And there was murder in their eyes

When I woke up yesterday, still bleary at around 2:30, I remembered that the renaissance fair was happening. Every year a gang of community members puts on a renaissance Europe themed fair here, and I make it a point to at least go and have a look; it is certainly memorable.

The day smiled on Walla Walla with a light breeze and clear, warm sky. As a direct result, many families had chosen to come scope out the event. With families come kids.

Boff (I hope that is spelled correctly) fighting is a mainstay element of the fair. In this activity, participants whack one another with soft weapons. Boffing represents a unique opportunity to live out the inner nerd-fantasy that so many hold dear.

Most adults and teens are relatively guarded in their boffing. They choose to view it as something of a sport to justify it against the naysayers and bally-hoers. The kids, especially the ones present by the swarm at Renfair, are entirely submersed.

You can get a clear idea of what these kids think is epic just by watching a few boff matches for fun. Completely oblivious of the outside world, they run and scream around the arena, stabbing one another in the back, fleeing from the enemy, seizing victory with ruthless cries. One kid kept attacking the others once they were down, pantomiming a bloody murder, another, on victory, held up his weapon above his head, looked directly at the audience of students and parents, and let loose a resounding victory scream, which was pretty humorous.

It becomes immediately evident also that the young'uns are playing the same video games and watching many of the same nerd-movies that the old'uns do. They seem to know exactly what to do to look 'cool' with their weapons, and they also don't hesitate at all to slaughter the other kids once in the mindset of the game. Kyle, a friend involved in the community that helps implement the fair, mentioned that one wee visitor from the prior year kept running up behind the other children, and using two weapons to 'cut off their head' from behind. It's hard to say whether violent media makes people more violent, but with certainty the next generation gobbles it up.

Also striking was the fact that many of the adult bystanders were apprehensive to take part. You could see them looking out and thinking about it, after all the actual participants seemed to be having a lot of fun, but fear of looking silly was sufficient to constrain these people to guilty sideways glances and non-participation. The invisible restraint was made especially apparent here, since the younger set was so visibly unaffected. Personally, I lament that we have so many standards that prevent members of society from doing the most interesting and memorable thing available. Maybe we would all be better served to randomly scream supremacy more often.