Getting Serious for a mo...

Al is off in SL somewhere, so I thought I had better fill in for him on this entry.
The Guardian newspaper today printed an article about the French Nat1onal Fr0nt in Second Life. Somehow it had passed me by that these neo-fascists had entered SL - but seemingly they've been there for a couple of months. And the problem for a do-goodie-good liberal/libertarian like me is how to respond. This unholy crew is utterly repugnant to me, so do I have to acknowledge their right to be in SL? Regrettably, the answer is "yes", even though I suspect they would not extend the same right to me, if they had the power.

OK then, given that they have a right to be in SL, how should I react? There are 2 choices as I see it: ignore them, or confront them.

It brings to my mind the words of Dietrich Bonnhoeffer, talking about suppression in Nazi Germany: "First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”

So.. confrontation it is. See you sometime in Porcupine.

UPDATE: Al has just been to Porcupine and was impressed by the Autism Museum & Library. He's still exploring - and may post an item later.

Meanwhile, in other news...

• Vodafone's director of brand strategy and manifestation (ed: "manifestation"? wtf is that?), David Erixon, announced at the Marketing Week Interactive Conference earlier this week that they would be launching a mobile phone business within Second Life. What's new about it (apparently) is that there is no phone booth needed to make calls (unlike Vivox). Vodafone's service makes the phones untethered, and allows users to have conversations between avis in Second Life or between Second Life and the real world. Haven't they heard about Second Talk, the new Skype-based service?
• The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) has expressed an interest in creating a virtual space within Second Life, according to SLinsider. Maybe that'd explain the appearance of a new island in the Aussie area of SL called, imaginatively, "ABC Island". Also of note - there is a SL Oz forum for Aussies to discuss SL-related stuff (I suppose).