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This link was posted over on the WK Yahoo Group:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/magazine/11Jousting-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp
It is a *long* article, but if you are going to read it I highly recommend you read the whole thing. The following is, I confess, me rambling.
What I find interesting about this article is that, IMHO, the first group described, the American-only full contact "extreme sport" jousters, represent to me a 3-sigma* example of what I believe some Westerners that I know are afraid SCA heavy combat fighting will become if we are not careful. I, myself, am not that worried, given the reality that I see. But I do think I can point to this and say "This is what some people are afraid of". I suppose this might encourage a more conscious advocacy of Honoring and Respecting one's opponent as compared to just wanting to brutalize them. Note I Have Not Seen such "brutality" in the West. I think our fighters *do* try to be Chivalrous, even though some disagree as to what *exactly* that means. What sets the US-only jousters apart is that they explicitly are all about the violence and bragging rights only. But it may still be useful to hold up this example to newcomers to say We Are Not These Guys! :-0
I also thought the ruthlessness and lack of empathy of the Florida audience was, ironically, akin to historical audiences whether they wanted to be or not (e.g. little boy in audience: "I want to see a guy get paralyzed!".) Medieval and Rennaissance people did turn out to watch animals get ripped apart for entertainment, after all.
Sigh. Didn't we have the Enlightenment? People scare me out there. That's why I hang out with my idealistic friends.
* 3-sigma = the exteme edge of the bell curve.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/magazine/11Jousting-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp
It is a *long* article, but if you are going to read it I highly recommend you read the whole thing. The following is, I confess, me rambling.
What I find interesting about this article is that, IMHO, the first group described, the American-only full contact "extreme sport" jousters, represent to me a 3-sigma* example of what I believe some Westerners that I know are afraid SCA heavy combat fighting will become if we are not careful. I, myself, am not that worried, given the reality that I see. But I do think I can point to this and say "This is what some people are afraid of". I suppose this might encourage a more conscious advocacy of Honoring and Respecting one's opponent as compared to just wanting to brutalize them. Note I Have Not Seen such "brutality" in the West. I think our fighters *do* try to be Chivalrous, even though some disagree as to what *exactly* that means. What sets the US-only jousters apart is that they explicitly are all about the violence and bragging rights only. But it may still be useful to hold up this example to newcomers to say We Are Not These Guys! :-0
I also thought the ruthlessness and lack of empathy of the Florida audience was, ironically, akin to historical audiences whether they wanted to be or not (e.g. little boy in audience: "I want to see a guy get paralyzed!".) Medieval and Rennaissance people did turn out to watch animals get ripped apart for entertainment, after all.
Sigh. Didn't we have the Enlightenment? People scare me out there. That's why I hang out with my idealistic friends.
* 3-sigma = the exteme edge of the bell curve.
