It's Only Virtual Reality, Darn It All

Brian Doherty | March 2, 2007

Xeni Jardin at Boing-Boing lets us know: "John Edwards Assaulted by Poo-Slinging Communists." Alas, it's only true in the Interweb fantasyland Second Life. More details from the Edwards camp.

Comments

|3.2.07 @ 4:49PM|#

I hope the poo was distributed evenly among the people.

|3.2.07 @ 4:49PM|#

I know I can think of a better communist joke than that.

|3.2.07 @ 4:57PM|#

How about "there must have been some long lines of people waiting to throw it"?

|3.2.07 @ 4:59PM|#

Maybe we should go trash Ron Paul's 2L HQ? If he doesn't have one, we'll make him one,...and then we'll trash it with.......uh, photoshopped pictures of Ayn Rand giving Alan Greenspan head...or something.

sorry for the imagery

|3.2.07 @ 5:01PM|#

Objectivists don't give head. Too altruistic.

|3.2.07 @ 5:04PM|#

true dat!

|3.2.07 @ 5:06PM|#

Ayn Rand would despise calling it "head." She prefers to be faceraped.

|3.2.07 @ 5:06PM|#

Objectivists don't give head. Too altruistic.

Perhaps as part of an agreed-upon exchange of services and/or specie?

|3.2.07 @ 5:06PM|#

Objectivists don't give head. Too altruistic.

Not necessarily

Andy|3.2.07 @ 5:07PM|#

Monkeys raiding crack dens.
People flinging poo.

This will not end well.

|3.2.07 @ 5:07PM|#

Objectivists don't give head. Too altruistic.

Sure they do. Some like the taste.

|3.2.07 @ 5:12PM|#

tarran, I'm printing that article out for my wife. Or at least the headline (no pun intended).

|3.2.07 @ 5:44PM|#

Any Objectivist will give you head when you show them the "$" tattooed on your "cigarette."

Antarctic Penguin|3.2.07 @ 5:58PM|#

"Objectivists don't give head. Too altruistic."

Couldn't it be an expression of love to someone who shares your values?

|3.2.07 @ 6:09PM|#

Wow. Talk about your 0-60. What was this thread about?

Jim Murphy|3.2.07 @ 6:50PM|#

...and at this very moment some politician is drafting legislation to extend campaign finance reform to virtual worlds. I wonder how many Linden dollars I'll be able to contribute to a candidate??

|3.2.07 @ 7:01PM|#

I'm wondering what in lord's name would want the Edwards campaign to have a Second Life campaign area. Being connected with social networks like youtube, myspace, and facebook makes sense as they actually have practical value of connecting to voters, but from what I understand Second Life is only a moderatly popular MMORPG without the "RPG" or any decent human beings on it.

|3.2.07 @ 7:14PM|#

Jonathan,

For the next few years, political campaigns will be run by people who know they have to take advantage of the internet, but don't know enough about to tell a good idea from a stupid one when one of the kids who can make the computer work comes up them all excited about something.

We're being ruled by people who can't open a .pdf.

|3.2.07 @ 7:17PM|#

joe,

Truer words have never been spoken. It's even scarier every time one of these clueless jackasses launches some new bill to "fix" the internet.

Mike Laursen|3.2.07 @ 7:17PM|#

I think the poo story is going to be upstaged a bit by Ann Coulter's having just called Edwards a "faggot" in her speech at CPAC.

Antarctic Penguin|3.2.07 @ 7:42PM|#

When will conservatives realize that Ann Coulter is actually a communist plant in the conservative movement bent on destroying it from within?

|3.2.07 @ 8:01PM|#

I don't think we'll ever really discover the driving force behind Coulter other than the fact that she barely means what she says. People say that she's a agent provocateur, desprate for attetion, or doing it all for the money, but I think the answer is darker than that. Like, maybe, at birth, she was killed by a astroid with dark matter in it, killing her instantly but their was so much energy in that astriod that it made the corpse of Coulter move, speak, and grow and it is ultimately a coincidence that abritary convusling and shreiking of a atomic-powered corpse resembles a screaming, hysterical, harpy.

|3.2.07 @ 8:09PM|#

I think the poo story is upstaged by any of the following:

Total eclipse will turn Moon red

Village requires snow shoveling

Route 60 closed at crossing

Fire damages townhouse

Students make discoveries at Cotton Creek Science Night

|3.2.07 @ 8:14PM|#

Jonathan,

"...from what I understand Second Life is only a moderatly popular MMORPG without the "RPG" or any decent human beings on it."

