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Jim Ward: Demons & Devils, NOT!
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7841411" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>One important thing to know when dealing with a fundamentalist, whether of the Christian kind (where it is a bit out of the mainstream) or the Islamic kind (where it's central to their doctrine) or any other kind (because this is a very widespread belief common to many cultures) is that they believe that there is power in the name of something. They don't see names as being free floating pointers that reference what ever you link them to. They see names as being a fixed property of the thing itself owned by the thing and inherently labeling the thing. D&D has glimpses of this philosophy in it's references to a thing's 'true name'. The True Name of something is a fixed reference to it.</p><p></p><p>So when you take a name from Christian occult practice, the fundamentalists don't really care what you think you are using the name for or what you think the name means to you, they believe that you are inherently invoking something you don't understand. It doesn't matter to them that they don't understand your context. If you think the Satanic panic was a big deal, you wait and see what happens if you start using Allah in context that isn't their preferred context. Names are inherently sacred (or profane) to some people, actually a lot of people, so it's probably a good idea just to avoid those names - especially if your market is their kids.</p><p></p><p>Whether they are wrong or not isn't really the point. It's what they believe and you just stepped into it.</p><p></p><p>Changing the names was actually a pretty brilliant strategy, as was phasing the content back in under the new name (IIRC the first Monstrous Compendium wisely left the fiends out and put them in compartmentalized supplement). It was also a brilliant strategy to get staffers to speak to these people under their own terms and in their own language.</p><p></p><p>One thing really stood out for me in the essay as spot on though, and that is this: "He wanted to get 15 minutes of fame as a person concerned about the evils of D&D."</p><p></p><p>Absolutely. When you see someone on a soap box on a street corner yelling about sinners going to hell and whether people are sure of their salvation, but making no real noticeable attempt to be appealing or to meet anyone where they are, but just haranguing people, the important thing to realize is that they are trying to buy a positional good. They aren't up on that soap box in order to actually win any converts. What they are trying to prove is that they are a good person, and therefore win approval from the god they believe in and possibly also from their peer group. They are up there not to change anything or anyone, but for their own salvation, and the listeners are really just incidental to the show they are putting on. It's actually harmful to the cause that they claim to be wanting to advance (and probably even harmful to them from within their own belief framework), but that doesn't matter much to them compared to the sweet sweet feeling of self-righteousness.</p><p></p><p>Which is why having a believing staffer talk to these people works so well.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7841411, member: 4937"] One important thing to know when dealing with a fundamentalist, whether of the Christian kind (where it is a bit out of the mainstream) or the Islamic kind (where it's central to their doctrine) or any other kind (because this is a very widespread belief common to many cultures) is that they believe that there is power in the name of something. They don't see names as being free floating pointers that reference what ever you link them to. They see names as being a fixed property of the thing itself owned by the thing and inherently labeling the thing. D&D has glimpses of this philosophy in it's references to a thing's 'true name'. The True Name of something is a fixed reference to it. So when you take a name from Christian occult practice, the fundamentalists don't really care what you think you are using the name for or what you think the name means to you, they believe that you are inherently invoking something you don't understand. It doesn't matter to them that they don't understand your context. If you think the Satanic panic was a big deal, you wait and see what happens if you start using Allah in context that isn't their preferred context. Names are inherently sacred (or profane) to some people, actually a lot of people, so it's probably a good idea just to avoid those names - especially if your market is their kids. Whether they are wrong or not isn't really the point. It's what they believe and you just stepped into it. Changing the names was actually a pretty brilliant strategy, as was phasing the content back in under the new name (IIRC the first Monstrous Compendium wisely left the fiends out and put them in compartmentalized supplement). It was also a brilliant strategy to get staffers to speak to these people under their own terms and in their own language. One thing really stood out for me in the essay as spot on though, and that is this: "He wanted to get 15 minutes of fame as a person concerned about the evils of D&D." Absolutely. When you see someone on a soap box on a street corner yelling about sinners going to hell and whether people are sure of their salvation, but making no real noticeable attempt to be appealing or to meet anyone where they are, but just haranguing people, the important thing to realize is that they are trying to buy a positional good. They aren't up on that soap box in order to actually win any converts. What they are trying to prove is that they are a good person, and therefore win approval from the god they believe in and possibly also from their peer group. They are up there not to change anything or anyone, but for their own salvation, and the listeners are really just incidental to the show they are putting on. It's actually harmful to the cause that they claim to be wanting to advance (and probably even harmful to them from within their own belief framework), but that doesn't matter much to them compared to the sweet sweet feeling of self-righteousness. Which is why having a believing staffer talk to these people works so well. [/QUOTE]
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