It is funny. Ironic, even.
When I posted yesterday my intent was to talk about my fears about jumping into the SL blogging world again. I had been reflecting on the confluence of events that led me to pull back from writing about SL in the context of a conversation I had on plurk a few days ago. What came out was a few short paragraphs that set off a chain of events I should have anticipated but did not.
The title of the post was "Thoughts About Hive Mind in Second Life." It was not "All the Reasons One Billion Rising Sucks and Anyone Who Organized or Loved the Event is a Jerk." The post was not meant to be a critical attack on OBR. It was not meant to denigrate those who poured their hearts and souls into a cause they feel passionately about. It was meant to say how it is hard to be someone who orbits at the outer edges of the SL community, peeking in to a world that rarely makes sense to me.
I made the point that people with opinions outside the accepted mainstream in SL are often beaten up, ostracized, criticized in thinly veiled passive aggressive blog posts where they are not named but everyone paying attention knows exactly who is the subject. The volume and nastiness of the push back for daring to be different and saying so in public can be a sight to behold.
After I posted what happened? There was a shit storm of blog posts about OBR and push back so loud it caught the attention of Hamlet Au and ended up on New World Notes. What is most ironic is OBR was the background to my post. The nastiness of the SL community when it feels challenged was my main point. Thank you darlings for proving my point.
It takes an enormous amount of personal strength and conviction to continue to put yourself out there when the SL hive mind takes over. Often I did not have that personal strength and so I stopped writing.
Perhaps I just wanted to be liked by the SL elite so I decided it was better to be seen and not heard. Somehow I began to think it was better to be liked and included than to be disliked and shut down. I stopped being true to myself.
Then I got diagnosed with cancer and since my time on this earth may indeed be shorter than I hope, I have decided I am no longer going to be intimidated by self appointed thought leaders.
To the people who were energized by OBR I offer a few thoughts.
If you want to make a dent in the violence against women you may want to consider learning how to organize people for political change. You don't know this about me but my very first job when I got out of college was community organizing for political change. *Gasp*. Yes. Just like the President, I began my career knocking on doors, getting signatures, asking people for money, lobbying for legislation, sleeping in churches and community centers and earning a poverty level income so that I could have the privilege of working for a better world.
Here is what I learned after years of that work: events like OBR are meaningless unless you do the outreach and follow up necessary to turn the event into action. It is absolutely true that events don't change things, people do. However if an event does not change people by spurring them to concrete action, then the entire effort was nothing more than a feel good show.
And, I am not afraid to say so.
I do have a lot of organizing experience so if anyone wants to talk about how to work toward social change, feel free to give me a shout. I am happy to help in any way I can.
(I have to run so this post is going up without proof reading. Sorry about that. I will edit later)
11 comments:
No offense, Ches, but your post wasn't necessarily the cause of all the other posts about OBR that happened at about the same time. :) So you shouldn't consider them all to have been some big slap in the face to you from the Hive Mind.
I posted because I read Whiskey's post, and I imagine Whiskey's wasn't intended as any kind of answer to yours. Lots of people were talking about OBR because, well, that was sort of the idea. :) I didn't see your posting until after I'd read Whiskey's and replied to it, and posted mine, and took part in some discussion on both threads.
Hope I'm not out of line to suggest that there's some "once burned, twice shy" here. You have had some negative reactions to things that you've said (which is always a risk when expressing any opinion), and now you tend to see negative reactions even in things that aren't directed to you at all.
Maybe that's part of the answer to the "how did I become...?" question? Just a thought. :)
(Also, calling the group of people who disagree with you and agree with each other names like "Hive Mind" isn't going to tend to encourage objective non-name-calling discussion. :) People who express the contrary opinion probably do so because they honestly hold it, not because they are being mind-controlled by the collective...)
"Perhaps I just wanted to be liked by the SL elite so I decided it was better to be seen and not heard."
Who are these SL elite you speak of? ;)
When you take a stand about anything controversial, you are implicitly in conflict with the opposing views of others. If something you post generates a lot of oppositional response, it's a testament to your own prominence in the community (because it was noticed).
Dale I am not self important enough to think the entire discussion of OBR was in response to my post. Whiskey posted well before I did and in fact her bravery in doing so inspired me.
At the same time there was conflict resulting from what I wrote and I am happy to connect the dots privately for you.
My use of the words hive mind, much like whiskey's use of the word terrorist, is a rhetorical tool rather than a name calling tactic. I would hope you know me better than to think I believe there is a central mind control sim where people take instruction from a queen bee.
Communities are complex and the social forces that are at work can produce interesting behavior patterns. I don't think it is a stretch to say that in SL there is a tendency for people to lean toward dramatic rather than reasoned responses to conflict.
I'm Victor1st Mornington, i built the 4 sim stage which folks danced on during that 24 hour event. I worked my rear end off for an entire week tweaking that stage, volunteering my time for an event which was in Second Life to do one thing, to raise awareness. Thats all it was for.
You say I should have went out and lobbied?
I'm a 30 something year old near housebound disabled man living in Scotland. The reason i took part in OBR was because i CANT go out there and put lobby pressure on the local members of parliament and as everyone knows unless you are face to face with a UK MP, they ignore you.
So, according to you, because i cant do this, the entire last week of me working on that stage was meaningless?
