Second Life Protest Against U.S. Military Action in Iran

Second Life Protest Against U.S. Military Action in Iran

February 23, 2007
In his The Click Heard Round the World blog, Second Lifer Rik Riel reports on an in-game demonsration protesting possible U.S. military action against Iran. According to Rik:
There are twenty-some avatars gathered at the Capitol Hill sim holding signs and shouting slogans at each other...  Someone is shooting off some rather spectacular particle effects, which is quite pretty...

The Second Life Herald has more, including news that the protest appeared to be more or less of a spontaneous event:
When asked why he was here today, Anit-Ban leader Cochise Collas simply said: "I am against war and afraid the US will attack Iran." I think he was going to say more but a dog and a bear came charging through at that point dancing to an infinite-looping "La Cucaracha". That's protesting SL style!

Amid the bizarre spectacle of a Second Life protest, one person that caught my eye was John Gage from Sun Microsystems. I asked him what brought him here: "...Years ago, I was one of the organizers of Vietnam Moratorium...we had 400,000 people on the Washington Monument grounds, and had a significant impact on Nixon... we should do the same here."
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Comments

Submitted by Grimm22 - February 24, 2007 at 10:32 pm -0500
Maybe people tend to forget that Iran is the country responsible for supplying and harboring terrorists that are killing our troops in Iraq?!? O_o

Or that they are lead by a anti-semitic mad man who is essentially Hitler reincarnated as a Muslim?

Or you could just ignore all the evidence that shows that Iran is trying to become the new Nazi Germany and let them continue to draw closer to getting a nuclear bomb which they will then sell to terrorists and will be detonated in either Israel or the US "_"
Submitted by gamepolitics - February 24, 2007 at 7:05 am -0500
@Phoenixzero... actually, we first got in there under JFK, but Johnson certainly ramped it up. The anti-war protests reached crescendo under Nixon, which is why some people probably think of it that way.
Submitted by PHOENIXZERO - February 24, 2007 at 5:35 am -0500
Why does Nixon always get the blame for Vietnam even though we entered into it when Johnson was President? O_o Sure he President for the majority of the time we were in Vietnam and didn't pull out until there was a ton of pressure, but anyway.... I really hate it when people compare Vietnam to Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan but with how so many people bitching and wanting to get out immediately maybe they'd like it to end like what happened in Vietnam but worse? IMO, going into Iraq was a mistake, certainly was, but to just pull out of there and then also ignore Iran and what they've got cooking (same with could somewhat be said about North Korea) either way we're probably going to be screwed. >_>
Submitted by Saturday Post - February 23, 2007 at 6:34 pm -0500
As Rik pointed out, we now live in a world where small pieces of theater can get amplified many times.

Have you ever seen protest in the form of a political cartoon? Do you say "HAHAHA Idiots actually think that protesting with a cartoon is going to do ANYTHING?"

Do you remember when blogs were dismissed as teenagers posting their diaries on LiveJournal? Did you say "HAHAHA Idiots actually think that protesting with a blog is going to do ANYTHING?"
Submitted by agro - February 23, 2007 at 4:39 pm -0500
Darn it, I just uninstalled second laugh - I mean life. The horror of both the members and the gameplay gave me a headache

It is fun to laugh at the various freaks on SL and I imagine the protesters here would trump those at a actually protest in the freak factor.
Submitted by Brer - February 23, 2007 at 3:56 pm -0500
Well, given how incredibly out of touch with reality the protesters are, I suppose it's only appropriate that they take their protest out of reality as well.
Submitted by Tyriku - February 23, 2007 at 3:28 pm -0500
I find this extremely funny. It's like they think protesting war in a VIDEOGAME will have an effect in the real world.

We're so in trouble, and this shows it. Not even our hippies are willing to get up and protest in reality.
Submitted by kurisu7885 - February 23, 2007 at 12:07 pm -0500
"But, 20 people who can’t even be assed to pull themselves off their damn game decide to start the “hey-hey-ho-ho” action IN SecondLife? Yawn. Be a man, and grab yourself a real picket sign."

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
This story was good for a laugh. Idiots actually think that protesting inside of a video game is going to do ANYTHING? HA!"

Actually, this isn't as stupid as a move as one might think. This is about the only place Bush can't sick a SWAT team on them,, well, not the ONLY one but you get my point. With how alot of politicians are anti human rights nowadays, if they tried this IRL odds are they would wind up in the hospital because someone thought these people were being "unamaerican." And unless you try to organize a protest and get your message to people who aren't even going to listen in the first place, kindly stfu. At least they're doing SOMETHING.
Submitted by kurisu7885 - February 23, 2007 at 12:12 pm -0500
And I forgot to mention, if this is in said country, Iran, a protest could very likely send these people to their graves because alot of the governments their don't allow their people to protest their actions, ever.
Submitted by ~the1jeffy - February 23, 2007 at 12:22 pm -0500
I think this protest in 2nd Life will have just as big an effect as protesting in real life!


. . .


Which is to say none at all...
Submitted by -=Stitched=- - February 23, 2007 at 11:41 am -0500
To Glugory - I was thinking the same thing.

I mean, it's cool that they can do that in that context, but it's such a minority of a minority of a niche of people that it's effect will be, arguably, insignificant.

You have better luck protesting on myspace or friendster OR in front of the White House itself.
Submitted by Glugory - February 23, 2007 at 10:55 am -0500
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
This story was good for a laugh. Idiots actually think that protesting inside of a video game is going to do ANYTHING? HA!
Submitted by EvilZombie - February 23, 2007 at 10:44 am -0500
lol, something tells me Bush doesn't even know what Second Life is.
Submitted by rikomatic - February 23, 2007 at 9:56 am -0500
I agree that real world action is the best strategy for real world change.

IMO, these virtual environments are most useful as gathering places for political activists to strategize, support each other, dialogue about important policy issues, and raise awareness, not as venues for public protest.

Then again, the video I created of the Jan virtual protest against the war in Iraq was viewed more than 52,000 times, so I would argue that there are ways to multiply the impact of these virtual political activities.

See http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5105316486771142892&hl=en
Submitted by Michael Brooks - February 23, 2007 at 9:55 am -0500
Military action against Iran is almost inevitable; it'll either happen sooner or later. The only reason people should be protesting Iran is because we're bogged down in Iraq.
Submitted by MrKenyon - February 23, 2007 at 9:36 am -0500
20 people in a video game, protesting a potential fight with Iran. Excuse me if I don't stand by in awe.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good protest. There's something awesome about several thousand people taking time out of their day to protest something in their lives they don't approve of, from illegal military actions, to your local vending machine company taking Cheesy Poofs out of the machines. But, 20 people who can't even be assed to pull themselves off their damn game decide to start the "hey-hey-ho-ho" action IN SecondLife? Yawn. Be a man, and grab yourself a real picket sign.
Submitted by LightWarrior - February 23, 2007 at 8:18 am -0500
lmao...

lol...our country is so fucked....the whole world is going to hate us....and half of our country is worried about voilent videogame......this world is getting worse ad worse....
Submitted by Sergeant S.W. Foster - March 20, 2007 at 1:19 am -0500
Do all you anti-war with Iran folks realize that we'll never come home from Iraq until the Iran issue is resolved? Please see www.In-Iran.com for an alternate, inteligent opinion.
Thank you
Sergeant S.W. Foster
US Army
www.DesertVets.org
www.IraqfromtheWindow.com
www.SgtScorpion.com
Submitted by aefjjjjjj - November 9, 2007 at 10:41 pm -0500
http://www.feelingame.com

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