Is SL Fascist?

Is SL a Fascist State?

Definitions...
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Answers.com
fas·cism (făsh'ĭz'əm)
n.
often Fascism
A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.
Oppressive, dictatorial control.
[Italian fascismo, from fascio, group, from Late Latin fascium, from Latin fascis, bundle.]
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Merriam-Webster defines fascism as "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition"[2]. The American Heritage Dictionary instead describes it as "A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism."[3].
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With SL being a dictatorship (and not benevolent), FIC (Feted Inner Circle) influence over decisions about customer bans and punishment, behind-the-scenes censorship and banning of residents from forums/inworld/outworld chat, embedded "journalists" (aka propagandists), etc., are we living in in a fascist state?

wow. you're still throwing the same tantrum?

SL is a piece of commercial software, with a large database server backend. (Emphasis on commercial)

[Rolls eyes]

P2

It's a business run by lindenlabs designed to make money.

/agree

SL is a computer game put out by a Company in California.

A few renegade nations on earth might be considered a fascist state. But not SL.



If you want to make a video game comparison, Lineage2 has far more in the way of fascist states.

I hear that the Throne of Aden has called for crushing the Clans of Castles Dion and Gludio, and has claimed the Lair of Antharas as its personal regency hunting ground. All other who hunt there will be killed.

SL doesn't seem to have the same problems.

Furthermore, for the same amount of effort required to be a modestly capable Silver Ranger Light Elf, one could make a living wage out of SL...

Holy crap, I think you just described my FAMILY.

But ya. I vote "company." I guess one could make an argument that all private companies are facist, thus making SL facist. But I think the effect would do more to water down the brutal reality of facisim than to vilify Linden Lab.

I voted Dictatorship because SL lacks the element of supression and the large army and the strict adherance to a "norm" (bigoted elements), to be a Fascist state.

What I find amusing though is how many people are saying (paraphrased):

"It's not fascist or a dictatorship, it's a company."

I mean that is just hilarious. Another popular and much used definition of fascism is that it is a state, "run like a buisness" and business, in particular "free market capitalism" acutally *thrives* under fascism like no other form of government. In other words if you are an efficient well run buisness, you are so close to a fasicst state as to make no nevermind, and that's a fact.

At this stage, its pretty simple to deduce:

SL is a business, and we're the customers.

Save the politics for when we have an open system that is distributed and out of the hands of the creators. Isn't that what we've been waiting for anyway? It'll happen eventually, whether its Linden Lab or someone else.

*shrugs*

SL is one man's dream, becoming a reality for us all to witness.

I'll go with whatever Ulrika says about that... she is the expert... hehe.

Considering SL as a "state" is the main fallacy, engendered by its own hype.

SL is no more a "state" than DisneyWorld is a "world." It is an entertainment business, for which someone pays the expense and makes the rules. Like DisneyWorld, it allows folks to do cool things, disallows other things, and hopes people have a good time, tell their friends and come back. The people who sweat through the Florida summer wearing the Goofy or the Mickey costume do it for pay. If you stop paying them, they won't dress up. If you stop paying for the water, electric and land taxes, the "World" will come to a grinding halt.

And those who think DisneyWorld should give away the tickets free and charge nothing are simply unrealistic. They may give away some tickets as a promotional device, but ultimately, if enough paying customers don't buy admission or concession items in the park, it has to close like many less successful amusement parks around the USA have already done.

But considering SL a "state" is exactly what the chief officer of LL encourages you to do, with all the "brave new world" talk of an online country, and all the white papers published in various "serious" outlets, etc. And LL advertises SL as a "true" second life with realistic features, therefore deliberately blurring the distinctions between reality and this online "entertainment". And it's effective, because those who laugh about others needing a reality check are almost always those who defend the "game" and the concept with bitter resolution, and invest the most time and effort in it.

So I find this "it's obviously a game and a corporation" talk a little hypocritical. Of course it's a game and a corporation. Now act like it.

As for whether SL is the online equivalent of fascism, that's pretty superficial. Philip Linden has his own cult of personality and is prone to making sweeping futurological generalizations. Administrative power is comparatively decentralized, but policy is concentrated at the top. Those are features of fascism. But those same features are also shared by modern corporations, and there are plenty of features that lie more in the realm of corporate capital culture. Fascism is not corporate culture, although both spring from similar organizational objectives and characteristics.

I've long thot it'd be fascinating to run some severe governmental simulations in SL. Residents who participate in them would so via their own accord and free will (whatever that means). The ideas first came to me when I was thinking of my biological Dad, and how he often rebuked me for not having grown up in Communist China, to experience how bad things were. I have considered, on a very serious, intimate level, how since Second Life can be educational, it could also be used to warn of the past attrocities of humankind. Such a thing would likely be very controversial, and indeed, some imagery isn't allowed here (like swastikas), so LL should be consulted first and informed such a project is being done respectfully and not as intolerant hate.

With respect, Torley, considering what you're proposing, I find this line ironic.

Is the Internet a "state" or a business run by [insert favourite company here]?

Oh wait, I forgot — the Internet is not run by anyone. It's not a state, either. It's a medium — for communication, for information dissemination, for businesses to expand their channels (both marketing & sales), and so on.

Well, SL is just that — a medium. Sure, it uses servers, applications, and the Internet as an infrastructure. Sure, it's run by a single company. At least for now. Watch this space for what SL will be in 2015

Exactly—I see it as a contradiction. The difference, here, however, is in communicating intentions.

The only thing on the internet thats scares me is when Al Gore said he invented it hehehe

Indeed. I think people forget they can just "log off" and can choose to at anytime. Can't do that in any RL place. Therefor it is just a social game (with user determined goals) we play and pay for. If anyone thinks of it as more than that they may want to re-evaluate their real life.

Second Life is definately pie; Tastes nice.

SL is a consumer choice. In RL I have some free time and choose between watching Deadwood, listening to Beethoven, attending Wrestlemania, going to the gym or logging into SL. I can stop doing any of these the moment I find myself bored, irritated or with something better in mind.

Talk about SL as a "place" is marketing hype or a utopian dream or both.

We log in and intermingle and play, using our avatars and building tools, like a possibly-adult mixture of Barbie dolls and Lego. It *is* possible to play "games" in SL that explore political organisation - Neualtenburg springs to mind. The environment itself though is just that - an environment, a medium, a playground.

The crucial difference, as was pointed out earlier, between RL and SL is that you can't log out of RL. And RL has a tendency not to disappear. You can log out of SL and there is nothing guaranteeing Linden Lab's long term business success.

For me the interest is in the tension between RL and SL, in the different relationships that seem to exist between people and their avs, and not in seeing SL as though it *was* RL

as far as scary, that ranks a distant second to peeps who continue to spread internet myths and fallacies

Greetings, Starfighter.

You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Zur and the Ko-Dan Armada.

SL is a game. If anything is facist, it's that damned Eye-Are-Sea!