Political Strife Erupts in Second Life

covert.c writes "A real-life drama in the political world has spilled over into the virtual, as the Second Life headquarters of France's controversial Front National political party fell to violent protesters. The anti-FN activists, who had armed themselves with slogans, placards and weapons, leveled the digital buildings occupied by Front National. Second Life is often home to established political and social movements. It seems logical that opposing forces would also choose to make SL their stage."

Comments

Uhm...

[Bonker]

Since when do MMO players need politics as an excuse for grief play?

Some are more equal than others...

[Anonymous Coward]

So the protesters stoop to violence and destruction of (virtual) property in their aim to stop the FN from exercising their basic human right of free speech and political representation.

FN claims to be a bulwark against the encroaching tide of terrorism and violent radicals. Attacks like this just prove them right.

Re:Some are more equal than others...

[Panaflex]

Hrm.. is it merely a game, or a pretext towards a more radical real world?

Comments like "it's unacceptable to debate" seem rather more like Hitler's goons. Truly scary if that's the future of France.. and perhaps Europe.

Re:Some are more equal than others...

[MrShaggy]

As horrible and disgusting as this sounds, tis is something that I almost understand the why, but not much after.

There were a number of rogue nations, and groups, like the KKK, Hitlers youth, etc. etc. The recently held a conference in a mid-eastern state (Iran I believe). They were there to discuss the idea that the holocaust never happened.

They were in this country, to say that because of their Countries laws surrounding denying that this ever happened, or even to talk about in the streets, is trampling on their rights to free speech.

Like I said, I can understand why they are thinking like that. It stems that some ideas are better then others. I wonder if this is becoming like anything else that the more they try to tighten these people, the more these people will fight back.

I can understand why Germany is afraid of these white-supremacy ideas. The trouble is that you might force them underground even more, where you can't see them. Any time you arrest someone for something they thought, they become a martyr (in that sort of way).

I don't want hate speech either, but as long as it isn't acted on, there shouldn't be any reason to step on it.

In the game world is a reflection of what we do here. In some games, yah its nothing but fun. In others people are destroying what you created. But at ;least both parties feel that they can stand for what they believe in. Thats the good thing, and no-one got hurt in the process. hmmmm Maybe someone should build a White-House, so we Canadians can come and burn it down again.

Another demonstration of the tolerance of the left

[jmorris42]

Yup, in the left's worldview you are allowed to be any race, color, gender identity, etc. If you keep it in the closet and swear that it doesn't actually influence your behaviour you can even have a religion. But deviate from the accepted policy positions of the left and watch how little tolerance they have for that. They will violently suppress the slightest deviation from orthodox socialism.

Compare this with the other story posted today where US leftists are aiming to revoke the 1st Amendment in their continuing efforts to suppress political dissent during campaigns, reign in unregulated bloggers, the earlier story where they want to force changes in FCC rules to eliminate dissent on the airwaves, etc.

To a "progressive" diversity is looking as different as you want while thinking alike. Tolerance is a codeword for oppression. And of course "progressive" itself is a codeword for a retreat into failed 20th Century *isms. If anything Orwell was too optimistic.

Left vs Right?

[Colin Smith]

Really, do politics boil down to left and right? A single axis of political belief? Don't you think that's a little bit simplistic?

Re:Left vs Right?

[ricree]

As far as I've seen, it mostly comes down to people who want to be able to tell others what to do, and everyone else. Unfortunately, the government has gotten really full of that first type of people. This whole left and right thing is just a set of labels for the different things that they want to force down our throats.

Re:Left vs Right?

[mjwx]

This is mainly US thinking.

The left/right spectrum is vastly different in other countries such as UK and Australia, Americans in general tend to politicize thing a bit more which is why we Australians are considered to be leftist when we remove politics from most of our day to day life. Gun control isn't considered political by most Aussies.

But in our (Australia's) political system there are left and right elements of varying degree's in both parities, which we call Labour (ALP) and Liberal (Lib) and just to confuse the issue the Liberals are our conservative party (we also have a different meaning to the word Liberal). These two parties are drawn up on the white collar/blue collar line, with Labor supporting the workers (manual labourers and the like) and the Liberals supporting businesses and their workers. Often there is no difference between the parties which leads many to call our system of government a duopoly.

