Of SCA Personas

Greetings,

The SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms, the "Society")has been associated in one part with medieval and Renaissance recreation, and in another part with LARP. On the one hand the SCA does recreate various arts and crafts, and social elements from the period; on the other we do take on another name and "play the game" as that individual with titles and so forth given for achievement and so forth. I would claim that we can take the persona, while a created character and claim that they are as real as any individual living or dead, because we made them so.

Within the Society, I am known as Henry Fox, an Elizabethan gentleman who is widely travelled thanks to well-off parents, of reasonable stature. I have travelled enough to experience different cultures and take on some of their sword arts. I have learnt the skills of the bow and the sword, the sword taking my preference. I have also learnt some skill with the pen, the pair working together more recently to produce works about the art of the sword. This is his story, and the story that I have taken on as my persona.

Henry Fox is real because I have made him real. His origins are artificial, though he could have existed, being that both his names have been documented to the Elizabethan period. All the history that I have created for him is based on some of my experiences and interests within the Society as I have travelled through it learning and writing as I went. I used the bow in my earlier period because it was a skill that I previously possessed, then took up the sword, both for armoured and civilian combat. Civilian took precedence over the armoured and here I stand. I have written about the civilian combat, as two books and my blog on the subject show.

Henry Fox is a non de plume a pen name, in writers terms. In legal terms, because I have used it in my writing and activities and am known by quite a few people by that name, it is an alias that would be recorded. Henry Walker, alias Henry Fox, is what a legal document would read. Henry Fox is real because I live his life every time I interact within the Society. Henry Fox is real because I interact as him in matters concerning the Society and positions I hold within the Society. Henry Fox is me, and I am him. He is not a fake person, not a fake name plastered on a document somewhere, he is a real person. 

Do not disregard SCA personas, or personas taken within other situations so casually. They should be considered as real as the person who adopts them. For the person who wears the clothes of the one is the other; the person who earns the awards of the one, is the other; the person who stands and learns as one, stands and learns as the other. They are no different, just because a person changes their clothes, does not mean that the learning or the experiences go away; those experiences and learning remain, and enhance them both. They are an advantage not something at which to be scoffed. A different perspective on life can only enhance a person's experience of life.

"when your talk is about mankind, view earthly things as if looking down on them from some point high above -" Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 

Cheers, 

Henry Walker
alias Henry Fox

Why we will never be united...

 Greetings,

There are different reasons that we cannot be divided. I have used "never" in the title, but this a strong word. It is possible, but humans will have to get over things in their nature; that thing in their nature which inflames them, that encourages them to contend with their neighbour. The problem is that we are often told how we are different and these differences are emphasised as important, we are never told how we are similar, how we are alike. These divisions separate us and encourage us to build walls between us and divide ourselves even more. There are those who encourage these divisions, who live on the conflict between one another, and it is not just our governments. Maybe there is hope for us, but it will take something, acknowledging our similarities along with our differences.

Humans like to fight...

Human beings claim that we want peace, that we want to get along with one another, but in our essence it is doubtful a truth. Our politics are about contests one political party competes against another for votes, then they spend their entire time arguing about the best way to run the nation. Even in nations where there is a single party, the party spends a large portion eliminating opposition, defending itself against detractors. We enjoy contests against one another this is evident by the prolific presence of sport and the amount of money people are paid to play against one another. We watch these games where one team competes against another, willing one team to win over the other. Other leisure activities also contain conflict within them, usually adversarial, usually against another group of human beings. This fighting nature makes it difficult for us to be united. 

Every time the fighting nature is focused outwardly, at least relatively, there are still conflicts within. The invasion of Kuwait in 1990 was condemned around the world. A multi-national force was gathered to stop Saddam Hussein and prevent him from possibly invading Saudi Arabia. Even with evidence of the horrors that Hussein was committing it took months for the force to be assembled. Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, it was not until January 1991, that the multi-national force actually began to push the Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. While this was happening, there were still demonstrations against the action; even after all the negotiations by the United Nations had failed, all the diplomatic solutions had failed. Those same demonstrations continued throughout the war, not that it lasted all that long.

We had a chance to unite when the COVID pandemic struck. Still there were arguments between nations about access to vaccines, who was going to do the research, who was going to fund the research, who was going to take the credit, who was going to receive the vaccines. This is not to mention all of the anti-vaccine, pandemic-deniers, and "freedom" seekers who were against the public health measures. Another chance for humanity to unite behind a cause, squandered by people's pet politics and personal biases and ignorance. The same which is still continuing even as I write.

Why are we divided? 

We must look at how we have been divided before we can look at why we are divided, for the how will tell us something of the why. First and foremost, when examining the human being, the first thing that divides us is sexuality, generally this is male and female, but there are also other labels which exist, transgender, for example is another label by which people are known. People are divided by the sexual organs which they possess, but the question of sexuality does not stop there.

In the question of sexuality there is also the question of attraction, to whom the individual is attracted which provides another point by which a person is divided and by which specific communities, and thus divisions are built. There is the emphasis in "normal" society of heteronormality in much of society which supposedly pushes other sexual orientations to the edge. Then other sexual orientations be they bisexual, homosexual, asexual or some other form of sexuality, form communities of their own where they believe their sexuality may be expressed freely. The building of such communities divides us.

We are supposedly divided by race. From one view, there is really one "race", the human race. This is a useful perspective as it unifies rather than divides, however the common approach to the concept is not so unifying a concept. The term race has weight politically and socially, and people will use this as a weapon to divide people to show how they are different. This word is most often tied into the word "racism" a weapon used from both sides. The word ethnicity, is a better description. Again, however, it is dividing people into groups, labelling them as different.

