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To lead, you must be willing to lose for those you lead.

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Thorsteinn:
Recently in the SCA Kingdom of the West two friends of mine have been banished for shadowy reasons. This marks the 7th & 8th person I have known to be banished for shadowy reasons, done not in the light. There is always a reason they have, and that reason matches the rules of the SCA, and these rules are nebulous at best. Enforced on some, not enforced on others whom clearly also qualify.

The Crown of the Kingdom are told that if they stand up and bring this issue into the light that the BOD will strip them of their Crowns and potentially banish them too. The Crowns always back down.

My question: What is a King & Queen whom will not fight for their people against those whom seek to harm them? What is a King and Queen whom refuse to bring these matters into the light so that the populace might know what is done in their name?

Discuss.

Thorsteinn:
My personal opinion was spoken by King Baldwin well in Kingdom of Heaven.

"A King may move a man, a father may claim a son, but remember that even when those who move you be Kings, or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God, you cannot say, "But I was told by others to do thus." Or that, "Virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that."

Jon Blair:
I'm not in the SCA, never have been, but isn't there an appeals process to a higher authority? I mean if one kingdom banishes a person for reasons that are either unclear or unwarranted, is there no "Emperor" or "Council of Kingdoms" that the banished person may turn to for respite and succor? If not, shouldn't there be?

Thorsteinn:

--- Quote from: Jon Blair on 2016-04-08, 15:39:16 ---I'm not in the SCA, never have been, but isn't there an appeals process to a higher authority? I mean if one kingdom banishes a person for reasons that are either unclear or unwarranted, is there no "Emperor" or "Council of Kingdoms" that the banished person may turn to for respite and succor? If not, shouldn't there be?

--- End quote ---

There is a "Banishment from our presence" which can mean that they are banished from the Kingdom or just events the Royals attend, but in these cases it's the Board of Directors (BOD) of the SCA that is doing the banishing, and in some cases it's one man , the Society Seneshal, doing the banishing and wrangling up the rest of the board to back him up or doing it and then when folks check the rest of the BOD goes "oh yes us too".

Basically there is no higher authority. There was a time about 25 years ago that the Kingdoms were willing to stand up to the BOD, and at that time the Estrella Accords were written up and signed saying "f**k with us and we will leave the SCA, take our members, and form our own group in the style of a federation" but after that $10 million lawsuit a decade back that the SCA settled on the SCA has become very very gun shy about getting sued again. Anyone in any way that might maybe someday perhaps get them sued for some reason, rightly or wrongly, gets tossed. Paid membership be damned.

And it's not like they get R&D'ed wherein they are permanently persona non-grata from the SCA, it's that they get placed on a permanent "review" wherein the BOD promises to "someday" come back and review the case.

It's internecine geek-meets-church politics at it's worst.

(EDIT: "...but in these cases it's the Board of Directors (BOD) of the SCA that is doing the banishing..."- The cases in my OP is what I'm referring to, not the "banished from our presence" ones that are usually for a single reign only.)

Sir James A:
SCA aside...

If the king and queen aren't willing to vouch, either there's lack of evidence for them to believe that they can win an appeal, or they lack the ethical fortitude to stand up for their own people.

However, as a political entity, the SCA has the right to accept, deny, or remove anyone it so chooses, with or without reason. Membership, even paid, is not a right, so it would certainly be an uphill battle to wage... and if they win, at what cost? Ostracized by other people anyway? Thousands in legal fees? Hundreds of hours to push an appeal?

Politics is a fantastic way to rip any organization apart.

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