[Ansteorra] just read the link
Galen Bevel
galenbv at ix.netcom.com
Tue Dec 19 14:13:33 PST 2006
Chiara Francesca wrote:
>I have to agree with much of what the good Countess says.
>
>Come on folks, we are known as a fringe group already. Do you not
>see how this is potentially more damaging than helping our image?
>And yes, we are concerned about our image, it is what is used to
>judge us when we try to get a new site for our events.
>
>
>
>snip<
Not aiming this at you but this seems a good chance to throw my two
cents in as to where I see this discussion going. Perhaps I missed
something when I looked at the picture, but I did not see "sanctioned
by the SCA" printed anywhere on it. True, some of the news reports
mentioned that he was a member, but that does not give us an "in" to
this situation. This kid was not doing what he did as an official
representative of the SCA, so what he did as a private citizen is not
ours to control. Suppose someone driving home from an event stops to
have a few drinks after leaving the site while still in medieval
clothing, then gets into an accident? Will we all be calling on all
people to start changing out of garb before leaving events on the chance
that something they do might make the society look bad? We do not have
an exclusive on medieval interests, costume, or recreation, and what
someone who happens to be a member of our organization decides to do on
their own is not our responsibility. Sure, some people out there may
look at the picture, then read a news report about it mentioning the SCA
and decide that we are a wacko group of weapon wielding maniacs; welcome
to life in the modern world. That could happen anywhere at anytime for
almost any reason. Bottom line for me is, that although we as
individuals all have an opinion (on everything, from what I see) we as a
Society have no dog in this hunt. So objections to the picture should
be based on other terms than how it makes "us" look. If it were up to
me I would say that yes, the picture should have been refused, but on
different grounds such as dress code requirements (as others have
said), _not_ because of a zero tolerance policy towards weapons.
Graf Galen Kirchenbauer
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