Harmony vs. Discord

Today I read an interesting post by Spike Clémenceau-Silent on his blog Sex & Second Life. The post is entitled Gossip, Pride, Lies, half truths and other monsters.

In the post Spike makes an analysis of this years Second Pride campaign and the shortcomings we have witnessed in the process and or the candidates or their followers, and what he believes are the shortcomings of Second Pride.as a concept, or as Spike calls it "a plattform". Spike concludes his post with these words "If you really want to do some change and do some good, do the hard work and leave the dirty politics and drama, to those who only seek recognition and praise."

I agree with much of what Spike has to say concerning what we have seen during the campaign from anonymous bloggers, alts in the forums etc. Some of the people in the forums (and many other places too) have been eager to air dirty laundry of one or the other candidate and have shown an inability to separate between the candidate's personal lives and hers/his actions, opinions, thoughts and ideas. Of course the candidates historical activity and opinions matter when we try to decide whether or not we can or should trust them, but that doesn't mean we want to hear from all their ex-lovers airing their grievances or other similar mudslinging.

However, I fundamentally disagree with Spike's conclusions. I do not believe that discord is something bad or evil, that politics are dirty or that the clash of ideas and opinions are inherently bad or are worthy to be labeled "drama", the word we all dread so much in the harmony-centric world of SecondLife. I wrote a post about this about a year and a half ago, please read it, Should SecondLife be "Pleasantville"?.

In short I believe in Second Pride. I also believe in elected officers and a democratic election process where the candidates need to inform the electorate about their visions and ideas and have to answer tough questions about their past activities and statements.

Lack of agreement concerning thoughts and ideas and the clash of these are in no way to be written off as "drama", they are a necessary process in deciding whom we vote for and how we wish Second Pride to develop in the future.

Harmony kills, stifles and blends everything into a grey porridge with fake smiles and fake cordiality! Harmony is also bloody boring!

DJ Battle - Fundraiser Sunday

DJ BATTLE 

in support of 

Broadway Cares/Equity Fight Aids

featuring

CLUB SEVEN´s DJ Spike 

vs. 

TWINK HUNTER´s DJ Sora Bluebird

Sunday, June 10, 2012, 05:00 PM SLT

Sponsored by Gizza Creations

Both clubs have selected their DJ´s to set this event on FIRE as both DJs will hit the decks spinning the hottest tunes.

Your limo to Broadway Cares Events Sim (SLurl):

SecondGAY Magazine, Spring 2012

SecondGAY Magazine Spring 2012 (Click to enlarge)

The new "SecondGAY Magazine" (url) is out now, just follow the link to read it.

Excellent work by the editors on staff Avacar Bluestar, Eddi Haskell-Constantine and Spike Clemenceau with lots of good tips, interesting articles and great interviews!

Fabrice Snook In Memoriam

Fabrice Snook (February 9, 2007 - November 23, 2011)

It was with great sadness I today learned that the primatar of Fabrice Snook has passed away on November 23, 2011. The news was totally unexpected and has shocked the whole of the LGBT community in SecondLife.

Fabrice was a strong champion for LGBT rights in SecondLife. He was also the founder of the Gay Archipelago (GA), a cluster of approximately 140 LGBT sims. He was the first Chairman of the Gay Archipelago Council board and was until his demise a part of the Council in a non executive role.

Besides being an activist Fabrice was also an accomplished designer, a great mentor and a true friend to many inworld.

I did not know Fabrice well, but the few times we met and talked he was always kind and supportive. The last time we met was at what was to be the taping of The DJ Insyx Show with Spike Clemenceau on November 20, 2011, see my post The DJ Insyx Show - Spike. (The show was cancelled due to technical difficulties.)

Fabrice landed on my head as he teleported in to the studio where the show was going to be taped. We started talking and he was giving me kind praise for a post I had done on GWNews and gave me a few things to think about for future articles. I have actually been waiting for him to be online at the same time as me to continue the discussion.

My heart goes out to all of Fabrice´s family and friends in both his first and second life.

Rest in peace, Fabrice, you will be sorely missed!

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Landmark to The Gay Archipelago community´s memorial site for Fabrice here (SLurl). (When you visit, please pay your respects swiftly and leave as soon as possible, as the Open Spaces sim only holds 10 avatars at a time)

If you wish, you can leave your condolences on the GA blog here (Url).

The DJ Insyx Show - Spike

Today´s guest at the DJ Insyx Show will be Spike Clémenceau-Silent (DJ, vampire, blogger and editor at GWNews).

The show will be taped today Sunday November 20th, 2011, at 01.30 PM (time corrected) over at the GWNews TV Studio (SLurl).

Prior to the show you can read up about Spikes interesting second life story on the SecondLife blogs.

Due to the main guests nature and the audience that can be expected it is highly recommended that you take "the garlic necklace treatment" and/or keep a crucifix or a wooden spike handy throughout the taping of the show.
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UPDATE The show was cancelled due to unforeseeable technical difficulties. It will be rescheduled in the close future.