SR - A Question Concerning Principality

[Zimmermann, Leonard]

Several issues have been brought up recently, mostly having to do with
how some people handle communication on this forum, and how others are
feeling left out of the process. Let me interject a reminder to
everyone. There is a very vocal minority on BOTH sides of this issue.
SOME of that minority, on BOTH sides of this issue, are very emotionally
connected to their viewpoint. As such some of these individuals will get
very zealous in their responses mainly because they feel the people they
are responding to are treating them in the same manner.

However, please remember that there are vast numbers of people on these
lists who are NOT so vocal (often called lurkers), and THOSE are the
people who do want to hear your viewpoints. WE want to know your
arguments for, or against, any part of this process. Most of us would
prefer we have logical arguments, without the sarcasm and without the
appeal to emotion, but let's face it, it's not going to happen. There
will be those who attempt to appeal to emotion, because this is an
emotional issue, and those who attempt to counter emotional arguments by
using emotional arguments of their own, often through condescension. It
has always happened that way and probably always will. Don't let a few
dissuade you from trying to persuade the many who are not so vocal. Rest
assured that here your voice WILL be heard.

Recently we have seen a pretty heavy misunderstanding from good gentles
in Middleford. They felt belittled by some things that had been said on
this list and felt "out of the loop", as it were. What if none of you
were aware of what was going on on the net until yesterday? All of a
sudden you see people talking about volunteering for Principalities and
you see your own group listed among those without volunteers. It can
look like something is happening that you had no input into and even if
you were in favor before, that might make you mad enough to be against
it. On the other hand, those who have been on this list have made
efforts to get the word out that a discussion is taking place (all votes
are non-binding and as far as most are concerned NOTHING is happening
and we are just trying to figure out if there is enough interest to keep
this ball rolling so something MIGHT happen some number of YEARS down
the road.) Some have a vested interest because they think this would be
fun (please do not assign motive unless you find out for sure that
motives are otherwise.) Now they have been attacked for trying to do
what they thought was right. Hurt feelings all around, but I think we
are past it.... this time.

Please keep posting your thoughts, your ideas, your arguments
for/against a principality, your interest in helping out the Southern
Region and the Kingdom of Ansteorra. If someone gets too pushy, we, the
less vocal MAJORITY will probably consider discarding that person's
arguments. But don't stop posting. We are out here and we DO listen...
and we can be persuaded.

Honos Servio,
Lionardo Acquistapace, Bjornsborg
(mka Lenny Zimmermann, San Antonio)
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