Damien
Sergeant at Arms
Insert your favorite martial arts school, or living history group here.
True enough. It just seems to happen more with the SCAers. If nothing else but because a decent number of SCAers (because the organization is pretty easy to get into, and is popular with LARPers) don't really understand that what they're learning is not accurate, combat-worthy tactics, but rather a mix of historical combat and fantasy/safety stuff.
The only crime in being any of the above is hubris.
The only crime, I'd say, is not understanding what you're doing. If someone in the SCA sets themselves up as fully capable in the area of historical swordsmanship - he is not guilty of hubris so much as guilty of not understanding the sport/re-enactment that he's been engaging in. Likewise, there is no hubris in someone of a different school of learning saying that their way is -functionally- superior. Indeed, quite a few SCAers I know would readily attest to the fact that someone in ARMA or one of the smaller historical re-enactment groups is far more capable in this regard.
It's all about what you're doing, and understanding its place. SCAers would beat an ARMA guy 9 times out of 10 when fighting with SCA rules. But in a truly historical-style spar, he will almost always lose. There's no shame in that anymore than saying the Olympic fencer doesn't stand a chance in a straight-out spar against the ARMA guy with a longsword.