One cannot have SL Herald as a source of trustful information, but sometimes even a hint is enough. It says there is an abortion clinic in one of second life's malls. It also said that pro-life activists heard about that, got there and filled tons of abuse reports. A bit after, Minerva Linden came and deleted some stuff.
Yes, this raises all the questions about many things that happens in virtual worlds, from right of free expression to the taste of the creators. But, everything gets a completely new dimension when one teleports there and see that it's W-Hat, an infamous griefer group, that is running the sim.
Aforementioned mall is actually a nice piece of irony. It is ugly as many of those malls around made in an attempt of getting rich over night. But it doesn't rent space. It just shows you the essence of where we live. Or tries to.
So, among colorful Ponzi pyramides, giant cocks, Scientology church, camping chairs (that is, chairs to put near your tent when you go to camp in the forest), skins that are ripped from bodies that still hang from the ceiling, spoof ads… there is an abortion clinic. And yes, all that blood can be disturbing.
Personally, it is also disturbing to see all those 'tards who haven't got the idea and the message, all those politically correct, quick-to-fill-an-AR preachers around. It is disturbing to see a Linden being so quick this time.
So, is this clinic griefing? Maybe it is. It uses shock and it aims where we don't want to be touched. But unlike what way we got used to, nobody comes to other people's sims and ruins their fun or business. Except those that think of themselves as the good guys. Those that came to somebody's sim and disturbed something that can be a political and/or art statement, something that shook some minds and provoke some thinking.
The abortion clinic itself sure isn’t griefing, imo. It’s offensive, sure. But it’s done on their own property for their own bizarre style of entertainment. Folks who don’t like it can, and should, fuck off, really. Just my take!
Ugh! What a horrific scene! If anything it’d be a help to Pro-lifers because it portrays the harsh reality of abortion, why bother to complain? However, more disturbing than this image is the censorship exercised by LL.
The w-hat installation is beyond vicious, cynical and nihilistic all in the name of “lulz” for “shocking” people — it easily fits the Linden definition for “broadly offensive”. Minerva Linden should have removed the entire thing; taking away a partially aborted fetus, but leaving a horrific scene with a brutalized woman with blood spewing from her and a vacuum tube is appallingly violent and completely inappropriate.
Yes, the Lindens have the right to censor as a private company, and should do so with some kind of consistent policy. Yes, we’d like them to behave more like a common carrier and a mall that tolerates more free speech than a private club, although First Amendment absolutism is difficult to insist on in this context.
This isn’t about “pro-lifers” as anyone, even supporting the right to legal abortion, could resist this extremist depiction of violence against women and an unborn child, even symbolically, and this cynicism about the topic of abortion.
The w-hat don’t put up an exhibit like this for “private showings,” they don’t lock their sim, and they made sure to turn the Herald out with its predictable bias to celebrate any of the banality of evil from this lot. So this “I get to do what I want on my sim” is bullshit.
I’ve asked to have my name removed from the Herald’s masthead.
The installation is morally wrong, and clearly violates the TOS as an inworld matter. It’s not about art. The Herald coverage about it isn’t news coverage, but promotion of nihilist propaganda.
I suppose more celebrations and justifications like this is what we can expect from the “transhumanists” and “Extropians” which is why they need to be resisted where possible.
Jesus. In terms of the above comment, I refer to the last line of my first comment. The grid is big enough for all kinds, even self-appointed judges of so-called morality who can cry “foul” and “censor it” at a disgusting exhibit of abortion, but feel it’s perfectly alright to hate and call for the resistance of entire groups of people who have differing opinions since their, well, different. Little mind + big mouth = bad combination.
Yes, it’s good to take a position on right and wrong, and resist those who are wrong. Otherwise, you lose your freedom; worse, you suffer the loss of good. I don’t see anything wrong with that. It’s the transhumanists and Extropians who hate, who differentiate, who arrogate themselves above others, who destroy the possibilities of others. That’s why they need to be resisted.
Myg, thanks for the support.
Queen, I agree, pro-lifers actually reacted without thinking. But it’s not the first time people are trying to solve their problems by moving it out of sight.
And of course, it is not the first time that people are reacting without thinking. Should I be glad that we have an another example here? Prokofy, do you actually have any oppinion or thought behind all that slamming of terms like extropians, transhumanists, bolshevik, whatever…. or you just spam around as usually?
I hardly think pro-lifers “reacted without thinking”. They have very fervently-held views and follow through on them, as is their right. I could hardly expect them to imagine this installation is “good for their cause,” as it takes such a cynical view.
I’ve expressed my viewpoint. I’ve made the point that this scene depicts violence against women and the unborn in the most cynical and brutal manner. I see nothing to celebrate or “tolerate” here.
The Extropian/transhumanist nonsense that imagines some sort of “freedom” in this sort of celebration merely exposes its own nihilism. Extropians of course are busy censoring ideas they don’t like themselves, i.e. pre-banning me from their sims before I’d even heard of who they were.
The knee-jerk reaction here is of the politically-correct Extroptians/transhumanists who imagine that to be for legal abortion, you have to be for this piece of obscenity. You don’t.
