This scares me deeply.
News from Grand Tour III was surprisingly positive, in spite of the grid falling in shreds around the participants. Some animosities were cemented, some drama was created, though few want to talk about it and after this morning's contretemps at the last stop, I'm just going to keep my head down and not ask people questions.
(Actually...no. I can't let this sit here, though I really, deeply want to.
(But I'm finding I'm getting upset at Caledon all over again. What gives anyone the right to label anyone else--much less someone who's not even present--as "racist" simply because they don't favor the style of roleplay? Which in Caledon has always, always been voluntary? Or perhaps no other Wulfenbach staffer has had to put out fires of "Nazi roleplayers" but me? [And yes, it's happened.]
(People really need to think before they speak. And I'm including me in that, but I'm not the only one in this.)
Apparently the Duchess Sandwich over at SteamSky City really was a sandwich, too, which still hurts my head. But onward.
Spent the last few moments of the Fantasy Faire, wandering around. Not best pleased with this year, both in terms of personal poverty (Hair Fair's going to KILL me, and what IS it with everything happening at the same time?!?), and in terms of script usage.
What peabrain told the Fantasy Faire folk that excess scripted rotating objects decrease lag? Because I swear, they were EVERYWHERE--floating fish, floating PLANETS, swirling petals--every single sim had at least one inanely horrifying example of Why This Sim is Lagged; and they had nine sims this year.
One vendor had set out that lovely swirling seafoam texture...on grass. With a dolphin leaping up. Talk about creepy.
A view from three steps up on the 'pier' from the grass. Looks slightly more normal from this angle, but still...
Apparently they did sink the land, a little, as witness by my standing in 'water' that was knee-deep. Even so, knee-deep is not dolphin-leaping deep in the least.
One of the floating, flexi, scripted octopi at the Mer Market. Lovely, but...flexi. Scripted. Moving on its own.
The Scripted Water Guardian Octopus...in the larger version, he's swimming over an entire primmed-out sunken ship.
And the first trip into Hair Fair 2009...wherein the wisdom learned from Fantasy Faire was put into play.
....
Are these people ON CRACK?!? I mean, SERIOUSLY now. First of all, it's going to be several sims of candyland to see the hair; secondly, it's several sims of big sculpted objects to rez in! They've lost their MINDS.
So, okay, fine, we'll cope, or not, as it is, and get through what we can, and if it doesn't work--or we go made from sugar-prim overdose--well, it's only what they deserve.
Remember, Radio Riel Steampunk premieres Monday! We're still gathering music as fast as we can, but we're going to add to it and present what we have still on Monday, and keep things moving. Orchestral, industrial, early techno, goth, darkwave, dark cabaret, worldpop--whatever our DJs think fits. And we all have different definitions of what does, so it should be fun.
These are the direct-access codes you'll need, keep them in mind:
| Old name | ^&^ | music.radioriel.org | ^&^ | New name | ^&^ | main.radioriel.org |
| Old name | ^&^ | music2.radioriel.org | ^&^ | New name | ^&^ | event.radioriel.org |
| Old name | ^&^ | music3.radioriel.org | ^&^ | New name | ^&^ | newtoulouse.radioriel.org |
| Old name | ^&^ | music4.radioriel.org | ^&^ | New name | ^&^ | graceful.radioriel.org |
| Old name | ^&^ | music5.radioriel.org | ^&^ | New name | ^&^ | steampunk.radioriel.org |
Now, very few people knew beyond "music" and "music2"; on rare opportunities we advertised events happening on Graceful or someone else's permastream. But this is now all in-house, both to bring great variety to what we play, and also, because Duchess Gabi really felt New Toulouse and New Babbage needed their own soundtrack.
Which may have been a very good thing; since Dr. Obolensky has kidnapped the Clockwinder away, Radio Riel will be the voice of the resistance in New Babbage!
Can't stop the signal.