There are Left v Right battles but they are mostly internal to each party and pretty trivial.

Re:Funny how it's always the Left

[darqit]

How do you figure its always the left that resorts to violence? quite a claim you're making there. I won't deny that there are leftist groups who resort to violence, but there are also right wing groups which do the same. They are called extremists. They are on both sides of the scale.

As for the right to free speech. You should look up where it came from. It's a liberal principle. If it's from either side of the scale it would be more right than left.

Furthermore stating someone isn't allowed to speak because it doesn't fit in with your own views is politics 1 on 1

Re:Another demonstration of the tolerance of the l

[Ford Prefect]

But deviate from the accepted policy positions of the left and watch how little tolerance they have for that. They will violently suppress the slightest deviation from orthodox socialism.

Absolutely. And paranoids on the right are correct - there is a global leftist conspiracy. We receive our orders from the Party on a daily basis, and follow them to the letter. Good news, too - you'll be the first up against the firing squads come the glorious revolution.

...

To me, the news story was about a pseudo-fascist political group in France trying to leap on to the bandwagon of publicity about Second Life, before being chased off their server in a typically amusing manner by a bunch of online griefers. However, assorted Slashdotters appear to take this as evidence of some kind of hateful leftist conspiracy, intent on stifling free speech and dissent on the internet.

Oh noes!

Not left vs. right

[Cheesey]

Hmm. It's not really a left vs. right issue. I think that protests against the FN are really about drawing attention to the nature of the FN.

Neo-Nazi organisations like the FN and the BNP in Britain have come up with a "respectable" face. Now they are patriots. It's all about conserving traditional values, a return to the way things were at some magical point in history when things were Good. Traditional justice, small government, support for local business, more policing - who wouldn't want that?

But there's much more to it than that. Underneath, the same people are involved, and they want the same thing - power. Power like the kind of power Hitler had. And their bigoted views are lurking just out of sight: Send the darkies home, fight back against the Muslims (terrorists, dontchaknow). Holocaust? What holocaust?

Some people will support them because they are genuine bigots. But I believe that most people are basically good, not intrinsically racist. It is these people who should understand the true nature of the FN before they make the mistake of voting for them.

Everyone, whether liberal, conservative, or socialist, should speak out against fascist ideas. Your political viewpoint doesn't matter: no-one wants a dictator.

Re:Pink Floyd

[Original Replica]

"Just what is the FN's "final solution" for the Islamic question?"

Let's hope it's better than Islam's "solution" for infidels. Is there a world wide war of incompatible cultures? Islam vs. the Western World? If it is war how show a cultural war be fought?

Re:I'll have to disagree with you.

[Knara]

While I'm not nearly conversant enough in modern French sociology to debate the finer points, I feel the need to point out that individual incidents that make the news are not enough to make a blanket claim as to the every day state of affairs, or justification for characterizing an entire segment of a society. Your line of reasoning would seem to indicate that your stance is more closely defined as bigotry instead of carefully considered concern.

Re:Another demonstration of the tolerance of the l

[blueskies]

US leftists are aiming to revoke the 1st Amendment

Please back this up with a link, troll. How exactly do you revoke the 1st Amendment?

I thought it was the Supreme Court's job along with Bush's to erode the Bill of Rights? Why would Bush let the Leftists do his job?

Re:Pink Floyd

[dangitman]

Let's hope it's better than Islam's "solution" for infidels.

I didn't realize that the only two options were ultra-right-wing racist Westerners and ultra-right-wing racist Islamists. I could have sworn there were other choices of how we run our societies and governments.

Famous violent leftists

[Travoltus]

The troops at Kent State.
The Klan.
Timothy McVeigh.
Abu Ghraib.
Abortion clinic bombers.

Yup, all radical leftists!

Re:I'll have to disagree with you.

[albyrne5]

What's happening in the Netherlands? I've been living here for the last 3 years and haven't noticed any massive changes ... perhaps I'm reading the wrong newspapers, eh?