[SCA-AE] New A&S Policy at Pennsic

[Mick Cole]

Your excellency,
With all due respect, I would humbly like to respond to your question, 
which seems to be a smokescreen to divert attention from the question I 
asked about the kind  of message we are sending to teen-agers that 
hypocrisy is perfectly OK. I will respond in more detail in the snips below.

--- In sca-aethelmearc at yahoogroups.com, Eric France <de_labarre at ...> 
wrote (<in part>
  . . . .
 >
 > "Tyrannical", Mick? Hyperbolic much?
Not at all. One definition of "tyrannical" is "oppressive actions marked 
by unjust severity or arbitrary behavior," which certainly seems to be 
the case here.
 > Once again: this rule was not instituted to screw teenagers or their 
parents. It
 > was certainly not instituted to police A&S class content.
 > This rule was instituted so that there would be a way for minors to 
continue to
 > attend A&S classes while adhering to the new rules about supervisory
 > interactions between staff and  minors at events -- rules that are to 
be applied
 > across the entire Pennsic staff structure.
This is utter  nonsense, which has been amply refuted by others.
 >
 > These new rules are in response to the changing legal climate since 
the Ben the
 > Steward incident. There is more to it than just that, but like many 
others I'm
 > not at liberty to go into gory details (and I'm not the right person 
to do so).
 > But if you think about it for a moment, these rules, if followed by 
everyone,
 > will make such a situation essentially impossible in the future.
See my last remark.
 > Of *course* its sounds ridiculous if you're talking about a 240 lb 
17-year-old
 > boy who's authorized for heavy list. Wisdom and responsibility aren't 
magically
 > bestowed on the 18th birthday, but LEGALLY it makes a huge 
difference. How will
 > the kids feel about it? Well if their parents tell them that its a 
vast BOD
 > conspiracy to make their lives suck, they'll probably believe that. 
Or, if we
 > tell them that its to protect them from predators, well they might 
believe that
 > too. I don't know.
Please, give me a break.
 > There is a really good compromise that has been approved -- any 
responsible
 > adult can accompany a minor to a class. In my view, that makes all the
 > self-righteous indignation about what is basically a question of 
convenience
 > look like foolish puffery.
Aside from ad hominem criticism belittling those who oppose the policy, 
this point has also been amply refuted by others.
<There has been a lot of very harsh criticism of the Pennsic staff on 
this list
 > (and on the Thescorre list), which in my view is totally unwarranted. 
Pennsic
 > staffers, particularly the Mayor and DMs and section heads, VOLUNTEER an
 > enormous amount of time and energy trying to make Pennsic a great 
event for
 > everybody. If you don't like how things are being run, maybe you should
 > volunteer to work on staff yourself next year -- the change in 
viewpoint might
 > be educational.
I see that someone who has the qualifications you seem to think I lack 
has already responded in some detail, so will only add that it is the 
patronizing attitude that Pennsic staff cannot be subject to criticism 
simply because they are hard-working (and I have yet to see anyone say 
they are not) that is unwarranted, and seems to be nothing more than a 
smokescreen to divert attention from some very real issues that have yet 
to addressed in by the ruling elite, who seem to think the rest of us 
are nothing more than cattle who should follow the dictates of the 
ruling elite without regard to how oppressive, and yes tyrannical, those 
dictates may be.
Respectfully submitted,
Mick, who feels more than a little insulted by the invective that has 
been directed at my postings here and on the Thescorre list, as well as 
in private emails to me.
-------------- next part --------------

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com 
Version: 9.0.830 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2989 - Release Date: 07/08/10 02:36:00