13 Comments:
I don't think Gabi is as nerdy as either of us (OK yes obviousness FTW) but I was thinking we should try and snip in a few things like "Can't Stop the Signal" from Serenity and "The Voice of the Resistance" from Bab5 just for nerdery points.
I think it's an obvious thing--especially being the "Voice of the Resistance" already for New Babbage? Or will be sometime today...it just fits. :)
Fraulein Emilly,
I, not Caledon, used the word 'racist' because that is how I saw it - someone who would reject another person merely for an accent without any consideration of their value seems to me to be using the same sort or level of 'judgement' as those who reject on skin colour. It has nothing to do with 'style of roleplay' and everything to do with the tolerance which you have discussed so often of late.
That he had five (at least) people speak up in shock and immediately defend him speaks well of the impression he has made on others. It does not, however, change my opinion overmuch.
I believe you know perfectly well I would have no objections to saying it to his face. However, the nearly hourly client crashes I was experiencing prevented me from doing so.
Let BardHaven 'smile and nod' as others have suggested, or mute quietly and let the muted person attribute being ignored to lag, or distraction. The sort of honesty used in this case was a slap across the face of someone who had done him no offence.
If I have misunderstood your comment, I apologise.
KW
Baron,
I know that you, and the Jagerkin, fight for acceptance. I know you've been attacked in many different areas. I know it's not been easy for you on the grid.
And yes, you made your comment, and several of us reacted in shock...and then others chimed in, attacking not the man's actions, but the man himself.
I did what I could to redirect, but it bothers me. I know all my friends cannot all get along, I simply like too many people with too many different agendas. But there is obviously dark history between several people and Lord Bardhaven, and I have no idea how to defuse that. If I even can.
And, I admit, it's put my interactions with Kandace Commons in a different light, as well. Because I was that virulent, that vitriolic, I had no spot of goodness to portray with Miss Commons. And I have well and truly lost any chance I ever possessed to be friends with Miss Rothschild because of it.
I mourn that. That level of hatred, of even leashed violence, it bothers me. And this dance seemed to bear overtones of that as well.
We may walk away from those who upset us; is it ever a good thing, though, to set them on fire as we leave? Can we be, are we capable of being, better than that?
Baron, I think it might be your use of the word "racist" that provoked something of loaded response in some people. The word carries heavy connotations and has different emphasis to different people. In this case I think it was a poor choice and detracts from its significance to become a byword for any vilification.
Racism is a vilification of a person based on physical characteristics and heritage. Some people will try and stretch the point to say that jingoism is also a form of racism. Heaping abuse on a country like the US but liking Canada is a form of discrimination but it's not a racial issue.
Muting people because a person dislikes and has no interest in participating in their form of roleplay is no more racist than muting child AVs who talk with the stupid baby spelling. It's unfortunate if you're the one being muted but that doesn't make it racist.
Herr Duke,
It is a strong word, and I felt the situation warranted it. What you are calling 'roleplay' I see as an essential part of a person's character - one could say you 'roleplay' as a gentleman by this definition.
Since the Baron had no intention of speaking to the Captain in the first place, there was no good reason BardHaven could not have ignored him (especially considering how briefly he stayed), and informing the Captain of his actions was simply insulting.
Where shall we draw the line, Your Grace? Perhaps I have been miscomprehending the culture of the steamlands all this time.
KW
I would in fact agree with you that I "roleplay" a gentleman. I like to think that it's not such a stretch for me but in many aspects it's still roleplay.
If a person chooses to portray themselves in a certain way on the grid there, whether it be webcomic inspired character, tiny, furry, child or jager there are aspects of the typist that influence the way the AV is presented on the grid. To be told your choices of presentation are offensive is certainly insulting.
But it's not racist.
Perhaps we're misdefining 'roleplay', then. I had thought that when I spoke of life as a shapeshifter, as a fae, as a mermaid or a Tiny construct or a clockwork doll, I was 'roleplaying', to some extent.
