A reprimand for those who frequent the forums

Okay, people.

Enough is enough.

When Kasandra Morgan first made her debut as a forum celebrity, way back in April, she found herself at the receiving end of a great deal of, for lack of a better term, hatred, of a sort not unlike the polemic we are seeing directed at Death Grace and the Associates now. I attempted to defend her against many of those who accused her of being part of what's wrong with SL. She was accused, directly and indirectly, of being a liar, a thief, a hypocrite, what have you.

She did not ask me to defend her, and as it happens I think we had different takes on her issue, so it's not like I think I was doing her any particular favors. But I responded the way I did because I found the way she was so joyously skewered to be disappointingly disgusting. Many in these forums stepped forward to bandy her about in the latest public scandal, and now, hardly two months later, some of you are now among her most ardent defenders in the case of Kas vs. The Associates.

While those who have come to change their minds about Kasandra have, in so doing, demonstrated their intellectual maturity in their being able to do so, the fact nevertheless remains that many here rejected her outright when you felt she represented some sort of insidious evil that threatened the community of SL. And in the process, many of you used what could then be considered to be vitriolic language; your moral indignation at her "crime" allowed you to overlook what I take to be a historic moment in the evolution of these forums: the thread poster publicly accused Kasandra by name, something that before that time was considered inappropriate and flame-baiting.

How our standards have fallen! Back then -- two months ago -- it was considered inappropriate to post the name of someone you were having a personal gripe with. Now, it's commonplace. Then, calling someone a thief was pretty serious. Now, people openly question your right to exist based upon what somebody said someone else said.

I make no defense for Death Grace or for those who do. When Kas first came to this community to expose Death's actions, I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. I did so not to disrespect Kasandra or her feelings at being the subject of hate language, but rather because I realized I was getting the story from a single perspective. Death has since posted here, and it has not helped his case. Others have related their own experiences with Death which corroborate what Kasandra has said, so now there is a mountain of evidence against Death and only the poorly-written defenses of a confessed "white nationalist" (whatever that's supposed to mean. What, like we're all supposed to go back to Europe? So that American Indians can have their land back?) to contradict them. I am not trying to make an apology for his behavior or his purported beliefs.

But I do call upon the rest of us -- those of us who purport to be people of a higher moral caliber, those of us who claim to believe in diversity and equal respect -- I call upon us not necessarily to respect Death's opinions, but to afford him at least a basic human decency. Resorting to the same hate tactics that reactionaries like Death use serves no constructive purpose. It makes us less than who we are, or who we should be.

I'm sitting here trying to imagine any of the great social revolutionaries of the modern era muttering the sort of invective that's become so common in these threads, coming from people who purport to be the representatives of Justice, Truth, and Equity. I must confess that I'm coming up empty. We sound more like Osama bin Laden than Martin Luther King. We sound more like Hitler than we do Ghandi.

Again, I'm not saying we should respect the beliefs of people like Death Grace, or that we should remain silent when he chooses to voice his most disgusting of prejudices, but that those of us who wish to fight this prejudice must do so with the very moral rectitude we purport to believe in. Nothing is to be gained by becoming the spitting image of our ideological opponents. Let us be better than they are. Let us not just be another bickering faction in the mud-slinging contest. Let us leave this invective behind.

I'm really hesitant to post this message, because I'm unsure how it will be received. But this, for me, is the last straw. Please, let us all remember what Second Life was, is, and can be. Let us remember that this is a place where we can make a world exactly as we please, and let us make it a place that's better than the world we spend our real lives in. It's unfortunate that prejudices follow us into the virtual world, where they become completely empty artifices that bind people ignorant to SL's infinite possibilities, but by reacting such as we have in the forums, we only commit ourselves to the same, dark, ugly path.

Listen: This is not how humans must be. We can be better. Let us be better.

Uhm, exactly what are you trying to say?

BE NICE, GADAMMUT!

FOLKS I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY!!!

CHIMING IN ANYWAY

Sorry, Phinny. I couldn't resist. Besides being nice isn't always as much fun.

Uh, WHY are you repremanding everyone who frequents the forums? I, for one, at least try to make the forums a productive place. I plainly dont give a SH*T about the problems Death, Kasandra, and you have with each other and the people here. If you dont like it, go away, you're not doing anything to help, so we dont need you nor want you.

==Chris

I'M WITH HUNS!

heh.

What is with one critical issue spawning 4 times where it should be kept? I mean if its about joe vs jane.. you get one thread.. then another.. then oh hell no vs jane.. and a oh hell no vs joe.. and then maybe a 5th one by me asking WTF cant keep it in one to two threads.


