Rant!

[montagnarde1793]

I'm currently rather pissed off and depressed: after months of painstaking work, translating and putting together an alternate reenactment for use in place of that travesty that is the one I described two years ago, it seems they're going ahead with the old version. Admittedly, I don't even know if the guy running it got the reenactment and the letter I wrote to go with it--which by the way mentioned that this was the culmination of nearly two years of work--but still. I suppose I could have not been a coward and gave it to him directly instead of putting it in his box, but don't they have an obligation to read their mail from time to time? 

But this is really what pisses me off about the reenactments, apart from their gross distortions of history: the whole thing is so damn secretive. Only the guy running it's favorite students and their friends know anything about it. It's not a class project, to clarify, it more on the order of a play. But the school play posts audition and performance dates (the auditions being open to all students and the performances being open to anyone who buys a ticket). The reenactments? There are no auditions--the actors are chosen by the guy running them--and performances aren't even announced. One finds out when they're taking place by word of mouth--rumor, essentially. 

And now they're ignoring the new script that I put so much effort into entirely. Did I mention that if I complain it will look like I'm one of the new principal's cronies, because she apparently had a hugely controversial argument with Reenactment Guy (TM) about issues with the Black Death reenactment (which I haven't seen, so I can't really comment) which she claims were about safety issues and he claims were about content (ie, forcing his religious and political beliefs on students)? Which just really makes me angry, because I had been working on this long before their little tiff, and since I happened to finish it only now, *this* is what I have to deal with. *fumes*

...However: this isn't just about me. This is a whole new generation of students being brainwashed we're talking about. If it wasn't, I wouldn't give a damn--you all know that, I'm sure. But why does everyone seem to think I'm crazy for caring in the first place irl? No, it's worse than that: they would think I was crazy if I cared about anything else historical to this degree; but they, remember, are convinced that I'm crazy not merely for caring about history, but for siding with the "bloodthirsty dictators."

I am so unbelievably, immeasurably sick of dealing with this petty, pathetic, childish crap! A historical interpretation is not correct just because a textbook and a fucking secondary school teacher say so. For that matter, it doesn't matter if the world's most eminent professor says something if it's wrong. When are they going to get it into their heads that they don't have a monopoly on truth? They refuse to even listen to what I have to say because "ew, aren't those the guys who chopped off a lot of people's heads?" is the immovable object. They refuse to move beyond that to have open historical discourse. And I am so fucking tired of it. It's just disgusting.

Comments

[sansenmage.livejournal.com]

Those people must have some close-minded mental plague that you are immune too.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Evidently. I wonder how it possibly could have happened though...

[josiana.livejournal.com]

That's really upsetting. :( I'm sorry. You could protest?

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

It is indeed. D: A one person protest wouldn't get very far, contrary to popular belief. I say popular belief in order to mock the so-called "historians" who seem to think 99.9999% of the population of France was actually against the Revolution. >__>

[josiana.livejournal.com]

I know. :( You could write angry letters?

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

I tried that once already. They didn't even deign to respond, unsurprisingly.

[josiana.livejournal.com]

Oh. ;___; ...Break windows anonymously?

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Er....whose?

[josiana.livejournal.com]

The school's? Or the ones belonging to the person in charge of the reinactments?

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

*sighs* What's the point? If they didn't know it was me they'd never make the connection between the reenactments and the broken windows, and if they did I'd be punished without benefit of a trial at which to vent my grievances.

[josiana.livejournal.com]

Um. It might make you feel better? I don't know. Everything else had been suggested. I don't suppose you could do a better reinactment by yourself. ;-;

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

*sighs* I don't have the capacity. Though I'm dreading it and the probable result is that Reenactment Guy will pretend to care about my concerns and then laugh at me behind my back with all his favorite students while not doing a thing about the current reenactment, I'll probably have to go talk to him in person. This will go incredibly badly one way or another though, since I'm really quite shy irl. -__-;

[josiana.livejournal.com]

Well, at least you'll have tried. ;__; I'm sorry. Um. I am too, but I just pretend not to be, so no one notices.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Yes, there is that. D: Don't be--it's nobody's fault but my own, I suppose. I lack that capacity, unfortunately. It's good that you can do that though.

[josiana.livejournal.com]

:( Oh. ;_; It's not really useful except when speaking in public.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

I always speak in a monotone and drop my notes and that sort of thing when I have to give presentations--I just get the feeling that no one really cares and any confidence I might have had just disappears. But then, it seems I just fail at life generally, so. :( /emo

[josiana.livejournal.com]

Oh. ;_____; I don't think you fail at life. It's just the people who don't want to be enlightened.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that vote of confidence, but whether it's me or them, it's still depressing, unfortunately. ;-;

[maelicia.livejournal.com]

Well... I could ask you the question "do you seriously think they would change their script for yours?" but I won't so instead: you could make a protest like the scriptwriters-on-strike? You're in the right state anyway... And they'd probably call the security guards, but, hey, you're supposed to be revolutionary! :D?

...

Yeah, I know. The world's suck. >.>

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Foolishly, I think I rather did: because of the fact that I explained myself so clearly and politely, because of all the effort I put into it; because there's not a word in it that was not really said (though my version is translated into English, obviously) and in it's proper context too, with all parties getting equal time to air their opinions (while I never air my own), so it's about as far from biased as it's possible to get. So, yes, I think there's a pretty good basis for the claim that any reasonable person would at least seriously consider using my script. But you're right: I was a fool not to realize that *of course* they're not reasonable. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in the entire school who cares. If a friend of mine whose parents sent him away to boarding school was still here it would have made two of us, but what sort of a protest could even two people make effectively? Besides, even the scriptwriters had some kind of leverage: when you work for someone you can strike and hurt them financially, but I don't work for Reenactment Guy, obviously. (Not only that, but he has tenure, so even if there were some way to prove what a horrible teacher he is they can't remove him.)

But yes, to cut a long story short, the world does indeed such. D:

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

I am so unbelievably, immeasurably sick of dealing with this petty, pathetic, childish crap! A historical interpretation is not correct just because a textbook and a fucking secondary school teacher say so. For that matter, it doesn't matter if the world's most imminent professor says something if it's wrong. When are they going to get it into their heads that they don't have a monopoly on truth? They refuse to even listen to what I have to say because "ew, aren't those the guys who chopped off a lot of people's heads?" is the immovable object. They refuse to move beyond that to have open historical discourse. And I am so fucking tired of it. It's just disgusting.

Hear hear. I'm sorry the asshat appears to have just completely written off all of your hard work. :/ *hugs* I'd be kind of interested in reading it, actually. :D;

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you. I'm glad I'm not alone in my disgust, at the very least. I can send it to you, if you like...

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

Oooh, sweetness. anime_girl_17@hotmail.com is my e-mail.