Create Anything, Including Bigotry?

sl or rl ?
same people same issues will be there
the good and the bad

and yeap im dutch lol
and we got good and bad people over here like every where else to

im also bi-pan and sorry to hear what happend to you
can say that worse has happend to me on sl

but as in rl , i dont run
i dont fight to
for there is no point
one cant win or loos in mathers like this

i believe in respect
one does not have to understand or accept or agree
just respect
it is the difference in people that makes us human


there for i respect if people not understand / accept or agree with me
as long as they do no harm
i learned not to do to others what i do not want others to do to me

old fashion?
lol

(p.s. im no saint ! knowing and doing things are two different things and one can slip up sometimes i guess ... but then awareness is the key)


ok enough rambling have a great day all and enjoy sl and rl as much as you can
winks

mute

I consider myself 'tollerant' of almost anyone (try being a SL Greeter if you aren't), I admit shamefully when I first came to SL nearly 3 years ago, I found myself wandering around a store selling sexual aids etc. The store owner greeted me politely wearing a full body latext outfit complete with zips, chains and holding a whip. My first reaction was one of disgust based on my first experience ingame of such a thing. My first verbal reaction was to enquire, what does one get out of dressing like that in 'public'? The reply shook me into personal shame... she replied..
In RL I am serverely disabled and have no form of sexlife, self gratifaction or ways of exploring any form of sexual fantasy within me. SL has given me the ability to do this, should I be denied?
It showed me that even my toleration level wasn't high enough. Live and let live, even if you don't want to live with them.

There was a time a couple years ago when SL was a place you could freely express yourself without a lot of flame wars against you. those days are gone. SL being as open as it is now, brings in all the jackasses as well as good people. Your going to run into griefers, immature spoiled brats, and homophobes. To be honest with everyone here, i am bi. I don't care what anybody thinks about it. if they got a problem then they need to not look. If they choose to look then it's their own damn fault and they have to DEAL with it. And caging me or crashing me is not going to change my sexual preference. All it will do is earn them a ban. SL may have grown into a stupid state but those of us who consider ourselves the pioneers of the community will continue to be who we are regardless. We will also welcome new people with differences. Diversity is a way of life and others need to learn to deal with it. If we were all the same life would get pretty boring and we would all be 1 gender.

Sorry i just had to quite myself. If we were all 1 gender, there wouldn't be a need to be gay in the first place. XD And those homophobes would have nothing to poke fun of. However, verity is the spice of life. And i know that because i am also a furry.

I think you should have been ashamed anyway. If they were not indecently exposed, what business of yours is it to dictate the style in which they dress? There are enough social pressures to conform in the real world without the need to repress people's individuality in SL. There's nothing indecent about zips and chains.

very true. i get called a fag several times daily because my current avatar sports eyeliner. it probably doesn't help that i help out at busy infohubs and WAs on my breaks. the only time i didn't get called a fag several times a day was when i bought an island (not the sim kind =P) in the dreamland pride cluster. lots of things can be read into the success of that place, not all of them reflecting well on our community.

As long as we were all women.. I wouldn't be bored.

YOUR mileage may vary.. of course.

We had the luxury of being a world populated significantly by Silicon Valley people. As the population becomes more global, the "San Francisco Diversity Embrace" becomes harder and harder to maintain. Furries are already becoming disturbingly invisible.. as are the kids and even the Goreans to a degree.

We've already got the French bringing real world politics into SL.. and the Dutch trying to pass laws ABOUT Second Life.

Ironically.. with greater ethnic and regional diversity, comes a greater per capita intolerance for diversity. Sucks being a global minority.

I haven't been called a "fag" directly in SL... yet. It's in my profile and I belong to a few gay-oriented groups. Even though I've been at some of the gay clubs when a griefer shows up, nobody's harrassed me personally.

Then again, sometimes I'm wearing a big-*ssed sword strapped to my back whenever I'm out and about in the world.

(Note: Wearing the sword is just a Gorean RP thing of mine I do sometimes for RP purposes only. I would never attack anyone with it. It's for the image of it. And no, I don't own one in RL. Yet. -grin- However, isn't it too bad you can't do that in real life, eh? I bet seeing a so-called "fag" with a sword might make a bigot or two think twice before they opened their *ssclown mouths.)

My advice: Find your "community" (or communities) where you're accepted for whomever or whatever you are. Then, explore all the amazing diversity and creativity in SL and find more of them. And the next time you're in the middle of something amazing and somebody calls you a "fag", click the mute button, throw a report to the Lindens about it, and then continue enjoying yourself.

It's THEIR problem, not yours. And definitely not ours.

As for it being harder to be out in SL as it grows, that's a ridiculous concept. It'll be harder to be IN SL itself -- being a woman, or gay, or straight, or whatever your story is -- as it grows due to the usual percentage of losers, bigots, unevolved and/or mentally inflexibles any place gets when it grows larger. It's a fact of life, first or second.

Finally, I absolutely refuse to censor my identity and activities in SL -- as long as I'm following TOS -- because someone's somehow bothered about the fact I'm a homosexual, or I play with the Goreans, or I like to go texture and clothes shopping, or I want to build whatever I want to build on my sim without regard to having a mall and rentals like everybody else does, or how I sometimes wear a sword on my back at a mall, or...

