True Authenticity

[utahreenactor]

I had a conversasion with a fellow reenactor a few weeks ago and we were talking about authenticity. The question was can you every truely be authentic. My point was that though a person may have all the right gear but what about their thoughts? To be perfectly authentic would you not have to think period thoughts all the time through a reenactment? well just give a little feedback if you feel like it!

Chase pinkham

[GrumpyDave]

I find the phrase "you can never be truely authentic" used mostly as an excuese by those who don't care to put any or a little effort into the historical correctness of their hobby. Common sense dictates you can only do the best you can with what you've got. It will never be 186x again. We don't fire live rounds at each other. So, like everyone I know, we strive to get as close historically as we can. We use the written history and records. And, we make changes when new evidence shows up. That information is shared, on a regular basis by like minded people, in places like the Authentic Campaigner. That doesn't make loading up a trailor with the wife and kids and calling what you doing reliving history. It makes it theme camping. At least in my mind.



"Grumpy" Dave Towsen

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo Kamerad!

While I appreciate the spirit or intent of the question, this is an area or topic that:

1. May border or cross into the realm of Flame Bait, or if not Farbery
2. And is an issue not of discussion or concept, but more so goes to the F/M/C/P/H/A Paradigm discussed ad infinitum and ad nauseum in the past (as well as currently here in another thread.

To be truly "authentic," one needs to be a Civil War soldier, all of whom hold that distinction by History as well as by definition or even semantics.

That is why there is no one single "Civil War Hobby" here, but rather lads strung out on their own personal Journeys on the Path that for some leads closer (a self or group defined concept) to Life in the Past. And everyone has their own valid and "works for them" Mental Picture of what they see themselves doing and where they see themselves fitting in.

For some it is recreational pageantry. For others, it is Time Warp and Time Machine efforts. For some it is simulation of a few elements of Life in the Past. For others it is emulation of as many aspects of Life in the Past as can be had and can be done. And everyone else is somewhere in between...
For some, their "hobby" is history-light. For others, history-heavy. And everyone else is somewhere in between...

The ONLY true "authentics" are/were people who lived in the Past as their Present.

There are many definitions, denotations, connotations, and usages of "authentic," with differing ideas and concepts.

"Authenticity," defined as getting as "close or closer" to those "authentic people in the Past" is not an event- it is a destination like the horizon that always retreats before us just when we think or believe we are getting closer to it. There is no Perfection, just the pursuit of perfection- without an actual time machine to "take us back."

And everybody choses differently, and rightfully so for their Mental Pictures, levels of interest and application, and their respective hobbies and hobby-types.

And everybody choses what works for them. (even the tiny minority of the radical, lunatic fringe element of the Time Warpers, Immersionists, and Emulators.

How, and what, we personally choose can sometimes be more of a limiting, or expanding factor than the rules we create for choosing less than what we are able to accomplish and achieve for ourselves.

And, that is well and good too.

Books could be written about Mental Pictures and all of the "hobbies under the Civil War umbrella. It is all a matter of "degree" as we all are in different hobbies together.

Reviewing past AC Forum postings and threads may be an excellent way to "learn the ropes" as well as getting a grasp on what the AC Forum is, what it strives to accomplish, for whom, and how.

Being new to the AC Forum, please take the time to use the SEARCH function, not only for basic questions such as bundles (your "packs") but also for the excellent historical, practical, philosophical, directional, and application type discussions such as Paul Calloway's post on the F/M/P/C/H/A model or the "Campaigners' Manifesto."

What makes a posting such as the above potential if not actual Flame Bait is that it is often not an original idea worth exploring and discussing but rather what is sometimes:

1. the "mantra" of the "Militant Farb" as rationalization and justification for a "poor impression" and "poorer activites" because "We can never truly be Authentic, so why bother being any or having any "authenticity" at all?!!"

2. the "working tool" of the Troll, who has the desire to post things soley designed to be Flame Bait.

Neither of the two are well-received here. However, there are other fora and boards where that is okay.

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt
Moderator