In a message dated 4/27/2008 3:28:23 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
The Civil War reenactors are a very large group but with few exceptions, tend not to be very interested in books or research. They seem to regard it as somehow virtuous to be conspicuously disinterested in everything beyond their immediate and very narrow time frame and geographic area, thus tend to lack a sense of context. They are conformist in ideas, and rely heavily on the system of one group "authority" reading a book and giving them a set of approved ideas to worth with. All reenactment communities do this to some extent, but the CW reenactors are the most likely to come onto an e-group and say, "What is OK for me to wear? I want to 'fit in,'" rather than doing any research or original thinking themselves. They also seem to have less formal education than the other groups, judging by how they write, spell, etc. I find your statements extremely offensive Fran. What precisely did Civil War Re-enactors ever do to you for you to label us so rudely? I personally know a great many that have higher levels of education than you probably attained yourself. Even if they didn't, the majority were raised in a manner that gave them better manners than to publicly smear everyone into a narrow minded generalization as you just did. ANY group of re-enactors, whatever their area of interest, are just as susceptible to your rant above as any other. To a certain extent, your statement that we are not concerned with much beyond our “very narrow time frame” is true. The American Civil War spanned from 1861 until 1865, so obviously there is a need for an extremely specific time frame in which to research, which in comparison to the SCA is extremely narrow. That being said, the decades leading up to the war are every bit as relevant to us as those four years, and I can’t think of many people at the moment who would refute that point. If I were 24 in 1863, I would have been born in 1839 and experienced many things beyond mere material culture. Those things constitute my life experience, and are of extreme importance in researching and knowing. Truth be told, some people don’t enter into Civil War Re-enacting for the clothing. That’s alright though. So that means that some will never research much past getting a basic visual impression together. And there is where the basic clothing guidelines and mindset that you’re currently slamming come into play. They aren’t specific to us, however. If this bias against Civil War Re-enactors is based off of the number of books you don’t sell to us, I would strongly encourage you to reconsider your position as to why. In this case it’s not usually disinterest in books and researching that keep us from purchasing your overpriced books. More to the point its that we’ve encountered the publisher of these books that hold little or no relevance to our period of history online in some form or another, and having experienced first hand how rude and derogatory she is toward us, have no desire to support her in any way, shape, or form due to her snotty and defamatory attitude. And assuming one could ignore that momentarily, it becomes a debate of spending $45 on a book filled with things that post-date the Civil War, and which the author has stated that accuracy is not the primary focus of, or one which is relevant on both counts. ~Joseph Stevens **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851) _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
