tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17759756.post113184037891942045..comments2023-10-30T02:03:56.081+13:00Comments on Capitalism Bad; Tree Pretty: In 1649 to St George's Hill...Maiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17212711843307060731noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17759756.post-1131880344170721392005-11-14T00:12:00.000+13:002005-11-14T00:12:00.000+13:00I've been doing medievalism of various sorts for a...I've been doing medievalism of various sorts for around twenty years now. I've done the pseudo victorian high fantasy 'medjeval' roleplaying games, I've done the paid re-enactment for film and media events, I've done the grittily realistic mud, blood, digging and backbreaking work sort (because I find it fun to build drystone walls and dig wells with medieval tools). I don't particularly find anything creepy about it, and generally I find those that do are usually fairly ignorant of the motives of medievalist groups, their reasons for doing reenactment, and the history of the middle ages in general.<BR/><BR/>The <A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4424496.stm" REL="nofollow">bbc</A> post on the 'knight school' seems pretty innocuous (along the lines of the victorianised ideal chivalry), it just sounds as though your friend is responding to it with a rather large carrotv factor. Sure, when we do displays for children at schools, its all about the swords and helmets and fighting, thats the flashy stuff that gets their attention. Then you can hit them with the actual history, the illustration of the social effects of feudalism, how it evolved in the different countries that used it, what it did to those on top and those below, how it did work, how it didn't, how it led to corruption, and how it died out. <BR/><BR/>What I do find about medievalism as an activity for disadvantaged kids, is that it can kick start them into trying to learn, either at school, or as a hobby, and anything that makes people learn, about anything, is good. I don't care if I'm teaching them how to fight with a sword and shield, or how to weave cloth on a warp weighted loom, or how people died of the black plague, or the economic effects of viking raiding, its better than ignorance.Weekend_Vikinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02863068062497281215noreply@blogger.com