Re[2]: His Highness's New Clothes

[Carol_O'Leary@ed.gov (Carol O'Leary)]

Poster: Carol_O'Leary@ed.gov (Carol O'Leary)

     Poster:  Melisande (Carol_O'Leary@ed.gov)
     
     Henry Best said:
     
     
     >If the King stands up and announces that we will all go fight and die 
     >gloriously to defend our honor against people whose only sin is they 
     >reside in Florida, I'm all for that.
     
     I take exception to that.  My mother lives in Florida, and I would 
     take it ill if His Majesty were to take it into his royal head to take 
     up arms against my mother.  If, however, he were to declare war on 
     TRIMARIS, I would support the war effort and buy war bonds.
     
     Seriously for a moment, I think this discussion is missing a critical 
     distinction -- I think it is possible to correct an error (of fact, 
     not of opinion) without correcting the person who made the error.  
     (This is a variant of "Hate the sin, but love the sinner.")  If some 
     crowned head or other makes an error of fact in a public forum, and a 
     well-meaning but misguided soul provides the correct information in 
     private, then only the crowned head has the correct information, and a 
     whole lot of people who saw the mistaken information in the public 
     forum never get the correction.  This is compounded by the fact that 
     there are many people out there who seem to believe that winning a 
     crown tournament somehow renders one omniscient.  Take it from someone 
     who's been sleeping with a duke for 15 years -- it's not true.
     
     Courtesy is essential for everyone, in all directions.  Anyone can be 
     courteous when speaking to the monarchs; it is the mark of someone 
     special to use courtesy when talking to a peasant.
     
     I like to suggest that the best rule for courtesy in the SCA is to do 
     what would make your grandmother proud of you -- remember to say 
     "please" and "thank you;" hold the door for whoever is coming behind 
     you; offer a chair to a lady or an older person; be nice to people.  
     If eveyone would only do those things, the SCA (and the world in 
     general) would be a nicer place to live.
     
     Melisande (Mistress Manners) de Belvoir


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