Removed post 4

Poteet in Texas is a small rural community in trouble. Its population is 3300 and it has 30 registered sex offenders, that is one for every 110 people. Even the Mayor is a convicted child molester.

Thinking about a community with so much wrong with it got me to thinking about the international WMA community.

There is however a problem with that.

There isn’t an international WMA community.

There isn’t even a national one, whichever country you happen to live in.

Do I really need to explain?

If you’re the leader of a pseudo-medieval “Order of Chivalry” then what the hell do you have in common with Thrusty McDojo rapierboy?

Nothing.

There is no way you and your group in your perfectly authentic wool-effect doublets would gain from being associated with him and his in their matching t-shirts and hero worship training syllabus.

In the same way that there is no reason the academic giants among us (and I use the term with a pinch of irony) would seek to benefit their practise by associating with Sir Rattan of Renfair and his assorted retainers.

So why do people still talk about the worldwide HES (or WMA, or HEMA, or HF, or HWMA depending on which bit of the non-existant community you are in) community?

Because they want to feel that they are part of a giant growing organisation.

I’ve got news for you.

It’s never going to happen. Groups don’t get more cohesive as they grow, they get more divisive and exclusive.

If you need to associate with other people then why not choose people you like? Just do what you do as well as you can and if it’s good enough it will grow.

If it isn’t then it won’t, but at least you’ll have stopped pretending that your Fiore Longsword classes are the same thing as the next town’s Highland Broadsword.

It isn’t all bad news though.

At least you don’t live in Poteet.