By Bixyl Shuftan
Last week,
I wrote more about the "Trump Wall"
erected towering over the Sanders HQ by Trump supporters, in what the
head of the Trump HQ JP Laszlo called a prank. Since then, there's been
more written about the drama between the two groups of supporters, and
the Trump HQ. The "Washington Liberals" blog
posted about the wall and people griefing the Sanders HQ, as did
Motherboard. One picture posted by Washington Liberals which has been reprinted in several other articles, including
a New World Notes article by Hamlet Au last week,
shows "demons," which are among the "vampire" avatars available to
newcomers to Second Life on day one, described as harassing people there
with "Trump! Trump!" spam.
Jeff Grubb of "Venture Beat" was also curious and
went inworld to check out the Trump HQ,
"Second Life is still weird. The 2016 United States Presidential
election is weird, but the Internet is doing its best to prove it can
always get stranger." Comparing the people he met in the place to 4chan
users, "... it's not offensive when it's sad. ... They think they are so
brash, and they are if you take them at face
value. But mostly, they just seem lonely. You can laugh at that. I
certainly did. But that wears off quickly....You can tell all anyone in
the Trump HQ wants is to offend people. I
have that desire as well, but it’s something that I’ve tried to
outgrow." Despite being briefly banned after a joke, that had nothing to
with politics, taken the wrong way, he stated that overall he was seen
as okay as long as the subject of politics didn't come up. But when on
to say when he took people to task over certain issues, the mood turned
defensive, "Predictably, the Trump fans went with their well-worn
defense mechanism: 'Every example of racism is a joke or a liberal troll
trying to make
Trump look bad.'"
Another
issue that's come up is the use of a flax mixing the Nazi swastika with
the Trump name, which Sanders HQ owner Macaria Wind snapped a picture
of, "There is a picture I managed to capture of one of the flags spewing
from a particle dispenser at HQ," she told Hamlet Au, "Left there by
one of Trump's supporters when no one was around." JP Lazlo has
previously admitted such trolling takes place, but "I am not responsible
for every troll claiming to be a Trump supporter,
just as she is not responsible for every troll claiming to be for
Bernie." There's also that the Nazi flag is universally reviled by
liberals and conservatives alike, appealing only to a tiny few
reactionaries who dismiss both of them. Since the individuals displaying
such banners are unnamed, it's less than clear whether it's by some
extremist acting out for reasons of politics, or by a troll who just
wants to cause trouble.
For some however, they have
seen enough and feel it's time for Linden Lab to take action. This week,
Hamlet Au wrote a commentary stating that
Linden Lab needs to shut down the Trump HQ for repeated violations of Second Life's community standards. Hamlet made a comparison to the Confederate flag controversy last year (
of which I had a differing opinion than his). But Linden Lab didn't ban the flag from the virtual world, just
quietly remove it from the Marketplace some time since he and I wrote about the issue
(NWN article), though stores were sill free to sell it inworld. Banning the Trump HQ and it's group like it did the
Woodbury group which had become infamous for being a griefer hangout
(especially among my furry friends) years ago, would be difficult for
Linden Lab to pull off without looking like it was taking sides in
politics, and could risk alienating it's more conservative members, even
those who have problems with the brash candidate. Hamlet's argument
that these are not supporters of a political candidate but trolls using
politics as an excuse to grief can easily get lost in the passions of an
election campaign, particularly those of recent years in which people
whom once saw supporters of the other party as simply having a
difference of opinion are increasingly questioning their judgement,
ethics, sanity, and intentions.
With Trump's remaining opponents for the Republican nomination
dropping out last night and today following the results of the Indiana primary,
the candidate's victory there is simply a formality. Sander's victory
there over Clinton is a needed morale boost to the "Berners," and a
reminder to the Democrats' own establishment they intend to take the race
all the way to the last state. So it's likely for a few more weeks the
tension between the political groups in Second Life will continue. But
with the Democratic front-runner having such a huge lead in pledged and
unpledged delegates combined, the best he can reasonably hope for is a
brokered convention. Most likely the nomination will go to Clinton. As
she has failed to inspire the same kind of enthusiasm Sanders has, it's
possible rather than change the names of their locations from Sanders to
Clinton, Second Life's "Berners" at the Sanders HQ and the new "Feel
the Bern" hangout in the Young sim may simply take down their political
banners and devote their Second Lives to other activities. And deprived
of a target, both the Trump group and the trolls acting in the
candidates name could get bored and lose interest. Which is probably
what Linden Lab is hoping for. But if the Sanders HQ and "Feel the Bern"can be convinced to get behind the establishment Democrat, it's
going to be "interesting times" in Second Life for those with a taste in politics,
and a headache for the Lab which no doubt wanted people to pay attention
to the virtual world for reasons other than "cyber noogie," but not
like this.
Sources: Washington Liberals, Motherboard, VentureBeat, New World Notes, CNN
Bixyl Shuftan
