This past weekend was the end of Maine Renaissance Faire. It’s the last big fair that I’m involved in for the summer season, though I sometimes do short stints at others and I still have events at the Fort which are ongoing. Maine is a huge fair, and it’s a lot of fun to work it. It has two modes: flooding or choking on dust. The past two weekends, it was dust, and I was grateful. I have allergy pills, and I can wash myself. The flooding there is extreme when it happens, so I was thankful we didn’t need to deal with rain at all.
Ren Faires, as you may know, are chock full of people who lean to the Left, politically speaking. I heard a lot of people saying rude things about Trump and Vance, and I kept my mouth shut most of the time. I make my money at Ren Faires, and I cannot afford to bring politics into my job. It would sink me financially. Other people don’t feel the same, and spout their politics at every chance. There were several times that I really wanted to comment, but I pressed my lips together and either left or changed the subject.
A couple that I particularly like were camped near me, and caught my poorly hidden facial expressions during one such conversation that I couldn’t leave (it happened at my booth, and I can’t just up and leave that). The husband came over to visit with me as soon as the people left, to make sure I was alright. I did something I was worried I’d regret later; I told him the truth.
I told him that I had been investigating a lot of the claims against Trump and the Republicans, and had found that a disturbing number of them were untrue. I admitted I had “changed sides” and even talked a bit about why. And I pointed out that I am no different now than I was a few weeks ago. I hold the same opinions, know the same facts, and am indeed, the Same Person I Was. I expected to get chided, to be honest… but instead he quietly talked with me about how he and his wife were also concerned about the state of politics. He was not a Trump fan, nor a Republican, but he explained that he was fiscally conservative and socially liberal, which matches me fairly well. He also stated that, between the current two viable candidates, Trump was basically the only sane choice, whether one liked the guy or not. It was a GOOD discussion, one which we promptly stopped whenever anyone else came near us (no need to share our kinks with others, after all).
I felt more accepted than I have in a long while. I felt more at peace, too. I still won’t discuss politics with patrons or most fair people, because it isn’t worth it if they’re Left of center. I very strongly believe that political discussion should largely be kept out of the workplace, because you don’t have a choice about who your coworkers are. You have to keep it civil, and even if you do, a lot of other people don’t. Those on the Left seem unable to accept the idea of walking away for the good of the workplace.
On a completely different note, apparently a group of the bikers from the very obnoxious bar across the street from the fairgrounds jumped the fence and came into fair without paying. They were being absolute asses toward everyone, insulting all the fair-goers. They were wearing bike jackets with swastikas and other “Nazi” symbols on them. It was a bad situation, and they were 100% in the wrong.
Now, me, I like bikers. I adore being an ornament on the back of someone’s motorcycle. I like all the different styles of bikes, though I prefer more metal and leather than plastic and bright colors. Until I encountered these assholes at the biker bar, all my experiences with bikers have been positive. These dudes, though, make it a point to be as twat-waffly as possible during our entire run at fair.
The last several years, they have been careful to schedule their “burn out weekend” on one or both of the weekends of our fair. Even when we’ve moved dates, they’ve moved to make sure they’re placed to be annoying. They basically have trucks and motorcycles burn out their tires with a big noise and huge clouds of rubber smoke that coats the entire fairgrounds. The cops won’t do anything about it. It’s just horrid.
Jumping the fence, though, was beyond the pale. Before that, they were being douche-canoe neighbors, but they were staying within the bounds of the law. Sneaking into the fair, and then verbally accosting people on the grounds, that was over the top. We’ve tried talking to them… offered them free advertising at our fair (which gets on average about 6000 people a day over the two weekends), suggesting we rent their parking lot for overflow parking, which gets them mucho dollars. Nope, they just want to drive us out of business. We’re all “just faggots and trans trash” apparently.
The only thing that made my weekend better (in regards to the bikers… as a whole, the fair was amazing and I had a great time) was the fact that one of the bikers spent a LOT of time flirting outrageously with a friend of mine, Charlie. She’s a model, an actress, and is very amazing. She’s also someone who was born male and transitioned, but you’d never know it. So yeah… biker dude was being a shit to everyone around him, but flirting with someone who could bump balls with him. THAT made me chuckle.
To wrap up, I was thrilled to discover there were more “center or right” folks than I had thought, at fair. I felt a lot more comfortable. I had a really good time, and even though I didn’t make table, it was worth the trip.
Comments
12 responses to “Ren Faire Politics”
I used to love going to the smaller cons and fairs but , while they’ve always leaned left, they’ve completely gone off the rails, especially right before and during the covidiocy. Every symposium turned into a ‘conservative/Trump’ bashing session so I just stopped going.
Like you said, you were afraid to voice your opinions because you fully expected to lose your business by being decried as an *-ist/Trumper/MAGA, ect even if you agreed w/ 90% of their views.
It’s true. I don’t like that I’d lose business just because of an opinion. On the other hand, it doesn’t *often* come up, at least among those of us who work them. Patrons do what they want… they pay for the privilege of doing so and I won’t say a damn thing. I haven’t felt persecuted, just… concerned.
“bikers” nowadays are a far cry from what being a biker was all about..
I got completely away from that crowd almost 10 years ago..
You will find We the People really are the silent majority…
There are still awesome bikers out there. They are very different from “biker scum.” My partner is a BMW rider, and I adore going out with him, having dinners with the British Iron society, etc. Whole different crowd.
Truth be told, more of us are “in the middle” vs. on the extreme ends. What gives me gas is the ones on the ends are forcing choices on us. The Progressives make it clear; either accept their version of “Utopia” or they will eliminate us.
Not exactly a good way to make friends.
who wants to be friends with people like that?? people who demand you be just like them aren’t friends..
They may not be friends, but they’re a good quarter to a half of the population, and I have no problem taking their hard earned cash from them. I can talk politics when I’m not “at work”. That I work at ren faires doesn’t change the fact that I simply don’t talk politics at work, for the most part.
certain business transactions I WILL take their money. and yes, like many I refuse to talk about lots of things at work..
It’s true. I don’t have issues with the people in the middle. It’s that the people in the middle tend to be quiet… like me.
Social reform is one of those pointless empty phrases that mean whatever the person mouthing it wants it to mean. Therefore it means nothing. Like the phrase “social justice”. Another empty verbal placeholder the left loves to use.
There are definitely social issues that I feel need to be addressed, but rather than lump them into a single category, I’d prefer to deal with them on a case by case basis.
The concept of abortion is tearing the country apart right now, fueled by contentious media and frothing extremes on either end. It’s a social issue that we need to face up to.
The meaning of “shall not be infringed” is doing the same, though in very different ways. Again, this is something that needs addressing, but as an individual issue.
While these might properly be named social reform or justice in past tense, when referring to them in the future I prefer to call them by their individual titles. 😉
There are more center/right people than you can imagine.
The cancel culture favored by the leftist forces us to keep our mouths shut most of the time, or speak in waffle words the rest.
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I need look no further than what the have done to Mike Lindell, and even Scott Adams to know that publicly announcing your support for their most hated person is a death sentence for your income.