by Aldus Marius on Wed Jun 15, 2005 8:40 am
Salve, mi Numeri...
Yoiks!! --Haddaway! I've been going to RenFaires and similar events for 35 years, sometimes as Visitor but usually as Participant; how come I've never run into these? I don't deny that they exist, as they do in every segment of the population; but they can't be at all prevelant.
Na, who I usually bump into are SCAdians, Pagans of various sorts, roleplayers, some wargamers (usually at reenactments), and all degrees of authenticity from exquisitely-researched to Xena and ElfQuest. RenRats are almost uniformly intelligent, creative people who have often come to feel unwelcomed by 'mundane' social institutions, especially religious ones. If you are not welcome near the center, you wind up on the fringe. That doesn't necessarily make you a hatemonger unless you let it.
Anyone can get way-too-into anything. This is not a characteristic of the Faire or reenactor scene alone; it is simple human nature. Remember when people were saying the same thing about the 'Net! (And, come to think of it, we're a little 'fringe' here in the SVR ourselves, nonne?)
Please, go to your local Faire if you're lucky enough to have one. You will find enthusiasts and even some scholars. Your mind will expand a bit, if it can. As they used to say on the old Fat Albert cartoon, "If you ain't careful, you just might learn something!"
In fide,
Aldus Marius Peregrinus.