Do the Society's policies have teeth?

[jducoeur]

[I really don't have time for SCA controversies -- I have too many fish to fry. But the current situation demands that those of us with soapboxes make use of them. So I've just sent the following to the Board. I encourage others, especially those of you with fancy titles, to consider doing so as well.]

Unto the Board of the Society does Justin du Coeur (Mark Waks) send these greetings and concerns -- and that's enough of the flowery stuff.

I'm writing because recent events around the Society have left me deeply troubled. I'm partly speaking of the actions of the King of Trimaris, of course, but it's not limited to that -- frankly, the events described in the comments of this blog post, in which a Jewish member was essentially driven out of the Society, bother me even more.

Plain and simply, we have a racism problem. We like to pretend otherwise -- to think that courtesy overcomes all in the end -- but that's just ostriching. Yes, the King of Caid admitted that the swastika thing was bone-headed and stepped down, but I've heard nothing suggesting that the King of Trimaris has nearly so much self-awareness. When a respected Peer such as Don Davius has to invoke the nuclear option and resign his Peerage in protest, you know that things have gone entirely off the rails.

Moreover, the Trimarian situation has illustrated that our approach to Monarchy has its limits. Even Kingdoms like the East, that don't have an explicit tradition of "The King's Word is Law", allow the Royalty to get away with more or less anything they want, if they have thick enough skin to ignore the fallout. So now we have the reductio ad absurdam: a King who has utterly flouted the rule that Peerage Orders must be consulted -- he consulted them, and then explicitly and loudly did the opposite.

There's a word for this sort of thing: tyranny.

Frankly, we don't have many defenses against tyranny -- rather fewer than they had in the real, feudal Middle Ages. Because of the way the SCA has steadily centralized over the past 50 years, most Kingdom's internal machinery has been neutered to the point where they have little control over a renegade Royal who is willing to flout social norms and push their own agenda. At this point, y'all are the only ones who have the power to do anything.

You've been writing a lot of pretty policies over the past couple of years, but policies are just words. Until they are enforced on the powerful, they are meaningless.

Whatever you do here, it's going to set precedent, and not acting is, absolutely, acting. You have a couple of truly extreme cases of abuse in front of you here -- cases that offend all reasonable moral sensibility as we've known it in the SCA. If the perpetrators are left alone, or given a mere slap on the wrist, that will be taken as a statement that pretty much anything goes: that actions of naked racism, hate, and abuse of our system of government can be undertaken with only mild consequences.

If you don't act, you will drive people out of the Society: I have friends who are on the edge of quitting, some because of being disgusted with the Society's willingness to tolerate such monstrosity, and some because they no longer feel safe within the SCA. Even here in areas where we aren't currently feeling those effects personally, there is some sense that that's local-cultural luck, not any sort of justice coming from the Society.

I am deeply horrified that things have come to such a pass, although not entirely surprised: the Society has always reflected mundane society, in both its good and bad ways. The ugliness of our current cultural moment was inevitably going to seep its way in. The only thing we can do is choose how we respond.

Seriously: this should not be hard. The Royalty of Trimaris already violated one of the SCA's oldest and most ingrained laws in how they conducted their Coronation -- I was slightly astonished that their reign wasn't nullified there and then on that basis. The most recent incident is merely icing on the cake, demonstrating that this guy is deliberately pissing all over SCA custom and law, and richly deserves to be R&D'ed.

So: as a longtime member, I demand that you now show the courage of your position, and act in accordance with what is now explicit Society policy. You're the only ones who can draw the lines here, and you must do so. Otherwise, please admit that you don't actually have the nerve to make the hard decisions, and step aside.

Sincerely,

Justin du Coeur, OL, OP / Mark Waks
Carolingia, East / Boston

Comments

[cellio]

*Applause*

If you receive any non-boilerplate response, please let us know. It's important for the members of the society to know if the board is ready to back platitudes with action. (Society sanction should have been pulled on Trimaris Coronation, thus invalidating the reign if they didn't reschedule and follow SCA law the second time.)

[luscious_purple]

Thank you!

(Referred here by https://amauncheargent.wordpress.com/2018/08/18/power-justice-and-safety-in-the-sca/.)

[indywind]

Thank you.

Do the Society’s policies have any teeth?

