away that time
would prevent such a friendship from developing (the worst was the
feeling of not getting enough of what needed doing done- probably
familiar to all those who have sat the throne). James the Fair once
said in an interview (the interviewer did not use it) that he joined
the SCA because it was a place where you could behave honorably and
not be made fun of. (did you ever try to return money to a cashier
when she gave you too much? they are thouroughly confused) Recently
another person characterised the SCA as a place where when he had to
sell his sword to meet normal financial needs, he was asked: "do
you have a place to stay?" Another pointed out that when her mother
wouldn't help her rent a car, 15 minutes later SCA friends offered to
do so. In the SCA you can travel across the country an never lack for
a place to stay. An SCAer visiting a Meridian city, called to find
out if there were any nearby events that weekend, and the shire came
to meet him, put him up, took him to practices, meetings, etc. for
four days. The best part of that story is when the gate guard asked
him: "They say they are freinds of yours." he replied "they are."
"Yeah? What are their names?" "I don't know- but they are my
friends."
__
(__(~)
~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ (that's me, opening a can of worms)
I want everyone to know that it is because of this lifestyle
which is prevalent in the SCA that most of us who have been here for
years on years stay. In truth, it may be that we would not survive
in the "real" world. I am genuinely confused when peoples behavior
differs from that which I just described.
But sometimes, there are some problems. I have heard many stories
which indicate in our enthusiasm to be all things to all people we have
welcomed in more new members than we can indoctrinate (if that is the
correct word). The old members look about and find things radically
different than when they joined- and I am not talking about things like
added paperwork, and harder killing blows. I am talking about attitudes.
Luckily, I feel that if the concept of new members "taking over the
barony" and trying to run it in a way emotionally different than the
traditional SCA chivalry is worth being talked about it is probably a
rare occurance, but I think we had better look long and hard at the
way we train our new members to make sure that they understand the
the SCA does care about chivalry and honor.
I often run to the computor to hide from unpleasant reality. I
have just come from a conversation where a freind said that he had
been in contact with about 200 libraries over the past several years
and that the Oakshot-Wheeler book on swords is always missing, and
generaly it was taken out by an SCAer who "lost" it, and paid the nominal
replacement fee. My librarian told me that costume books, as a catagory
are the most frequently "lost" books from libraries. The Wheeler
Oakshot book is not available. Neither are many costume books. It isn't
right, and sad to say, I have seen it personally. This is a very
bad thing for the SCA whether the librarians know it is us or not.
Please encourage your freinds not to do this. Xerox books, negotiate
with your librarian. (I am currently negotiating with my librarian for
a set of books that no one has ever taken out but me since they were
given to the Library 10 years ago. Two years ago she told me she'd
consider selling them to me after ten years. Now she is talking to book
dealers to find a fair price. They ARE open to reason.) But especially
with books that are out of print, this is not a good thing. There is
a unofficial betting pool going as to how many of the several hundred
books (most unavailable elsewhere) will be "lost" from the Kingdom
Library this time next year. This is unacceptable to me. Isn't it
unacceptable to the rest of you? Frankly, the "I deserve it because I
want it more than you" attitude which drives these thefts is infantile,
and I am distressed at the mounting evidence of it's prevalence in
the new SCA. If anyone can give me explainations over why these
things happen that has a better future prognosis for the SCA, I would
love to hear it. Arastorm
H...@psuvm.psu.edu
>
> My librarian told me that costume books, as a category
>are the most frequently "lost" books from libraries. The Wheeler
>Oakshot book is not available. Neither are many costume books. It isn't
>right, and sad to say, I have seen it personally. This is a very
>bad thing for the SCA whether the librarians know it is us or not.
>with your librarian.
And you'd better listen to her, or face my steel.
Therion Calgate
SCA mercenary
Mundane librarian
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| Therion Calgate |
| Mountain Confederation| Not a fub, but definitely
h...@psuvm.psu.edu | Shire of Nithgaard | a wub.
mea culpa | Prin. of AEthelmearc |
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P.S. Forgive me if I've gotten your title wrong, m'lady. You were Queen when I
joined.
Wilson Heydt
> . . .welcomed in more new members than we can indoctrinate (if that is the
>correct word).
I find that the term "aculturation" best describes the process, and
(so far) lacks the negative connotations of most other words.
--Hal
Hal Ravn, Province of the Mists, West Kingdom
Wilson H. Heydt, Jr., Albany, CA 94706, 415/524-8321 (home)
=======================================================================
Hal Heydt | Practice Safe Government
Analyst, Pacific*Bell | Use Kingdoms
415-823-5447 | (seen on a bumper sticker)
whh...@pbhya.PacBell.COM |
Drifter...
[Stuff about people "losing" books from the library]
>Please encourage your freinds not to do this. Xerox books,
Which is also illegal... Usually a xerox of a few pages isn't a problem,
but Xeroxing or otherwise duplicating a whole book, or the bulk of it, IS a
copyright violation.
Personally, I feel much of our information protection laws need to be
discarded and re-done from scratch. So I'm not condemning this. Just pointing
out that it is techincally an illegal act and you'll want to be appropiately
discrete about it.
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| Drifter... Homo Postmortemus |
| ObLyric: He always said that men don't cry, but burns and bruises seldom |
| lie. Dad learned Grandpa's lesson well, spitting image of a man in hell. |
| ObQuote: "The advocate will refrain from making her opponent dissapear." |
| Internet: snarler%oak.d...@pine.circa.ufl or 7%arms...@ufl.edu |
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Henry Troup
(Drifter...) writes:
|>but Xeroxing or otherwise duplicating a whole book, or the bulk of it, IS a
|>copyright violation.
Depends on the date of publication and country of publication. Complexly.
Rule of thumb is if the author has been dead for more than 50 years, it's
certain to be in the public domain.
Henry Troup - H...@BNR.CA (Canada) - BNR owns but does not share my opinions