You reprimand us.. we reprimand YOU for spamming.

Stop being all country singer and doing your oh my dog died, my wife left me, my car broke down, I have shingles, and I'm gonna post 5 different threads about the one damn thing!

Pshaw!

Listen, I understand the issue of wanting to get a point across, but posting so many threads it washes out the original meaning or intent and leaves you with some soggy, mushed up, messed up, low quality spam.. ~.~

If it doesn't apply to you, disregard it.

I would have thought that would have been clear.

I'm not addressing the case of Kas v. Death so much as I am addressing the way in which these contentious incidents are received in the forums. We have a choice to either receive them in a constructive, positive manner, or we can be insulting and counter-productive, Chris, as you've chosen to be in response to my generally non-invective-filled original post.

And, yes, if this sort of negativity continues, I will take it upon myself to pack up my bags and cancel my account. If the forums are going to be full of childish behavior and if SL is going to be full of little more than casinos, clubs, and empty apartment towers, I have nothing to lose.

Not that I think anyone should worry about me leaving -- it's not like I contribute that much. But you should worry about all the potential creators out there who do have something to contribute to SL who will be driven away by this community's increasing commitment to the lowest common denominator, to the base, to the banal.

They will disappear without a trace, without a parting quip, without a final scandal, and they will do so because they are more mature than many in these forums or in-world are.

I'm only trying to remind everyone of what SL can be, what it should to be. If your only response to that is, "If you don't like it, leave," then maybe SL is too far gone for me to be of any help.

I believe that these incidents and squabbles in the forums are isolated. They only get magnified because people post about them.

The negative responses invoked by these threads don't reflect the SL I know. So just take all these arguements with a grain of salt. They'll only get under your skin if you let it.

We can reply or comment on them here if we want. But I doubt whatever we say here will lead to the demise of the SL community. It's much, much bigger than we'd think.

Note to self: Read entire post before writing a reply.

Phineas,

In any group of people, especially passionate creative people, you are going to have conflict. It exists in every forum, in every culture, and SL is no different. You are naieve to think this does not reflect some part of SL. There is an enormous amount of things that go on in SL that are not reflected here that make some of this drama seem tame by comparison.

My point is that it is all part of a vibrant society. People are going to clash, people are going to speak out and play games of intellectual masturbation to prove themselves right and superior over their foes. SL is a microcosm of society. We have racism, crime, homophobia, adultery, and all the rest of the seemy things you can imagine because it is a free, open society. You take the good with the bad, you try to step in and help when you see injustices occuring (as much as you may speak out about Kasandra, having to endur being called a nigger in SL is something no one should have to put up with), and you let the rest take its course.

Every once in awhile these self righteous "can't we just all try and get along, negativity is bad" posts pops up. And the reason it never changes anything is because it is all part of life. As SL grows and a wider variety of people join, you will see more of things you like and things you don't. There are many people who love casinos, strip clubs, porn and drama. If that is not for you, that is your choosing, but don't stand in judgement of those who speak out about things they like or don't like. We all have a voice in this society of ours. Not everything in life is sweetness and light.

You misunderstand, Cris.

What I was trying to say was that, in these inevitable conflicts between ideas and people, that those of us who purport to know that which is "right" owe it to ourselves and to our beliefs to do so in an upstanding manner. Nothing is to be gained by opposing hatred with more hatred. There is something to be gained by opposing hatred with maturity and rationality.

There is no reason the inevitability of conflict should drive us to jump to conclusions based on one-sided evidence; there is no reason we should reduce ourselves to name-calling and seething denouncements of the humanity of those with whom we disagree. None of this serves any purpose other than to perpetuate hate, to perpetuate conflict, to make understanding more elusive.

And while you call me "naive" for hoping that, in our interactions we can at least be civil, I would say that "to be civil" should be the very least we can be within these forums. Yes, SL will inevitably reflect something of the real world -- and in SL as in the real world, we can make ourselves and our communities better than they are. Is that not our responsibility? Why do you exult in your mean-spirited condemnations? Why do you prefer to play the "holier than thou" game?

I would argue that, in the specific case of Kas v. Death, those of us who would oppose Death's alleged racism have implicitly accepted the premise that we can make ourselves and our world better than it is. When you challenge racism, you are not accepting its reality, you are calling other people to meet a higher standard. But when we do so by hurling invecitve or by segregating ourselves into groups of racists and purported non-racists, we have only exchanged one group of unjust labels for another. We are perpetuating the politics of hate, which is in direct contradiction with the premise that we can make the world and ourselves better.