[(Anonymous)]

You alluded that the Crown of Trimaris violated the SCA oldest and most ingrained law, and what was that, theater?
Were you not told of the disclaimer that was announced, stating religious theater and time was given to anyone who did not want to participate time to leave? Your long time association with the East has never had this type of disclaimer? Trimaris have a long tradition of using religious theater, we have had Norse, Pagan, Catholicism, and others in our Coronations and elevations. Guess our whole Kingdom should be nullified by your viewpoint. Master Davius gave his regalia to the Prince and Princess , not resigned his peerage . He may do so, but that is between him and the Society. As a double peer , and long time member, I would think you have seen plenty of knights do this . It’s a protest, and his right to do so. Our king abided by our Kingdom law, he consulted the order. Kings have given their friends awards all the time, because it’s a “peerage” it’s now the end of the world? The MOD is a new order, but like the other orders, the Crown decides who gets elevated, not the peers.
The Board will work it’s way thru all the letters , the emails, and the texts, they will launch their investigation, which given the magnitude of the WWW, people who have no idea about the situation and go by what their friends of friends told them , or even the screenshots posted without context or permission, they will have to wade through it all. You should also note that the elevation took place Before the new policy was in place . Would you also make note that the Queen and others in the Kingdom Camp were threatened after the policy took place , but no mob is requesting them to be R&D , an actual mundane crime. What about all the other awards given by this Crown , should these people suffer? What did they do wrong? As a peer in this kingdom, it is up to me to counsel the new peer, not the FaceBook SCA . But here it is and will be forever. So I am wondering will the Social Media consultant now need to check every outfit of social media before the Crown gives an Award? Not many people will be worthy.

Re: Do the Society’s policies have any teeth?

[jducoeur]

Were you not told of the disclaimer that was announced, stating religious theater and time was given to anyone who did not want to participate time to leave?

I'm not going to get drawn into this -- there's a lot of derailing and hyperbole here, and I'm not getting into an argument with somebody who hides behind online anonymity.

But let's take the question seriously, just so nobody gets confused: the rule has *always* been -- for the better part of 50 years now -- that you are not allowed to hold religious ceremonies in the main body of an event. Off to the side, sure, but religion has always been forbidden in Court or other ceremonies that are considered the main action. And a Coronation ceremony is pretty close to the definition of "main action".

That's for very good reason, because religious services:

(a) Make many members who do not partake of that religion uncomfortable, since they are being pressured to partake;
(b) Make many members *of* the religion in question uncomfortable, because it's faking something that they consider very real.

Saying, "oh, you can go wait outside" is, frankly, unacceptable bullshit. It says, clear as day, "You're an outsider, and aren't welcome with us". Some clubs may find that okay, but it's always been against SCA law: it was one of the smarter early decisions, and heavily shaped the club.

I'm astonished to hear you say that Trimaris has been playing this fast and loose with it for so long -- that suggests a long-standing problem that should have been addressed before it came to this head. If anything, it underscores my point: when the rules aren't enforced, bad actors will push harder and harder against them, until they lie in ruins.

As a double peer , and long time member, I would think you have seen plenty of knights do this.

Um -- no. I've seen it *maybe* a handful of times in the past 35 years; none are coming to mind offhand. I've seen Knights *stripped* of their belts for dishonorable behavior, and I've seen them *resign* their belts because they felt they had done something unworthy. I've even seen one or two peers quietly resign because they were tired of the responsibility. But being forced into the nuclear option? No: it gets talked about occasionally, but AFAIK it's been pretty rare, at least in this part of the world. We generally work on the Royalty to not do anything that extreme before it becomes necessary, and have usually been successful at doing so.

Would you also make note that the Queen and others in the Kingdom Camp were threatened after the policy took place, but no mob is requesting them to be R&D, an actual mundane crime.

First I've heard about it. If the threats were serious, that probably also deserves sanctions. Protests are appropriate, as are warnings of social consequences. If it was actually a threat of violence, though, then yes, the perpetrators need to be reported, investigated, and dealt with -- that's never acceptable.

What about all the other awards given by this Crown, should these people suffer?

I'm not sure where that's coming from -- I said nothing about other awards given by this Crown. I'm calling for severe sanctions *on the King* for it, because from everything I've heard, that's where the blame ultimately lies...