I think you get my point-of-view here. SL is supposed to be "our world, our imagination" not "our world, our prejudices and lack of respect."

Basically, don't let the b*stards get you down.

(Please excuse all the asterisks - not sure about the language limits here and my mother didn't raise me so right in that particular area.)

there you have it. =P it's all about appearances. anything remotely metrosexual would earn you the fag tag. i just logged into my previous location (waterhead) and got called sergeant sausage by an 'sl army recruiter' within thirty seconds. lawl.

my av's style is actually meant to lie somewhere between mod and rude-boy and the ao is anything but feminine, but i guess guyliner is a bit too cosmo for adolescent brats from the mid-west. =D

I bet y'all are very excited that with the new voice chat coming, people will now also have the ability to tell you that you sound gay.

Edit: I am NOT saying that all gay people 'sound gay'. I'm expressing yet another reason I am unhappy about voice chat. It gives people more avenues to discriminate.

i don't know what you mean. my voice is so deep i once fell into it and couldn't get out for five hours! =D

I have seen worse I have seen a furry in a hitler uniform with another nazi soldier doing a heil hitler act with sound effect. And I found a swastika hanging in the air it was the opening to a secret nazi hideout. ... I was pretty angry and upset about it . I was a newbie at the time.

I have also read an article where a white girl changed to a black skin and was soon greeted with predjudice as well even by her friends.

Elinah

It's difficult. Whereas you want the freedom to be what you want:Gay, Bi, Furry, Mermaid, etc, and express yourself, others have the same right of expression, even if it offends you. But it does not give anyone the right to harrass another.

Im not goign to say much. I met both good and bad people here in SL, those who are respectful of whoever you are, and those who find it entertaining to put other people down. Sadly enough, same happens in RL, ignoring them would be best and one day they will wonder why they r ignored U cant teach the morons coz they will either learn on their mistakes or will just stay morons forever which is a good punishment in itself lol *hugs*

Second Life = Real Life

Until we take the human element out of one or the other, then each realm will evolve along the same path as history is usually doomed to repeat itself.

I'm really sorry FD that you had this experience, God knows I've had a few of my own and had hoped that minds would be more open, but as one gentleman from Japan said to me the other day after knowing him all of 18 seconds...

"OK, we have sex now"

Humans... gotta love 'em

Some people have lived very sheltered lives.

It can be terrifying to encounter that first "someone" who is unrepentently, proudly and openly gay, ... or liberal, ... or conservative, ... or disabled, ... or religious, ... or atheist, ... or furry, ... or gorean, ... or French, ...

"But your very existence contradicts everything I've been taught to believe is right!"

Some take a little while to get used to the idea that "some people are different". Some never come to grips with it. Others could cope, but it's more fun (for them) to use it as a divisive us-vs-them tactic.

While I can't condone expressions of bigotry... for the ones that can't deal with difference though, I'd rather have them be honest about it so I can avoid trying to be friends with them

is being 'gay' or 'bi' really on par with being a furry or a mermaid? most gay individuals bring their sexuality over from the other side like everybody else because it is "what they are", not "what they want" to be.

Perhaps so. But harrasing soemone who presents as a furry is no less distatseful as harrasing someone who presents as gay in my opinion. Or is selective indignance the word of the day?

that's two words brenda. of course any form of harrassment is wrong. but there is a massive difference between deep-rooted prejudices like racism and homophobia, and somebody being taunted because he dressed as a squirrel for the evening. at least that last guy can log out and leave his troubles behind. at least the harrassment doesn't go straight to his heart because, ya know, he's not really a squirrel.

it's one thing being villified because of who you are.
quite another because of the costume you chose to wear.

So what we need is more people to adopt sexualities in SL different from RL, to see what it's like ...

You are not, in one conversation, on a virtual world, going to change the mind of someone who thinks that gays are evil/deviant/dangerous/controling the media. The attempt to do so will confirm suspicions that you are attempting to convert/brainwash/advance your hidden agenda.

If someone finds it necessary to tell me that they disapprove of my sexual orientation, my standard reply is, "You may have whatever opinions you want, but I'd appreciate it if you don't tell me about them." That is usually successful without creating unnecessary drama.

FD's experience is unfortunate, but is this really the worst thing in sl? Open up your eyes. A friend of mine told me a story. When he was born, he met a girl in a club. They danced and had a good time. Then she took him home. It turned out she lived in one of those gnore (?) city, where people do the role play things. All the women living there are slaves and all the men there are hunks and masters. My friend really had some problem with that and had a argument with the headmaster. Of course he lost and got kicked out of that place. When he told me that story, he said he learnt something from that experience. "U see, Leslie, SL is all about tolerance." My friend told me that because i lost my best friend in sl due to a similiar reason.
I actually always believe the world is great because it is so diverse. And when i say "diverse", i really mean it. It includes ugly things that I and most people feel repulsive. But if one only wants to be with saints, she probably should become a nun or something like that.
Now in Sl, i have been really tested for my belief. Its not easy when i lost my best friend. I really felt strongly against those roleplay people. And there are lots of other things i hate in sl. But i would never want to try to ban these things. SL is so great because for the first time, one can live without the interference from some authority to lecture u what is wrong and what is right. Why would anyone want to give up this freedom?
When u succeed in banning those groups u hate, who will be the next? Be careful what uu wish for. I learnt this lesson too painfully in SL.