I'm not trying to say that we should all "just get along." I'm not trying to minimize our disagreements, or to just "agree to disagree." Let us seek out injustice where it lies. All I'm trying to say is that those of us who claim to be taking the high road ought to actually take it.

Those of us who oppose hate cannot and must not do so with hate. This will only undermine our efforts. That's all I'm trying to say.

But I DO know what is right, I AM a cherub after all.

But Devlin, when you fell, you didn't even bruise your rump... Not as if you had far to fall was it?

the thing is there is no evidence and plus like my best freind on sl one song is multi-racial. the only evidence that has been placed forward are the lies she has came up with. its kinda funny that if i was truly like she trys to make me out to be as some devil. then why would a multi-racial person stand up for me? seriously guys some of you take yourselves way to seriously.

Who?

exactly

First let me clear this up. I do not have an issue with Death Grace. He did not cheat me out of my L$ or offer up some space in his store then demolish it the next day. This isn't a Kasandra vs. Death thing. You won't see a Kasandra vs. Anybody anywhere on this forum because I keep all my "he left me after sleeping with my best friend who is a guy who was also sleeping with me but we weren't all sleeping together and now there are pictures" drama inside SL where it belongs.

This is an issue of the community vs. racism, remember Death isn't the person that called me the n-word or told me there aren't any blacks in Australia because we killed them all. However he is getting the brunt of the force because he is visible. Lets face it, if its not in the TOS then there is no justice in SL other than the court of public opinion. Thats what Tony was doing when I was first introduced to the forums and that is what I was doing. But it wasn't about Death, it was never about Death, it was about a level of treatment in SL that I would never stand for in my RL and no one I know would stand for it either. Well no one I know in RL. Seems that in SL someone attacking my race is the equilvant of a dispute over ownership of an avatar design. Hate speech is not just the problem of those it is directed against.

How enlightened of you to have a multiracial friend. Well I am sure someone who is as non-racist as you can admit that there is no such thing as an inferior race and anyone who thinks so has something wrong with their mental facilities. Go ahead, do it for your friend. Oh and don't forget to add that the many different peoples in the US enrich our cultural experience and all deserve to be here just as much as you do. I mean if they weren't here your good friend One might never have been born, right?

Why can't you drama queens just start using the PM feature to flame each other. There is no need to air out your dirty laundry in public.
Here's a free hint. When you want to talk ABOUT someone, odds are you really should be talking TO someone. In private.
If you're going to make a post that simply states your opinion of a person, well, WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
Opinions are like assholes... everyone's got one and they all stink

Sit down there at the front Eggy, and oh... pass the popcorn...

Seriously though,

Racism has no place in this forum, nor does sexism, agism, eggyism or any other -ism you can think of.

I know people will do it...

I know it's fun to watch the drama unfold..

BUT it has no place here. So to those who think they're superior to someone else... Good luck you you in your thinking... just keep your -isms to yourself. One of this forums favourite trolls came up with a word for you all. I won't quote it, just look up almost any post by Christopher Nomad.

To the victims of -isms, don't stand for it. It's abuse and should be reported. If it's on a public forum, don't just let the Lindens deal with it, call a lawyer and/or the police as it's a crime in the real world too, depending of course on your country of origin.

Sio.

p.s. I'm almost certain that Eggy would be illegal in my country, just for being Eggy, but he's a cutie, so we'll let him get away with it for now.

Snoop Dogg is like that. Oh wait, that's -izzle's..

my bad... continue!

fo-shizzle!

*Sniffs Eggy's Laundry...Gags*

Phineas,

i believe i understand what you're trying to say here.

there are those who are in the drama, those who respond, those who watch and those who ignore.

you're (well written) suggestions seems to say, if you don't have something nice to say, then don't say anything.

in other words, it's what i do. when i see a negative thread, i may read it, but i never post. not good, bad or in-between. posting to such threads only keep them alive. i won't even post "please, don't post or this will just keep going".. because then i'm continuing it's existance by bumping with my post.

so, i agree.. as far as, let's just leave the drama behind us. don't get me wrong.. legitimate concerns are a different story. somebody looking for help because they've received a death threat in concern of RL is simply looking for help and i see no problem in doing such.
on the other hand, someone who's saying "hey everyone, so and so just did this or that".. well, that's more of a personal matter and Eggy has the right idea.. use the PM feature, it would help everyone involved.

/me steps off of the seldom used soap-box

Peace everyone.. peace.