NSM vs. SCA
Recently, a neo-nazi was posting on Olyblog, and at some point he mentioned that the National Socialist Movement answers to the SCA in Washington state. He was in fact, not talking about the Society for Creative Anachronism, but nonetheless it caused a bit of confusion for those of us who don't fancy ourselves part of the neo-nazi scene. I got a good laugh, though, imagining Jim Ramm and his little battalion standing and saluting before an Arthurian council.
I got to thinking...
Key similarities between the National Socialist Movement and the Society for Creative Anachronism:
- Both are organizations for geeky white people.
- Both are Eurocentric.
- Both have pretend hierarchies that they are obsessively committed to.
- Both fancy historical garb, weapons-collecting, and practice fighting.
- Both discourage real killing, though in the SCA maiming or murdering your opponent will actually disqualify you from membership.
Key Differences between the NSM and SCA:
- SCA stresses historical accuracy, whereas the NSM denies the holocaust.
- SCA members recognize that having your own kingdom is just a fantasy, albeit a time-consuming and expensive one.
- You don't actually have to be white to be in the SCA. I was just joking about that.
- There is such thing as a cute, lovable nerd. NSMers do not fit this profile, SCAers often do.
- SCA members have better vocabularies. For instance, ruffle an NSM member and you might hear: "Eat n**ger sh*t, you k*ke-loving, c*nt-eating lesbian commie b*tch." or on the internet, you might get 4 pages of "HEIL HITLER!!!!"s. Whereas an SCA member might say, "Lick my blood-boltered leather, thou lumpish, reeky, tardy-gaited codpiece!" , and they'd rather settle disputes in the ring with a wooden sword than by crapflooding.
- The SCA is a good way to make friends. The NSM is a good way to be taken advantage of by crazy sociopaths, beat up by SHARPs, and further alienated from society.
posted by Jade at 11:44 PM
3 Comments:
I have found this to be the best response to the NSM "problem" yet. Everyone needs to belong. Everyone needs a cause. The SCA does an admirable job of fulfilling these requirements. And while I am not certain that the SCA is without controversy, it remains a fairly good outlet for people to play act. Another good outlet might be the Knights that say Ni, an old Monty Python sketch that has drawn world wide geeky followers. Check out the Wikipedia on the Knights that say Ni http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_who_say_Ni
for more information on this sterling organization.
As a long time member of the SCA, I feel it incumbent to answer this missive because, it is somewhat misguided. I do not speak for the SCA as an organization but, rather as an individual member. The goal of the SCA is to "recreate the Middle Ages as the "Should have been". An environment where we can treat all with honor, respect and in a chivalrous manner. Even though we tend to be Eurocentric in outlook that is simply a matter of the majority of members being of European descent. We have Asian, African and Arabic cultures represented as well.
We also have members active in the Peace and Justice movement. Conversly, we have some pro-war and right wing members.
Within this framework, it is unlikely that the NSM would be able to find a place for themselves, simply because the haven't learned to play fair. They don't treat others with respect and quite frankly, have rather poor manners.
I'm afraid that they would probably find themselves banished rather quickly.
They certainly take themselves seriously enough to form their own organization based on Monty Python.
That way, they could base it on old movies and wouldn't even have to read about such abominable things as history.
Just PLEASE, don't send them in our direction. Please!
I'll say hi, July second.
Sincerely:
YIS
Lord Jon Eriksson
Lord Jon,
I apologize if my post seemed salty.
Thank you for the corrections. For all the reasons you explain, the SCA is a great organization. I encourage all the impressionable-but-not-incorrigible to look into membership.
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