Disturbing encounter in SL with racism and threats

Im sorry to hear this happened Cris, Ive always had a great respect for your thoughts. I believe in the person, always, enthenticty, beliefs or whatever hasnt a place with how I decide who to like or not.

Its hard but try not to let the ones suffering from cranial rectumitus get you down

I did not turn you down, other than to decline the offer for an event to raise money for legal fees. What I do privately if I feel threatened by someone is not for public consumption. I also did take the actions that SL provides before posting. In the past, others have taken the same actions and yet magically the offenders are still in SL. Thank you as always for characterizing being upset about being called a spic, nigger, monkey, and told that my kind desecrates this country as being whining. What on earth was I thinking?

huh??

I take that as meaning that if the people in authority implicitly approve of behaviour that you or I might think immoral, many people who otherwise might lead moral lives will go down the route of that particular immorality, because they feel that their behaviour has official validation.

My apologies Hank if I have misunderstood.

o/~

They're rioting in Africa,
They're starving in Spain,
There's hurricanes in Florida,
And Texas need rain.

The whole world is festering with unhappy souls,
The French hate the Germans, and the Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch.
"AND I DON'T LIKE ANYBODY VERY MUCH!"

But we can be thankful, and tranquil, and proud,
For Man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud.
And we know for certain that some sunny day,
Someone will touch the spark off,
"AND WE WILL ALL BE BLOWN AWAY!"

They're rioting in Africa,
There's strife in Iran.
What nature doesn't do to us,
Will be done by our fellow man...

o/~

Hehe, I love the Kingston Trio.

It's kinda sad that we still have people like this around these days, isn't it. We think we've come so far, some days, then these creatures ooze out of the woodwork. I guess some people are always looking for some other group to attack to cover up their own personal shortcomings, huh?

It seems like everyone is posting their opinions. Some people are posting quite emotional things. Some seem to be rational. I don't think it's productive to repeat things that are quite offensive to make a point, and to use profanity to make another point. I'm definately not someone who will shy away from agression from someone, and definately want to see that justice is done.

While I totally agree that abusive language and being called names should be a banning offense, and that effective action should be taken by the authorities to eradicate that offensive virus from an otherwise generally good natured environment, I can't see why someone (notice I am not mentioning anyone's name here) would stoop to name calling and abusive language which is also not permitted.

I do agree that this is a serious offense, and that everyone should be appalled at the events presented. I do not know either party involved, and do not know most of you who are posting. Personally, I don't know if I want to meet many of you, you are all a little bit too confrontational for me. Other than to vent to a larger community that something like this has befallen you, that you are outraged that there has been nothing done, or that you would like to make sure that this does not happen again, I think that the name calling and repeating of the abusive and obscene language is not necessary.

I hope it doesn't ever happen to me. I know I would not be as calm as I am now. Something like this that happened to me would certainly taint my messages with anger were these to happen to me. I hope the damage clears and patience prevails.

More power to you Cristiano. I hope you can proceed and ignore those who would attempt to deny your fun in SL. I hope we all have less agrivation and get back to normal. It certainly is a world where people are always going to find fault with others.

Anyway, that's just my two cents. The less we say more about this, probably the better we are for not saying it. Don't give in to the hate mongers. Put them on ignore, ban if you will, and after turning them in to the Lindens, that should be all there is to it.

Gawd, the lameness of people....Cris, I do understand your being offended by that moron's slurs toward ya. Still, you have shown to be the better person by not sinking to his level and getting into some kinda shouting match with the dipsh*t. As for you, do like me mammy always said...whenever I told her someone said something mean, she'd ask : "Well, is it true?"....when I'd say no, she'd tell me "Then don't let someone else's ignorance affect how you live your life." Here's hoping that that idiot finds banishment in his near future.

I really don't understand the attitude of , "Ignore them and don't make a big deal about it", when something like this happens. Keep quiet about it? Ignore it? Don't bring it out into the open or onto a public forum?? Screw that!

We should all speak very loud and very clear about any hateful, violent or dishonest behavior. Bringing it into the open and discussing it serves at least three purposes: It allows awareness for those that don't realize such behavior still exsists, it allows support of the victim of such abuses, and it can bring about social changes, if the voices are loud and persistant enough.

The only thing that would be more effective is if the bigots were to have their names published here, so that everyone would know who to shun.

Should every little name calling incident be treated as a big deal? Probably not. But when persistant racial remarks are made. as well as threats of RL violence, then by all means speak out and speak loud!

from one of my ealier posts as his grace

A Reason To Speak Up

When we see anyone as less human than ourselves, then we lose a bit of our own humanity.

When we see anyone as less worthy than ourselves, then we become unworthy.

We know our own humanity through the humanity of those around us.

The problem of racism isn't the perception of skin color; it's the attitude inside people's hearts and minds that diminishes the humanity of another person.

The problem of religious bigotry, gay-bashing, sexism, and all the other ugly prejudices in the human world reach down to this one thing - missing the humanity in another person.

The battle against this degredation is a tiresome never ending one. But each of us must stand up and be counted at some point in our lives, or else we squander another part of our humanity - the ability to make a difference.

Thank you for your post, your mammy is definitely a wise woman, and your (and her) sentiments are greatly appreciated. Very cool name by the way

Hope you know that MOST of us are not like that! Sorry it happened to you.

I have a knack for laying the verbal smackdown on griefers.

