This is a follow-up to my first post in regard to research. I've been doing the living history/reenactment game for going in 30 years and the one thing I've found very irritating is the attitude of "do your research" when attempting to find out about a particular aspect of the impression I am attempting to create. Yes, I can perfectly understand that sentiment and I share it myself- why should I just spew out information to someone too lazy to do their own research and/or simple basic reading on the subject, and especially if there are excellent sources out there readily available (i.e. some good reference books on the subject).
At the same time, I also feel that why should we have to re-invent the wheel each time someone new comes along. Sharing information is one of the major ways that this esoteric hobby (reenactment/living history) is going to grow. Also, not all of us are necessarily blessed with complete access to archives, museums, and the like due to location or other circumstances. Why make things difficult when they don't have to be?
There is no perfect answer to this issue. It seems that more and more with the advent of the internet, Wikipedia, et al., people do not want to put in the basic investment of time reading up on the subject. They simply expect it all to be pre-digested, ready-to-go. This is inexcusable, especially if a period has a lot of literature readily available. In regard to the First World War, we are beginning to see this a lot with the Centennial coming on; often I've seen vague general questions on forums or facebook such as "what equipment did the German infantryman carry"? That particular question went unanswered even though there were many in the group who could have answered it. The obvious answer was "Go read a fucking book" but people were too polite to actually say it, which was probably for the best.
So there it is. The moral of story, I suppose, would be do your basic research first before hitting people up with questions.
Horrido!
No comments:
Post a Comment