Persona choice: who knew it was political?

[gurdymonkey]

O my readers of the SCA persuasion, it's that time again. A newcomer to the sca-jml Yahoo Group is not actually a newcomer to the Society, but after an absence of some years he discovers that suddenly the persona choice he made a very long time ago "detracts" from someone's "vision of The Dream," God help us all. I immediately directed him to my private blend of Asshole Repellent.

Another poster chimed in that she was told she would have to give up her Japanese persona and reign as a European if anyone ever fought and won a Crown Tourney in her honor!

East Asian personae date to the early years of the Society. Non-Western-persona members have been valuable and valued contributors to this game for its entire duration. Anyone who says otherwise needs a portcullis dropped on his head.  The current king of Northshield, Kitadate-Tenno, has a Japanese persona.

You know what detracts from my vision of this game we play? People who feel the need to shit on other people who are playing within the rules of the game. You wanna trick yourself out in a wool apron and a fur hat, knock yourself out, it's fine by me. You wanna bake a linen pie in your oven and wear it around your neck (I'm looking at you Ms. T!), you go!

You wanna give me the ol' Eurocentric stink-eye for attending my Kingdom's Twelfth Night in the finest attire befitting my persona, pray visualize this: there's seventy yards of it. Fully researched. Hand sewn. Now kindly get out of my way, if you please.

EDIT: Commenters who insist on invoking The Dream (TM) in my journal will be summarily sent to the far side of the portcullis and used for target practice. The Dream (TM) is an idiotic concept that has been used to justify laziniess, wooly thinking, and the aforementioned persona-bigotry. Pray leave it at home.

Comments

[didjiman.livejournal.com]

Can you give a short summary to "The Dream?" I googled it and it's TL;DR. Of course unless it's too long to summarize...

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

Here's a summary, paraphrased from the Historic Documents :->
Sursum Unum

L. One. (makes the sign of One)

R. We are One.

L. One is the beginning.

R. Are you One, Herbert?

L. I am not Herbert. (drops hands to side)

R. He's not Herbert. We reach.

L. Are you of the Body? (places right hand over heart)

R. The Body is One.

L. Blessed be the Body, and health to all its parts.

[Courtesy of http://www.loyd.net/rite.html]

What'd I Do?

[minstrlmummr.livejournal.com]

Now I have Bad Star Trek earworms eating my brain 8P

:::::rushing to YouTube for Sarek clips:::::

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

I could, but I don't have a bucket handy to vomit in right now.

Silverwing's (?) Law: The Problem Is Not "Dream", It's "The"

[minstrlmummr.livejournal.com]

The least-toxic version of "The Dream" I've encountered was a friend (during a camp-circle-discussion at Pennsic) asking the others, "When you discovered the SCA, who did you 'want to be'?" (I'm convinced said friend wanted to "be" d'Artagnan or Cyrano, for example). The term is often used as a catch-all description of the milieu which SCA events try to create by common consent.

Problem One arises in the same way that it does for the "iPod Shuffle" radio format -- WHOSE iPod is being shuffled and broadcast as something everyone will like? Problem Two is that indulgence of romanticized fantasies =/= actual knowledge about the actual pre-1600 world...

Everything gurdeymonkey has said about this conceit is also true. Unfortunately.

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

Reduced to its essence, The Dream(tm) is "that which gives the speaker warm fuzzies," and tends to refer more to subcultural aspects of the game than to medieval/Early Modern recreative research.