[MR] Authenticity ( was pentograms)

[Chris and Sue]

This reply isn't to a particular person, but rather an attempt to look at
the big picture.

I feel that there is no problem allowing someone to put whatever they want,
if it passes, on their shield.  Hurrah!  You've got arms...get painting.

Where I feel that this issue has a problem comes from somewhere outside my
freewheeling, do anything self.  A religious symbol (any religious symbol)
does nothing to me.  It doesn't affect my beliefs, my life, or my family
(except on nights of the full moon in October, but that's another story).
It is just a symbol, and that is the core of the problem.

A symbol, any symbol, carries with it a host of representations and
opinions.  If someone is wearing a cross, then I immediately assign to that
person the scruples of that faith.  If someone is wearing a pentagram
(REGARDLESS OF THE HISTORICAL FACT) I immediately assign to them the
scruples of their faith.  Yes, I'm conversant with multiple faiths, so this
is not a problem.

However, in the S.C.A., when someone bears a symbol on an official thingy(?)
then we, as participants, know that such a thing has been verified for
authenticity.  It's easy for us to cast off our associations with a
particular symbol that may be a problem because somewhere, somehow, there's
a record of it being used in period.

The problem comes when that symbol is carried outside the S.C.A.  I know, as
a Chatelaine, that I would ask that person not to display it at a demo or in
a public location.  No, I'm not being an ass about it because I don't like
it.  If not liking a faith was my problem, then I'd ask all those with any
religious symbols on their arms not to participate.  The reason I would do
so is because instead of having onlookers or attendees watching what we do
and think it's really keen, they're going to assign all their prejudices,
all their thoughts, everything they've been told by others, and all their
fears from that particular symbol onto me.  Onto us.  Onto the Society as a
whole.

If we lose some of the minor validity we've gained over the recent past, it
will be a problem.  Not may, but will.  I know that there will be some of
you that, in traditional iconoclast fashion, feels that this won't be a
problem.  However, imagine losing every single Boy and Girl Scout camp in
our Kingdom because their organization thinks we're all Satanists.  I say
Satanists, because they won't call us Pagans, or Wiccans, or Witches.  We
will, in their minds, be associated with "the Devil."  I'm sure it won't be
universal, but this is one possible outcome.  The next time you negotiate
with a site owner for an event, try telling him we'll be displaying
Pentagrams, and then woo him (or her, sorry) with the tale of them being
historically accurate and not associated with Satan.  I'd be willing to bet
that a good majority of the time, we wouldn't get the site.

Not only do we stand to lose sites, we also stand to lose opportunities to
recruit new members.  Do a school demo with a pentagram on a shield.  Satan.
Do a festival demo with a pentagram on your shield.  Satan.  Practice in the
park with a pentagram on your shield.  Satan.

I'll defend this position until I can be repeatedly proven wrong, and I can
do so because of where I live.  Asheville is one of the most progressive and
forward thinking cities I've lived in after four states (North and South)
and two countries, and I damn sure don't want to fight that battle, even
here.

The world has not changed as much as people may think it has, and our desire
for things to be a certain way and for society to accept things a certain
way has absolutely no grounding in the realities of the situation.  It's
hard enough trying to find legitimacy for our hobby without having to
convince we aren't in league with the Devil waiting to steal their children
and indoctrinate them in our cult.  

You may feel that everything I've said that is even the tiniest bit charged
with anti this-or-that language is dead wrong, and that's fine.  I did so to
make my point, which is, all those concepts are tied into the attributions
of that symbol -- people believe this crap and we can't fight an opinion.

I'm not saying we shouldn't do it, I'm only saying we need to tread very
carefully so that outsiders do not get the wrong idea.  One last example and
I'll shut the hell up.  Regardless of the mainstream acceptance of computer
games (specifically mmorpgs), and the creation of mass media product
surrounding Role-Playing Games, they are still attributed opinions of evil,
devil worship, and, yes, Satan.  We who play tend to joke about it because
it is so absurd, but sadly people do still feel this way.  It's the same
thing with the pentagram.

Your mileage may vary,
Dagobert