[MR] No one's ever completely right but take care with decisions.

[chagankhulan at clan-whitewing.org]

    Having followed the ongoing discussions concerning heraldic devices
that may - or may not - offend some people, the follow-up discussion
on the use of the word MEDIEVAL and attendant issues, I have to wonder
at how many folks really thought about the topic before they replied,
how many just shot from the hip and how many responded out of some
other perceived notion or prejudice. SOme replies were obviously
thought out , others, well...not.
    What bothers me most is what effect on future decisions such a
minority of the SCA population will have.  Does the word of one or ten
or twenty people truly carry that much weight?  If so, then I fear for
the future because it seems to me that the actual majority is not
wildly for or against the original issue because they aren't really
interested or aware of the whole story.
     If we are so concerned about our "public image" then we can make
ourselves palatable to the "general public" by simply (and in this
case that word is not really applicable) removing ALL visual, audible
and recorded references to any and all items of a perceived religious
nature, application or symbol.  Now stop and think about that... just
to name a few - no more Cross Bottony's on devices, no more
illuminations of friar's scribeing or mistletoe wrapped wreaths. My
friend with the Star of David on her shield would need to hide it
from view. Crusader personas would have blank tabards. Dun Carraig
would need new arms and forget using any mythological beasts...  Now
- before you rail at me for nonsense - stop and think what a huge
portion of what the SCA does that single move would affect.  Scarey,
eh? It would reduce us to a collection of folks in odd costumes doing
odd things from "olden times".  No That was NOT a serious proposal
but just an example of what COULD be the result of too much
censoring.
     You cannot please all of the people all of the time.  We will always
have some person or group or site who can't get past the idea that we
are 'different'or a 'cult'.  On the other hand, stop and look at the
huge number of areas, sites and population that are not anti-SCA and
look to how the SCA in those areas has handled issues with their
local folks.  We will never win over 100% of everything but we are in
a much better position now than in the past.  We can improve our
interactions with the outside world, evn with our sometimes unusual
displays of artwork.
     Please, before you act on a knee-jerk reaction to something, STOP AND
THINK.  Think hard - how much of an impact will one rule or change in
policy make in the overall SCA world.  In this particular case,
probably very little for the simple reason that the College of
Heralds still has the option to look at ANY device and determine if
it could be potentially offensive to a much larger audience than
within our own society. That is a huge responsibility and one not
taken lightly. ANd you wonder why the BOD sometimes moves slowly on
an issue.
     Let's not let a few firebrands change the way thousands of us play.
It isn't fair and in most cases does more harm than good.  It also
opens a door to invite more limitations that will, in the long run,
only serve to strangle the growth of this wonderful organization.
     So I am asking that, before you react or make a decision or sign a
petition or any other act of choosing - THINK about it, do some
research and consider the consequences, results and long and short
range results.  The SCA will be the better for it.

   Chagan