If by 'moderately popular' you mean 'pretty near the bottom of the games anyone's even heard about, and below some you've never heard of', then that's probably accurate.

But they get vastly more media attention then their actual relevance warrants. In the industry, they're basically a joke. In the MMO segment of the industry, they're an annoying joke with an off-color punchline.

Single Issue voter|3.2.07 @ 8:44PM|#

I think the poo story is going to be upstaged a bit by Ann Coulter's having just called Edwards a "faggot" in her speech at CPAC.


link? context? transcript?


far too mild an epithet for the Breck girl

Antarctic Penguin|3.2.07 @ 8:54PM|#

"far too mild an epithet for the Breck girl"

Ahh, someone has been Listening to Rush Limbaugh. I enjoy his show myself, I think he is funny. I also heard him say not long ago that he and Camile Paglia were very close friends. I think the way he described it was they were "best buds." Maybe, just maybe, she can turn him libertarian. Just a hope I have.

|3.2.07 @ 8:55PM|#

Coulter Suggests John Edwards Is a 'Faggot'

|3.2.07 @ 8:57PM|#

I am far more concerned, however, that Oak Park is going to start fining me if I don't shovel my sidewalk.

Antarctic Penguin|3.2.07 @ 8:57PM|#

Sorry, Camille has two "L's"

|3.2.07 @ 9:09PM|#

Hmmm. Here's some stats about Second Life. You be the judged of how popular that means it is.

- 4 million registered accounts
- 30,000 concurrent residents (on Feb. 1)
- 144,108 people spent game money in Dec.

Here's a chart of games with a comparable number of registered users. (Here's a chart of games with the highest number of registered users.)

Remember that Second Life is not a game, per se. It is a virtual world, more akin to the Sims online offerings. It is not necessarily appropriate to compare it to WoW when measuring whether it is "popular" or not.

What is undeniable is that it is growing quickly. Many games and virtual worlds are not.

Antarctic Penguin|3.2.07 @ 9:17PM|#

Does anybody know what lead to the sharp decline in EverQuest? I find that the most interesting stat on the chart.

SIV|3.2.07 @ 9:23PM|#

I think the Breck Girl label was popularised by
members of the executive branch (Cheney?) during the last Presidential campaign before Limbaugh picked up on it

Limbaugh is quite libertarian for a prominent conservative.

|3.2.07 @ 9:25PM|#

I'm too impatient to wait for the open thread this weekend. What's the libertarian position on incest?

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/world/2007/03/02/pleitg.incestuous.love.cnn

SIV|3.2.07 @ 9:31PM|#

Those second Life stats make it look pretty irrelevant.I'll go with empiricism and anecdote.
Despite having heard of it and seeing quite a bit of promotion and hype-I don't know anyone who is an active user.

SIV|3.2.07 @ 9:35PM|#

Chalupa

Unless it involves force fraud or coercion...

Consenting Adults = No business of the State.

No doubt some may disagree for other reasons but
I can't see any other libertarian position.

SIV|3.2.07 @ 9:37PM|#

"Does anybody know what lead to the sharp decline in EverQuest? I find that the most interesting stat on the chart."

I assumed they switched to WoW - or went into rehab.

Plant Immigration Rights Suppo|3.2.07 @ 9:40PM|#

If two bothers or two sisters want to go at it - no problem because there is a zero chance of a child being born with genetic problems. If you are talking about a brother and sister or a father and daughter my view is different. My view on this is the same as my view on a pregnant mother drinking to excess. It can harm the children who had no say in the matter. .

|3.2.07 @ 9:45PM|#

Isn't that the one where the french were having riots in front of the national front headquarters? with the preponderance of libertarians on the internet, maybe we can create a libertarian protest about something, dang, blog battles can be settled by fighting in this simulated world, we totally would have kicked pandercorn's ass in a rumble in that game, you reading this tsz?!!? are you still creating havoc at hit and run you little devil you? ROFLOL!!!

|3.2.07 @ 9:56PM|#

Yea, agree with you two above. Children just complicates things. How do you allow people to have sex but at they can't have kids? Tell them they can suck, play and have sex with condoms but make it illegal to have sex without?

So homosexual incest is ok, while heterosexual incest should remain illegal. Those who want to be exempted have to get their tubes tied or have a vasectomy.

