The presidential election in the United States this year has caused a great deal of unrest and many rifts in the gay community in SecondLife, at least the part of it that I am in. Old friendships are broken and harsh words and derogatory adjectives are thrown about frequently.
I have a fundamental belief in mankind, that we all strive for what we see as the best solution for ourselves and - mostly - for society as a whole. Some say I am naive, but I don't give a damn. I also believe in democracy and the political system to attend to our societies and address the issues that arise.
In our societies people - and large groups of them - are sometimes afraid, due to economic setbacks, sickness, unemployment, globalization, civil unrest, whatever or just from a feeling of being disenfranchised. No one sees their plight or listens to their complaints. No one tries to assist them in bettering their conditions, everyone else is just thinking of themselves.
When such conditions are present we have more than once in our history seen politicians or parties arise who say they have the absolute remedy or know exactly how to go about creating "change" (unspecified and vague enough).
Most of the time these politicians will claim to be "outsiders" or "not part of the establishment", even though a simple background check will show that they actually are and have been for a long time.
Their often simple solutions start with pointing out who is to blame for the present predicament, it can be a particular race, religious or cultural affiliation, nationality, sexual orientation or economic class. Or better still all of the above jumbled together.
Whenever I encounter a person or a group of people seeking political power who claim to know the the quick-and-fast solution to a given problem and asks me to "Trust me, I am the only one who can save you!", I back away as fast as I can.
There have been man politicians and groups throughout history who have made claims on the absolute way to "save" voters. Here are a few examples of "savior politicians", demagogues and despots, in the present and not too distant history (ordered according to date of birth).
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So how do we go from the existence of "savior politicians" to how to handle our friendships and relationships in SecondLife?
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| Vladimir Lenin (April 22, 1870 – January 21, 1924) |
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| Josef Stalin (December 18, 1878 – March 5, 1953) |
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| Benito Mussolini (July 29, 1883 – April 28, 1945) |
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| Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) |
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| Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976) |
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| Donald J. Trump (June 14, 1946 - ) |
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| Vladimir "Little Father" Putin (October 7, 1952 - ) |
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So how do we go from the existence of "savior politicians" to how to handle our friendships and relationships in SecondLife?
In my mind, the absolutely worst way to go about it is to distance yourself. I will never allow myself to assume that one of my friends or acquaintances is a misogynist, racist, Islamophobe, anti-Semite, homophobe or indeed anti-anything merely by whom they support in the American election, not until they express such views and opinions. Until that happens they will remain my friends.
Edit October 23, 2016: The edit today consisted only of moving the pictures, not a word was changed except for "globalization" which was previously misspelled.)
Edit October 23, 2016: The edit today consisted only of moving the pictures, not a word was changed except for "globalization" which was previously misspelled.)
