Is Traditional Muzzleloading "Elitist"

[Pork Chop]

I've had long hair for my entire adult life.....

Get a haircut ya darned hippie!! :rotf:

Couldn't resist that! You are right on. I know a guy that looks like Charles Manson - crazy eyes and all. He is a very intelligent, well rounded great guy. He just happens to have a touch of insomnia and looks like a mass murderer. Great guy though!

 

[Black Hand]

I've had long hair for my entire adult life.....

Get a haircut ya darned hippie!! :rotf:

Couldn't resist that! You are right on. I know a guy that looks like Charles Manson - crazy eyes and all. He is a very intelligent, well rounded great guy. He just happens to have a touch of insomnia and looks like a mass murderer. Great guy though!

Yep, been there and experienced that.....

As to the haircut - I have a respectable job now and the wife likes it. I have had it so long that to cut it off would be like cutting off a limb.... :grin:

 

[Emet Huntsman]

Interesting read. Now my :2 .
"Elitist" is one of those words that has a dictionary definition and a popular use definition. We now tend to define it by the old "My way or the highway" attitude about something -- and use it to label those we perceive as challenging something we hold dear. In that context it is a word better understood as exclusionary. "If you don't want to change to the way I think, you are being elitist, and therefore not welcome in my circle."
In that sense Traditional Muzzle loading can be seen as elitist because it means someone's having to give up one way of thinking (eg. inlines are the only way to go) and come around to agreeing with the group who holds that be part of the group one must embrace sidelocks and wooden stocks.
It is neither good nor bad, just the way things are. The danger for discord lies in one group or the other refusing to at least discuss the merits of each side's "sacred cows" and trying to come to a consensus that does not see one as superior to the other.
In other words, we agree to disagree without being disagreeable.

 

[Claude Mathis]

My second statement is directed to this whole thread in general, asking are we elitist on a pro-traditional M/L forum is akin to billionaires setting around asking each other if they think they are snobs? If you want to to know how a person or group is viewed you have to ask someone outside the group.

I respectfully disagree. What people "think of you" doesn't change who you are. Being an elitist is not defined by what others think of you, it's your state of mind. (See definition)

 

I respectfully disagree. What people "think of you" doesn't change who you are. Being an elitist is not defined by what others think of you, it's your state of mind. (See definition)

I agree an outside view doesn't change who you are, but that isn't what I gathered from this thread, I gathered that what was ask is are Traditional M/L viewed (perceived) as being elitist. How we see ourselves and how others see us are usually two very different things. If the point is to bring more people into Traditional M/L then the outside perception is the one that matters.

C

 

Hey if all you were asking for was the inside view then I'm sure we are all great people in the M/L community.

C

 

[Glenfilthie]

There is only two reasons to be out there: for sport and for fun.

Black powder geeks like me in my neck of the woods are seen as harmless eccentrics, especially the buckskinners and re-enactors.

For me the fun is in the experience of doing things the old way and maybe picking up some knowledge or friends along the way. This black powder stuff is addictive, and I fully understand how one could get carried away with it. If somebody wants to think they are better than me because of their knowledge and equipment, I suppose there is no harm in it just as long as they are fun to be around.

I really enjoy this forum and the turkeys that post on it. Being the best black powder geek you can be is a fine goal in life and I wish us all the very best of luck in this regard.

 

[ohio ramrod]

We are elitest in that we want to talk about and play with OUR TOYS not the newer toys.As Will rogers once said : " I wouldn't want to be a member of a group that would have someone like me as a member ."

 

[flaming canvas]

I've had long hair for my entire adult life.....

Get a haircut ya darned hippie!! :rotf:

Couldn't resist that! You are right on. I know a guy that looks like Charles Manson - crazy eyes and all. He is a very intelligent, well rounded great guy. He just happens to have a touch of insomnia and looks like a mass murderer. Great guy though!

Porkchop,I know I'm not as young as I used to be, but I just don't remember meeting you. :rotf:

Actually, this Saturday is the 10th anniversary of my last haircut.

 

[Wolfbane]

I don't think it is elitist for me, as I don't esteem myself better than other hunters/shooters because I shoot tradition and they don't; but I like it so much because it makes me work hard a develop new skills (casting, close stalking etc.)that I would not have discovered otherwise.

 

[mykeal]

The title of the thread asks if the sport is elitist. I think the answer is clearly, no.

Like any sport (beach volleyball, Grand Prix racing, bicycle motocross, etc. etc. etc.) it attracts followers, or fans, with the full range of enthusiasms, which leads to the question posed in the body of XXX's first message in the thread: are we, the 'fans' of muzzleloading, elitist?

That's a different question. People who have an interest in a particular pastime (fans) are to some degree elitist simply by virtue of that interest; they focus quite naturally on what they enjoy doing. A percentage of those fans are obsessive about their interest, and they would seem to personify the 'bad' definition of elitist - they tend to look down on those who do not share the full measure of their obsessive viewpoint.

We'd all like to think that those obsessive fans do not represent the rest of us and the sport in general, and I believe that's true. So, to answer the question in the body of the post: we are elitist in the sense that we are enthusiasts, some more than others, but overall, with a few exceptions, we are not the elitist that derides those who do not share our enjoyment of the sport.

 

[bajabuc]

it's hunting season here...went to the pawnshop to see what there was in sidehamers and found one...12 pawnshops. But I didn't find any inlines either. The BP season allows an extra deer over and above the cartridge rifles. The elitests (rear loaders) will be bringing their inline front stuffers back to the pawnshops after season is over. "Wall, I only bought the dern stinky thing so's I could get another deer...and get outta the house"