When I spoke of the weather in Oregon or how I felt about things that happened around me, or commented on products I released, that was me.
Perhaps it's all roleplay. In which case, someone who was 'roleplaying' ignoring someone else (through announced muting) is potentially being snobbish, or roleplaying the elitist in the gathering.
Whereas someone who calls someone else out--one who's not even present, mind you--with the question, 'how long has he been a racist'...that ups the ante in huge ways.
Because you're already setting up the damage to come--not 'IS he a racist', not 'why did he say this racist thing', but 'how LONG has he been a racist?'
Implying he's been one for some time. Which he's not.
I still maintain that while a created class of characters or constructs are people, they are not a 'race', in the sense that I would define it. But maybe I'm wrong there, too. And maybe you're just 'roleplaying' being offensive.
If so, stop it.
Herr Duke, I believe you do not have to stretch at all.
Fraulein Emilly,
And maybe you're just 'roleplaying' being offensive.
If so, stop it.
*blinks in surprise*
We seem to have reached a point of agreeing to disagree on the definition of terms, but I believe I understand the point you are both trying to make. That defending my own point (et alia) is offensive surprises me, but I shall not press it. This is, after all, your journal and I am but a guest.
I do hope BardHaven realises how well he's defended; I believe it would gratify nearly any person.
KW
Baron,
I'm fine with people arguing in my journal, that's not what I meant.
Maybe we're just misunderstanding the terms. Because to us it's just roleplay, at times, and to you it's your life.
So maybe answer this, from the perspective of Europa: are Jagerkin accepted as their own race there?
Fraulein Emilly,
Your question took some consideration, as the terms do not translate back and forth culturally terribly well. For a starting point, I found this definition for 'race': 'any group of people who are defined by reference to their race, colour, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origin'. In that definition, ja, the Jaegers are a race. More generally, they are considered 'that terrifying bunch of murdering monsters belonging to the Heterodynes now working for Baron Wulfenbach'.
Although it is usually more conservative in smaller or more isolated towns and villages, there are more distinctions between natural-born/construct, or non-Spark/Spark than geographic origin. Among the nobility, those who have been resurrected are barred from succession - my own status as a construct is one of the many problems they have with my rule. Constructs are usually what are called here 'second-class citizens', as not all of them are created by their masters with complete intelligence and free will.
Sparks are treated warily where they are not feared, due to the history of the Long War between rival Spark families. The Other targeted Sparks and wiped out 43 ruling families before disappearing. (To this day I do not know if my family were killed by the Other or in the chaos afterwards.)
Female Sparks have been particularly at hazard; peasants have been known to burn them as witches, and back when Lady Heterodyne was a teenager, girls were kidnapped by the Geisterdamen in an attempt to revive their goddess. Despite many proofs of feminine competence for both good or evil, there are still many deeply rooted old-fashioned attitudes about the fairer sex.
To tie these examples back to your question: Collective hatred back home is far more often tied to perception of a direct physical threat than other possible reasons.
KW
More generally, they are considered 'that terrifying bunch of murdering monsters belonging to the Heterodynes now working for Baron Wulfenbach'.
Good gods, I may have been wrong in this entire affair.
I might need to profoundly apologize to both of you, as Lord Bardhaven, in this light, might well have been engaging with you in appropriate dialogue, he reflecting the typical Europan attitude of disdain, dismay, and at times, outright rejection and oppression--summed up, in in-world terms, by openly muting.
This presents a whole new complication, I do admit...
Fraulein Emilly,
That's an interesting way of looking at it - and ja, his attitude would not be out of place if his stated reasons for acting made more sense in your theorised context.
However, he's not from my lands, and said reasons have nothing to do with anything the Jaegers have done other than be from Mechanicsburg (he'd have to mute most of the town, too).
Heh. On reflection, he does sound much like someone from the Fifty Families on a tear. Danke for that revelation, Fraulen Emilly.
KW
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