I dont know you...never heard of you till i read Hammy's blog. You however seem capable of making assumptions about me just because i was involved and volunteered my time to help a worthwhile cause where over 100 people donated their time and effort about a subject which a LOT of people in Second Life knew nothing about, the fact that ONE BILLION women are abused. That was the whole crux of the matter, it was all basically down to getting the word out.
I'm a cancer survivor, the last cancer i had is what has made me virtually housebound. This year I am part of the Relay for Life of Second Life 2013 Committee. I choose to volunteer this year because again, i cant go outside and take part. Will you be criticizing my part in RFL as being meaningless too?
Victor I don't know you and I never said a word about you. Why you personalize my general observations about the effectiveness of events like OBR is beyond me. It seems my posts have upset you and for that I do apologize.
I think the best thing about awareness raising events is they engage people. Once that person is engaged the next critical step is to get them to act. Perhaps that action is a phone call or maybe it is writing a letter. Maybe what is needed is asking a friend to get involved in the next event. I am a very outcome oriented person and I have learned by experience effecting social change requires follow up, hard work and sustained effort.
So yes, my opinion is an awareness event with no fundraising or follow up attached is not how I would choose to spend my time. You choose differently as do many others. I make no judgement about that.
Since you don't know me I will clarify -- I have been blogging about SL since 2007. I wrote for New World Notes for two years. I have owned an art sim and curated installations that have appeared in the Destination Guide over a period of more than a year. I am a long term judge for the UWA Machinima and Art contests.
Outside of SL I am the CFO of a research center at an Ivy League University, a wife and a mother of two teenagers. I drive a hybrid and eat tofu with great regularity.
Since you bring it up, I have cancer that is considered incurable. I have also been the victim of sexual violence.
There. Now you know me a little better.
I have always supported RFL. You see there is a fundamental difference between OBR and RFL. RFL is not primarily an awareness building event. Instead, it is a fundraising event that has meaningful and lasting outcomes.
Thanks for your comment and for the opportunity to get to know each other better.
"Why you personalize my general observations about the effectiveness of events like OBR is beyond me". Chestnut, of course Victor will take it personally; he is among the people you are criticising! What you haven't gone on to think about, it would seem, is that this event will be a spur to action for those who can do out-of-the-house things. I admit I wasn't sure what to make of it at first - was it yet another feel-good Californian thing? - but believe me I got involved. It was not a worthless event in my eyes.
Garnet
I am not sure you even read my post so I will engage in the bad form of quoting myself.
"The post was not meant to be a critical attack on OBR. It was not meant to denigrate those who poured their hearts and souls into a cause they feel passionately about. It was meant to say how it is hard to be someone who orbits at the outer edges of the SL community, peeking in to a world that rarely makes sense to me."
Beyond that, can we agree to disagree on strategy? You believe OBR was an effective use of your time and a highly successful event. By all accounts many many people in SL agree with you.
I believe it was best for ME not to participate in OBR due to MY OWN personal views on strategy and outcomes.
At least we both agree the kind of violence I personally and many others have experienced has to stop, right?
Garnet
Now that I have read your comment a second time I am certain you have not read my words. Had you done so you would know that I completely agree with you your assertion "this event will be a spur to action for those who can do out-of-the-house things." Here is what I said on that very topic up one or two comments.
"I think the best thing about awareness raising events is they engage people. Once that person is engaged the next critical step is to get them to act. Perhaps that action is a phone call or maybe it is writing a letter. Maybe what is needed is asking a friend to get involved in the next event. I am a very outcome oriented person and I have learned by experience effecting social change requires follow up, hard work and sustained effort."
One thing I would like to clarify - I think it is entirely possible to be highly successful advocate for whatever cause moves a person without ever leaving the house. The internet allows us to have broad reach without walking door to door with a clipboard like back in the day. Now, simple tools like email and google docs can make extremely effective action easy for everyone.
Yes, I read your post - this and the previous one. It would be a dreadful waste of my time and yours if I did not. Of course you have your reasons for not participating, and good for you. You did say (and pardon me if I have grossly misunderstood this) that you reacted with disgust to the idea of the event and that your enquiries with the organisers did not enlighten you. So have you now seen any benefit in it? If you have not, then Victor remains as someone you believe wasted his time.
Speak your truth - that is all we are called upon to do. How it is recieved and whether it is recieved is not your stewardship. Love your light and your own understanding and allow people theirs. They may indeed be missing some understanding you have or they could be miles ahead of you ... it doesn't matter really. We all just have to answer to our own hearts to do act with integrity to our light, our understanding... Just make sure that when you speak your truth you are not denigrating others. People are fragile no matter how strong they stand against the wind. We all have wounds that we protect. (bliss windlow SL)
Chestnut, you did nothing wrong. You gave your honest opinion as a real-world organizer and your critiques are legitimate.
Don't feel you have to apologize just because one selfish, self-important wanker thinks that just because he built a virtual stage for a meaningless feel-good event that somehow gives him the right to dictate who may hold what opinion. He's the sort who does things solely so he can brag about them, and he doesn't care that his lies and bullying ruin what should be a worthwhile activity that helps others. When it comes to egos, some imbeciles have to get their panties in a bunch at the slightest implication that their so-called efforts might have been better spent doing something else.
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