Tied in with ethnicity and race is history, a battleground to say the least especially when one examines the relationships between one some ethnicities and others. These histories are spot-highlighted not to identify those points where they worked together, but where they were divisive. The most often piece of history that will come up is colonialism and how indigenous peoples were treated. This is most often tied in with ethnicity or race.

Politics. Politics is can always be tied to history and ethnicity and it depends on which part of politics that a person wants to examine. Even within an ethnicity politics can divide a people. There are those who go for the right, there are those who go for the left, of politics; most often they do not find much middle ground in between. It only gets worse when it is the extreme of one or the other. Politics is often used by politicians to divide people so they can be controlled, and most people will let them.

Finally, on this list there is religion. This has been a point of division for as long as it has existed. It has been the cause of wars and acts of violence around the world, and still is today. The reason you don't hear about them is that they don't make a big enough impact in the media. Just because you are not looking doesn't mean it is not happening.

Our society is divided by these things and remains divided by these things even at the most important times. Black Lives Matter emphasised the division by race in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and the problems of the division by race, among other things; there were issues within issues. We remain divided by issues of sexuality because there is an element of wanting to know what other people are doing, rather than allowing others privacy, and leaving other people to their way. Why does it matter what someone else is doing in their bedroom if you're not there, and not involved? The problem is that these divisions are perpetuated. 

Divisions perpetuated...

Conflicts are celebrated, or at least the victories of these conflicts are celebrated. These celebrations perpetuate the divisions between people. Battle of Adwa decisive battle of Ethiopia over Italian colonialism. Here we see a celebration of a battle between one ethnic group over another, the raising of an issue which is over a century old, celebrating the victory over colonialism. The same is seen in other parts of the world. The celebration of the Cinco de Mayo is the same, in this case it is the Mexican victory over the French, though many of the tourists who visit to celebrate the holiday have no idea what they are celebrating and are just joining in. The same can be said of many celebrations.

There is a big celebration in Australia which occurs every year, and every year it causes contention. That celebration is Australia Day, it was originally meant to celebrate the landing of the English in Australia; it has since become simply a celebration of being Australian in many Australian's eyes. For the indigenous population of Australia it is often referred to as "Invasion Day" due to the perceived celebration of the invasion of their native land. Once again, a celebration which marks a divisive element it society, though there has been ideas to change it. But there is obviously a division by ethnicity which is hard to close.

The issues in Australia are a problem, this is not to be denied. There is a process which needs to be followed and reconciliation which is required to mend the bridges, and some progress has been made. The issue is that there are elements who will perpetuate the differences, who will always claim that there is an issue, who will always claim there is more to be done. There is also the necessity of both sides to come together, to unite. If the problems are perpetuated, if there is no forgiveness in response to the apology, then there is no reconciliation and it will never end.

Poking the bear...

For some reason people enjoy provoking others to respond either to their side, or to show themselves as being against their position; this is primarily to start discussion, highlighting a particular cause. In some cases this is deliberate because they want to highlight the cause that they are passionate about, in other cases it is because they simply want to start discussion, because they enjoy discussion.

There is nothing wrong with lively discussion, even good reasoned argument, when those arguments turn nasty is when there are real problems and divisions are exposed. These divisions can be reduced by the two people agreeing to disagree, but most often they are not; both sides will pick their points and continue to argue their points until the division widens between them and there is a long way back to seeing that they have similarities as well as differences.

Issues should be raised, be they social or political, when they are appropriate, i.e. when they are relevant to the situation, but issues are often raised when a current situation has nothing to do with the  issue raised. A situation is sometimes turned to that particular person's political or social bend so they can highlight their particular social issue, to beat their drum about the social issue. This often causes more division than it does highlight the issue, especially when the issue was not of a concern to begin with; often it results in people being wary about what they speak about with that person, erecting walls, dividing once again.

These issues are often raised for one of two reasons, to make the person look important, to inject themselves into the situation and make themselves the centre of attention, or for making some political or social point. The last one is the most often case with politicians and activists, but it can also occur in normal life situations. Issues are raised just for the pure purpose of highlighting injustices done. Once again, due to the arguments that ensue such issues usually don't result in rational discussion but emotional argument dividing rather than uniting. 

All bad news?

Is it all bad news? Can we never be united? Is there never a time when we can be united, is it never possible for people to come together united? Is there no way?

What has been presented are the ways in which we are not united and the reasons that we have problems uniting. It comes down to a very simple problem; we are too busy looking for reasons that we are different to one another. These differences were presented at the beginning of this discussion. These differences do not acknowledge the things about us that are the same.

We are all human beings.

We all live on this planet.

We all breathe the same air.

We all deserve certain human rights (this one covers a lot of things).

We all have relatively short lives (in comparison to the length of history).

We all have dreams and aspirations.

We all laugh, cry, and smile.

We all have our good days, and our bad.

We all have days when we work hard, and others when we are lazy.

We all want to be well-liked.

Here are ten things that we all have in common. These are things which every human being on the planet shares with every other human being on the planet. If this is not a place to start uniting, then our future truly is bleak. Everyone feels small and helpless looking at the state of the world. You don't have to be a world leader to start the healing, start with a person you know. Talk to them, find commonality with them, acknowledge your differences, but also acknowledge where you are the same. Step outside find another person, do the same thing. Greet people on the street with a friendly smile, bring friendship to the stranger, treat the person in the shop with kindness; if everyone did these small acts all the time the world would be a much nicer place and people would realise they are more alike than they knew.

Cheers,

Henry.

P.S. You will notice a lot of Wikipedia links in my posts. This is a great resource of free information which is now reliably researched, as you will note by the references which appear at the bottom of each page. I donate to the Wikimedia Foundation monthly to keep this non-profit group operational, and I recommend that everyone do the same, you can do this HERE. Please give, and keep this free source of information alive, there are few of them these days.