Second Life™ is so much like real life. All the same problems, challenges, and drama present in RL are seen in SL too. Now we have the Maitreya Monopoly… First the drama story then the tech that makes this all so silly.
One Reason
It seems blogger Sophee Mojo is unhappy with Maitreya or more accurately Onyx LeShelle the creator of Maitreya. The unhappiness has its root in the limited selection of clothes currently available for the Maitreya Mesh body or more accurately the limited set of designers. Sophee points to the developer’s kit for Maitreya that lacks ‘weighting’ information as a deliberate move on Maitreya’s part to control the clothes market. So, the unhappiness is expressed as complaints and accusations.
I see little blogging in the Second Life community about the threats to free speech. As a blogger in a couple of arenas, the changes being pushed by progressive and socialist liberals are direct threats to me and I think all of us. While a significant number may doubt or wonder how real or pertinent such threats can be to our SL community, I see it as very real and offer this information. Think.
Je Suis Charlie
This year, 2015, has seen a shift in the tactics of those opposing free spech. There is no one human or organization organizing the overall change. But, various people and organizations have vested interest in limiting the free exchange of ideas and information and they are learning what works to stop free speech. They are building on what works and finding new tactics. Those people that value free speech seem to be asleep at the switch, little or no response on any grass root level.
Mick Hume in July was writing about five new threats for Spiked, Battle of Ideas: Five New Threats To Free Speech Today. He points to things most people have heard nothing about.
The limiting of speech is in the main stream media’s best interest, they of course will be licensed to continue while the rest of us are prohibited – competition eliminated.
Consider the things that are happening; a priest in Ireland is facing jail for saying the Muslim religion is satanic. A sports fan there is in jail for singing a song.
As Mich points out the Je Suis Charlie signs had barely been put up before people were talking about how to LIMIT Free Speech to avoid offending anyone… That is the point of free speech, it usually does offend someone. Republicans offend Democrats and vice-versa.
So, we find self-censoring muted conformism is becoming the order of the day. In The Rape of the Mind, the author Meerloo points out how intimidation is used to stop speech and allow thinking to be shaped by removing contrary ideas.
Freedom is based on the idea of an exchange of ideas, which requires free expression of thoughts. Psychologists know how this works and they are being hired by politicians and governments to shape how citizens think by intimidating those that express contrary thoughts.
Mich points to the new threat from those who claim to support that freedom, yet seek to restrict it in practice. As he points out, the attacks on speech are not directly against free speech. But, against; hate, incitement, invasion of privacy, distortion of truth… all seemingly noble and worthwhile. But, the methods to achieve those goals is always limiting speech, removing free speech. You can’t say that…
Mich portrays the new Voltaire’s saying as: ‘I know I’ll despise and be offended by whatever you are going to say, and I will defend to the end of free speech my right to stop you saying it.’
Climate Change proponents have written to President Obama asking that he prosecute anyone denying climate change on RICO laws. (Reference: Letter) Imagine what would have happened at the height of American slavery if the then scientific opinion that black African races were subhuman had been allowed to stand as settled science. Or perhaps Aristotle’s ideas on women?
The new coercive lawsuit tactic of suing for what was said is especially effective in the United States where Tort Law reform is desperately needed. Frivolous lawsuits are very effective as their target, after winning a case, must file suit to recover their damages from the frivolous suit and that is an additional expense with the odds in the current system against recovery.
In most of Europe the loser in a lawsuit pays all costs and that simple idea not present in American law reduces the number of frivolous coercive lawsuits. In the US the frivolous lawsuit is becoming a basic tactic to silence people. We will sue and fight until you are bankrupt, if you don’t shut up… The idea of hate and offensive speech is giving such lawsuits to silence people the cover of apparent legitimacy. Link for next page, below…
If it has not occurred to you, Facebook is an incredible resource for hackers stealing ID’s. People put in all sorts of personal information that can be used by hackers. I would never put my real birth date or any other information asked for by financial institutions on Facebook.
After The End
It is bad enough that individuals and private teams attack people. But, now governments and terrorist organizations are attacking private individuals. It is not just the Pentagon in DC or the CIA at Langley that are targets. You too may be a target, especially if you work for the Defense Department.
Machinimatrix is offering ten prizes of L$5,000 for those helping improve the documentation for AvaStar 1.6. They seem to be taking a new tack with new documentation. Read the deals of the prize offer.
This is been one of my favorite blog sites. I skim through the pictures and articles almost every day. I’ve gone looking for lots of the stuff shown in the blog. But, Pru Rexroth says her time in SL and running the blog is changing.
Second Life is part of a presentation at the Burlington Performing Arts CentreI (Burlington ON, L7S 1T7). The performance calendar describes it this way:
Tottering Biped @ Burlington Performing Arts Centre – Oct 2015
The online virtual world of ‘Second Life’ stretches thousands of kilometers and millions of visitors. While searching for her lost sister, Jessica struggles to find out what – and who – are real. Life and its double are at stake in this multi-media exploration of loss in the digital age. The Second Life was devised by the company through workshops with light, movement, and text over a four-year period. The Second Life explores the increasingly fluid relationship between the real, the digital and the spiritual.