No. This installation (in my reading of it) has nothing to do with freedom of abortion. It It is cynical, but it is cynical towards SL sex and SL pregnancy, which are some of W-Hat’s usual targets. It just says “if you have sex, and you have prim pregnancy, you can also have virtual abortions”. And it says it in a rather bizzare way as expected from them.
Having that in mind, the whole mall is what they were doing most of the time: being cynical and bizzare about what they find ridiculous in SL. What I find positive here is that they have found a new way to say what they have to say, a way less violent and less stupid than replicating prims and crashing the sims. And of course, that they are saying that on their own sim. What is to be tolerated here is everyone’s freedom of expression.
What I find really annoying is that that move was followed by a case of counter-griefing which was actually supported by Lindens.
And about your problems with pre-banning…. my personal blog is not a place to complain about it. Go to Extropia site or talk to somebody from the Board of Directors. I just rent my plot in Extropia and live my happy second life there.
Oh, stop it, Dandelion with the "I just rent there and mind my own business" bullshit. You represent the Extropians everywhere, you are part of that community, and you therefore support this banning by your presence and support of this community, so know off the crap.
I don’t see anything "redeeming" or "artistic" about this installation. It begins not really with satire or parody, but harassment — with hating and ridiculing people who chose to roleplay pregnancy in SL. It’s part of the whole violent nihilism of the w-hat/b/tard/PN ethos that they savagely ridicule and harass anyone who plays at SL seriously, or uses it as a mirror world to roleplay something in real life. This puts them into a zealous frenzy and their "art" isn’t about any subtle parody or legitimate sort of artistic critique, but is as "subtle" as a suicide bomb, full of hate and eschatological extremism.
The idea that people who have pregnancy and prim babies "need" parody is of course a stable of the old forums, where the posters set on such people like rabid hyenas in the Serengeti.
I don’t see any "counter griefing" here. If these retards are going to put up a vile installation like this, they can’t expect anything but the most extreme reaction.
Whether you see anything artistic or a political statement is your own problem. It is also your problem that you have unresolved issues with W-Hat (like you have with the hald of the rest of SL).
Thing is you cannot stand things you don’t agree with.
Yes, I agree that griefer’s starting point is nihilism, and no, I don’t like their point of view, but it’s their sim, their lives, their freedom. I am also against slavery but only thing I can do about that is to avoid Gorrean sims. But that doesn’t mean that I will approve banning of Gorreans from public events, let alone from the grid.
This is disturbing. Abortion is a subject made complex by religious, moral and ethical view points but on neither side of the fence is it fun and games. Those who are against value the sanctity of the babies life (though may or may not value the sanctity or sanity of the mothers) and those who undertake this sometimes have to have signed letters from their doctor basically saying they are mentally unfit – or else have to weigh up a number of moral issues and possibly live with a secret and/or guilt. While I often like black humour, I don’t see much amusing at all about the picture posted and tend to think it is mere trouble stirring than any valid form of protest or activism. Not funny. Not thought provoking. Not tasteful.
Um, of course I "can’t stand" things I don’t agree with you. You are no different, with hatred of born-again pro-lifers and capitalist land barons and such. That’s exactly how you *must* be in order to be morally consistent and intellectually honest. You don’t have to "come round" and concede some reprehensible view — it’s more than fine that you keep railing against it. That’s normal life, of course, outside the trans-humanist commune.
As for your feigned notion of "issues" with w-hat, people griefing and destroying property and stalking others are criminals. Criminals in SL and criminals in RL. Your reductivism and justification here of their criminality is itself a collusion with the criminal.
It is not "their sims, their lives" because it is a public display, and they incite others to come, and they invite the Herald, which celebrates them. Sorry, nothing private about it.
Once again, as often the case with the leftist sectarians and trans-humanists on the grid, you are confusing resistance and condemnation with somehow refusal to permit some "expression" to take place. It’s as if you imagine that to tolerate the right of Gors to exist and have their sims means that you can never condemn slavery, never push back against their awful ideology in a debate. And that’s just plain wrong. I see no reason to ban Gors from public spaces or any public events. If they insist on subjecting others to their slavery and violent displays, someone might well wish to ban them. As with all extremists, tolerance of them has to be done in a consciousness that indulgence means they encroach upon your own freedoms and impose their own violence on you.
I don’t think a cynical and malicious depiction of abortion belongs in the realm of "expression of art on my sim," however. I think in the Lindens’ context, it is precisely that "broadly offensive" content that they should remove. I think the Lindens need to help foster civilization, not its destruction.
Moggs… it is disturbing. Funny? No. Tasteful? No. Thought provoking? Yes, it is. In this context, it is.
Prok, what’s your point? Except griefing me on my own blog? Do you actually have a point?
Concedes. Yes, thought provoking but more from the issues it raises than from any intent on their part. *grins* but you are right.
Re some of the other feedback I don’t agree with censorship. And thus don’t necessarily think it should be removed… but that doesn’t mean I have to like it either.
Thanks again, Dandellion… I do love your blog – you always seem to cover thought provoking and interesting topics.
Agrees with myg’s comments in part – when I see something I don’t like in Second Life… I just leave that space (if it was my own space this would not be the case).
Yes. Well, griefing is very immature thing to do, it is hard to expect it has questions the griefer wants to raise. But it usually hits points where questions have to be asked. And, it is an interesting and contraversal phenomenon by itself.