Reverse griefing is a valid tactic with these people... Bullys dont want you to fight back...Remember that. Go ahead and take a little time to smack them around a little to let them know that you wont take it and throw in some insults while you are doing it. Just make sure that they dont win in the situation or they'll be bolstered by your failure.

Works great in FPSers as it does in other game. Of course there are some situations that it doesnt work in so pick your fights, but please dont let them just win, because it only makes them worse.

If you have power to eject him high into the air, do it and keep doing it untill he leaves. He doesnt want that anymore than anyone else would and will leave and maybe not screw with others next time.

Also calling them out and branding them as assholes is a good thing too. It shows them that their behavior is not acceptable and will hopefully teach them a lesson for next time.

Of course there are people out there that feed off of this crap and make it their existance to cause others grief. myg0t as an example. These people just need to here what frikin retards they are as they use their tired ass lamer tactics to get a rise. Balk at their lack of originality in their insults and giggle at their attempts at flames and you can win.

They suck at real life. Since most are homophobes calling them gay is quite effective. Sorry if that is offensive to any gay people out there, its just a fact that they cant take that.

That sucks Cris. Sorry it happened to you.
I find it more disturbing that this guy got so pissed he threatened to kick your ass. I'd hate to live in his world of hate.

It's a sucky world to live in for sure

I'm glad I only hate a very small amount of people. I consider myself a hater hater

"But I was neither defending racism nor suggesting that they be ignored. I was showing that the original post, both whining about an unknown griefer and slamming someone completely unrelated in the process was a wee bit hypocritical. "





Sorry Mal, but it doesn't look to me like he slammed anyone (i assume that's the part of the post you were talking about). He was just making a point; that he's been here a long time, and experienced a lot of things, some of them unpleasant.
Stating that you had an argument/fight/disagreement with someone is hardly slamming them.
Perhaps I'm dense too, but I fail to see the hypocrisy.

Maybe Christiano did come here for sympathy, but after an encounter like that, who wouldn't need a hug?

Robin,

I definitely know that. Even though people often get quite vocal and brutal with each other in the forums, "face to face" in SL, things are usually quite different. In two years in SL, 99% of the people I have met have been wonderful, and even those who I dislike do not drop to such levels ordinarily, with a few exceptions. I suppose that is almost what made it stand out so much and startle you. While I saw people running around all the time in There and TSO uttering racial and homophobic slurs, SL has always seemed an oasis from that, along with a lot of the other nastiness of RL. When that is violated, it stands out even more. The one comfort is that the "just ignore it, quit whining" brigade is quite small, both literally and figuratively. Thanks for your post.

wow

thats the first word that comes to mind. people seem to have a bigger mouth when they are out of reach. people like this guy have likely grown up with these beliefs and this negative lifestyle and its a shame he is so misguided. its the weak minded and imature that picks race, sex or religion as a means of insult, and he was obviously trying to get under your skin since he had no control. it seems he was trying to make you feel as worthless as he feels, but you didnt let him GOOD JOB, i like your reaction and his name is none to be glorified. you are a stand up individual and i respect your actions. we have to understand there will always be intolerance and mean people, but its when we let them get the best of us that they win and in this case he clearly lost maby more then he bargined for (sorry for the spelling at work typing fast! SHHHH!)

I still think this buttleaks name should be posted, so we can avoid him in world. Please send me a PM with his name so I know who to watch out for.

HMMMMMMM?!

Been contenplating even posting a response here. But heeeeeeere we go!

Starters I'm a real life African-Italian American! Northeast nigger my whole life and proud of it!!! I've also been to war (yeah the first debacle in the gulf, another story) to defend the freedoms of this great nation. Now we must realize that yes this is a racist nation unfortunately. Even more unfortunate, this is one of the most tolerable nations currently in existance.

I'm truely saddend that this kind of thing must infect our good times here in SL. But this is extremely serious and Chris I would really like to know if the Lindens have addressed this issue! This should not be tollerated at any cost! Thank you for bringing this to the attention of the SL community and thanks to all who have shown intrest and displeasure. We must learn to try to understand our diffences as HUMAN BEINGS.

Please don't let individuals like this disrupt our good times and enjoyment most uf us share here with each other!

Let's remind ourselves that some people out there are just a lot less educated than others. Let's ask said individual if he would like to trace his family tree all the we back to the begining of mankind? If I'm not mistaken the oldest bones of a "homo-sapein" have been found in Zaire, Africa, a young lady named Lucy. Not very many caucasians in this region at this time? Nigger, spic, chink, fag?!!!! Hmmmmm?! Seems like said individual is more into self-description than he may think!!!!

We should love each other for our soul and spirit and not the color, or lack there of, of the vehicle that ones true self resides in!!!

Knowledge applied is true power, and this poor guy needs a lot more knowledge to attain before he could ever wish to right his own ship and sail in harmony with the rest of humanity.

Love, Peace, and Hairgrease!!! TO ALL!!!

Totally agree.

Ewwwwwwww

Ah Cris - damn it!

Sorry that this has happened to you - and that once again our community has experienced the heartlessness of some people.

I also share the sentiment that networking this person's game face would provide a service.

Cris: I'm also saddened and angered by this incident. I feel certain LL will act in the strongest possible way to this action, if not there is something so very wrong...

I hope that they do, but we would not really know anyway. The fact that someone who did the same to another player on more than one occasion is still around does not bode well.

Cristiano,

No, it does not. And if that player left second life because of that apparent tacit acceptance of the perpetrator's views (which is implied by his being here still), that in my view is a very serious issue, and must be taken seriously.