Those Germans are sick fucks for the fact that they had a kid with disabilities and then continued to have more. Inexcusable.

|3.2.07 @ 10:01PM|#

One more interesting thing about this. I remember reading in one of Steven Pinker's books that not having sexual interest in your siblings may have evolved in humans. It turns out that people who are raised together don't have sexual feelings for each other when they get older. Basically our genes don't know by looking at someone if they're our relative or not so we just evolved not to be interested in people we are raised with.

That's interesting because this story seems to back up this hypothesis. The Germans only met as teenagers and then became involved.

|3.2.07 @ 10:01PM|#

- 4 million registered accounts
- 30,000 concurrent residents (on Feb. 1)
- 144,108 people spent game money in Dec.

I'm one of those "registered users." I also found out after registering that my video card doesn't isn't supported by Second Life. From reading various forums, I know I'm not the only one (far from it), so while there may be that many people interested in Second Life, the 4 million registered accounts is a meaningless statistic.

SIV|3.2.07 @ 10:28PM|#

Chalupa,
There have been a few cases of people "gaming the system" as sperm donors so as to have hundreds if not thousands of children. Should we require genetic testing before marriage?

I oppose progressive policies like eugenics.
I think the State has no business interfering with people who carry congentital defect genes from reproducing- Tay sachs, Sickle Cell, Deafness,polydactilism whatever.

Incestuous offspring have a higher risk of genetic defect but it is not as likely as many believe. That is the way animal breeds are created.

Back to your original question, I can't see any libertarian reason for using the Force of the State to prevent sexual relations or child bearing by related consenting adults. As with other issues of morality and personal behavior I have no problem with individuals or "Society" condemning it and expressing their view through
non-State social sanctions.

I didn't check your link but there was something on this over at Volokh regarding an American case with people who were related legally but not biologically. The Kraut brother/sister couple were referenced in the comments.

Plant Immigration Rights Suppo|3.2.07 @ 10:35PM|#

"That is the way animal breeds are created."

Not exactly, that is part of a long process but only a part. Dog breeders themselves are very careful about inbreeding and discourage it in most instances. And taking your analogy further I would also like to point out that in many dog breeds there are known genetic defects (i.e. collie eye) and some breeds are more likely to be aggressive.

SIV|3.2.07 @ 10:49PM|#

PIRS

As I stated, propensity for genetic defects is no legitimate reason for the State to try to stop it.Unless you support eugenics.

No force, fraud or coercion + consenting adults
= none of the State's business.

Does your current nom refer to the White List policiy? I support exotic diversity.

|3.3.07 @ 11:29AM|#

Bet you money the somethingawful.com guys are behind the edwards thing. They've made a habit of staging pranks like that on Second Life then posting articles about it. The details of the vandalism sound like stuff they would think was funny.

So give it a week see what happens.

And 2nd Life gets the attention it does because as far as I know it's the most free form and by far the most R rated MMO game out there. Plus people are making a quite good living selling and renting in-game land.

And no, never played it.

|3.3.07 @ 2:07PM|#

As I stated, propensity for genetic defects is no legitimate reason for the State to try to stop it.Unless you support eugenics.

Sorry, I break ranks with hardcore libertarians here.

In 99% of situations I think freedom is the best option.

But in those extreme circumstances, like when people are popping out retarted kids or a society is being Islamisized into a new dark age (see Europe) then its time for men with guns to tell people what to do.

SIV|3.3.07 @ 3:57PM|#

So should men with guns force all people with known genetic defects not to reproduce?

Eugenics


Chalupa,

Should have saved this one for the open thread. " Legalizing Incest between consenting adults" is a great Issue for ferreting out those "statist-roaders".

|3.3.07 @ 6:49PM|#

Should have saved this one for the open thread. " Legalizing Incest between consenting adults" is a great Issue for ferreting out those "statist-roaders".

I don't know what statist-roaders are, but I'll meet you at the open thread if you like.

SIV|3.3.07 @ 9:22PM|#

Play on capitalist-roaders old Chicom lingo for reactionaries

Plant Immigration Rights Suppo|3.5.07 @ 8:58PM|#

"Does your current nom refer to the White List policiy? I support exotic diversity."

Yes, it does, and I am very glad to hear you support the plants that just want to come here to live a better life. Most plants are NOT here get on government programs, most of them have come here to work, to live productive lives. These are plants that provide us most of the food we have on our tables.