Quote Originally Posted by Semiomniscient View Post
I think it's the country fair character that many of us desire to see in our local Highland Games that causes so much of this protectiveness. Maybe certain Games would be like country fairs on steroids, but shouldn't be mixed into the likes of ren faires and comic conventions. That said, I like all of those things, but all of them in their place. :-)
Exactly! The games aren't cheapened or assaulted by these misguided people. The culture remains strong because of those of us who actually understand it. It's just a little annoying- at least, to me- to see the people who don't understand and don't bother to take the time to understand. Now given my involvement in living history, I suspect that I myself may be in a small way partly to blame for people getting annoyed about others in costume at the Games, because I am always in costume (OK, almost always in costume!) at the games, if the Renaissance Scots are participating. The issue, I think, is the complete lack of understanding on the part of the people in question as to what the games actually are! For example, my best friend is an Anderson by adoption, and a native American by birth. I took him to his first Games a few years ago for his birthday, and his first question was- should I wear a costume? I simply explained to him that the Games were a cultural event along the same lines as the pow wows that he been taking me to for years, and that made sense to him! The problem as I see it is a lack of genuine cultural events in mainstream American society. As a result, we don't quite understand the last part of the quoted post- everything in it's place. We simply assume that everything is a game of fantasy.