[MR] Off the wall Idea

[William de Faleston]

And the responses to my post clearly illustrate my point. We (meaning the society in general) are so worried about "controlling the message" that we often end up preventing any message from getting out.  Look at all the well-intentioned advice in this thread alone: high production values, getting higher ups to sign off, avoiding the very word "medieval." all of these make it tought to do even the simplest outreach. 

I understand not wanting bad coverage. I have a degree in journalism and have seen the warts of that industry inside and out. But I will also tell you that the vast majority of SCA news coverage I have seen has been decent. Not perfect, but good enough to give you a feel for what we do and who we are. 

I think a great deal of this is fear of being laughed at; a fear of being considered "nerds. Listen people. We dress In funny clothes, invent fake titles to give to one other and hit our friends with sticks. We are nerds. We will get laughed at  by a certain percentage of the population no matter how we spin the message. I'm fine with that. I've learned to embrace my inner nerd and shrug off the laughter. I'm more concerned with finding others who want to embrace theirs.

William

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 4, 2011, at 4:48 PM, "Geffrei Maudeleyne/William Mauldin" <Geffrei at triad.rr.com> wrote:

> Please check your local seneschal public media releases for policies. If that
> officer does not know at the time then go up the line to Baronial, if
> applicable, and then the Kingdom deputy seneschal,
> I remember something in the kingdom seneschal handbook.
> 
> You don't want to make mistakes like using the word medieval. There are folks
> here in the misinformed, under-educated population that will attempt to use this
> as "middle evil" or some such nonsense. The negative publicity will be worse
> than not having any publicity.
> 
> I am sure there are other factors involved.
> Geffrei
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: atlantia-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
> [mailto:atlantia-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org] On Behalf Of William
> Faleston
> Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2011 2:00 PM
> To: Merry Rose
> Subject: Re: [MR] Off the wall Idea
> 
> Pardon my pessimism, but this is another great idea doomed from the start by
> excessive caution and institutional bureaucracy.
> 
> 
> 21st century media is fast, diverse, sometimes messy and defies easy control. If
> we want to reach young people, we should embrace it. I don't see that happening.
> 
> Just my 2 cents
> William de Faleston
> 
>