[MR] Fwd: Authenticity (was pentograms)

[Kelly Keck]

On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 1:15 PM, Smith CTR Jeffrey
C<jeffrey.c.smith.ctr at usmc.mil> wrote:
> As a former kingdom chatelain, I am imaging the uproar we will cause when the first shire makes broad use of a pentagram in it's device at a demo.
>
> I think the College of Arms has made a mistake -- just how serious it will be may take us years to determine, but this has the potential to really hurt us as an organization.
>
> Barcsi Janos

I'll have to disagree with you. If we're going to disallow religious
symbols because people may misunderstand and misinterpret them, all
the devices with crosses need to be recalled as well.  To say that one
religious symbol is okay and another isn't is discriminatory against
the religion whose symbol you disallow, and the SCA really has no
business saying which religion's symbols are "acceptable" and which
are not.

Yes, it might hurt us as an organization if someone associates the SCA
with devil worship, or even with actual pagan beliefs, but that's not
a good reason for the SCA to discriminate against its members who want
to use the symbol of their faith in their devices, when those symbols
have a basis in medieval art.

If there's an uproar, then we explain the symbol's use in period and
its importance to that hypothetical group that put it on their device
(whatever that importance might be--most group devices have a story
behind them).  Just as, if a non-Christian were uncomfortable with Dun
Carraig's crosses bottony, we'd explain that they're not a religious
symbol for the barony as a whole so much as a nod to the heraldry
Maryland's state flag is based on.

I don't feel that it's the SCA's job to cater to people who may have
issues with someone else's religion, whether those issues are based on
a misunderstanding of that religion or not.  We shouldn't disallow
pentagrams because some people associate that symbol with evil and
devil-worship any more than we should avoid holding Middle Eastern
events (or at least not do anything Middle Eastern at demos) because
some people associate the Arabic world with terrorism. Pandering to
those stereotypes only reinforces and validates them, and that's not
at all something the SCA should be doing. I see very little practical
difference between discriminating against a religion because you
yourself are biased and discriminating because "other people won't
understand."  Maybe they won't understand, but I'd much prefer the
possibility of bad press or alienating a possible new member with
religious prejudices to discriminating against actual, existing
members who would like heraldry that's personally meaningful.

Count me as someone else who thinks the College of Heralds made the
right call.  Good for them.

In Service,
Adriana Michaels