Wading into this fray, I fear, is akin to wading into a tar pit. It is sticky, and whichever way you turn, you will get gunk all over you. But b/c I find the topic a worthy one for discuss, (and I have participated in similar ones before,)I will join in. I think it fair to say that both Khrys and Phoenix can be applauded/critiqued for their good intentions, but poor presentations. In PR's case, he was shocked to be defamed as racist and insensitive. Then afterwards, I'm sure, he felt that the Khrys' PC complaint/rant post constituted a further personal attack. And while his irritation at and suspicion of Khrys' motives are understandable, a quick review of Khys' texts reveals that (despite a perhaps too glib presentation,) he wasn't attacking either PR or DAZ in either post (well not directly, anyway.) Khrys fault, on the other hand, rests in presenting an important commentary in such an offhanded and easily misreadable manner. (The misuse of the n word will quite often inflame passions---trust me I know. The heart of Khrys statement, I suspect, lies in trying to unmask a disempower and damaging and longstanding history of negative mythologizing and exotifying groups from different races and cultures, an exotification which usu. terminates in our viewing them as dark, deadly, and dangerous. Khrys pointed out how the Romani (Gypsy---already a misnomer as Medieval Europeans used this term b/c they fancied that the Romani were charlatans, pickpockets and magicians who came from Egypt(read. that Old Testament place where evil people lived) view themselves and their own sexual/cultural mores; but the title that PR offers for the set (which I own by the way) is Gypsies and Genies, a title which openly exotifies and negatively mythologizes the Romani by explicitly comparing them to pre-Islamic demons of the air. Now, I in no way suggest that PR is deliberately trying to defame the Romani by depicting them as the scantily-clad companions of swarthy devils. However, by unreflexively pandering to the dreams and nightmares of our collective cultural fear and suspicion of the Romani and their culture (and by buying the set, I too am guilty of this) he has unwittingly provided fodder to this end. One need only read The Hunchback of Notre Dame or remember that the Nazis exterminated the Romani as well to substantiate the Western hatred/suspicion of the Romani. This, I suspect, was Khrys intention. His execution of this intention fell a bit short of this. my $.02, --lb