Reality, Virtual Reality, Life etc etc

Second Life is a virtual phenomenon which allows people to create perfect looking avatars and live a second life. And when I say live a second life, I mean they eat, sleep, exercise, date, get married, shop etc in this virtual world. There have been many news stories covering instances when Second Life has spilled out into the real world; where couples get divorced because a spouse was caught ‘cheating’ in Second Life and where people get married who have met in Second Life. It creates a weird concept whereby virtual realities are really affecting us in our real world. At first it may just seem that these people who use Second Life are just obsessed with a fake online world which has no real value to people. But after closer inspection, could this Second Life actually be ‘real’ to some people, and could it be impacting their physical lives?

I do agree that experiences create grounding of belief, and in my opinion, virtual worlds and whatever occurs within them are very ‘real’. Anything that a person puts time, energy and emotion into can become real to them. Humans need things that are of great value to them, things that they can look forward to working on or creating, and if this comes in the form of a virtual reality, then so be it. Being part of generation Y, I guess I’m quite used to the concept of video games and computers, and consequently, they are a normal part of everyday life to me. So maybe I do overlook the issue a lot of people seem to be having with Second Life.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the relationships formed on Second Life and the relationships harmed in real life as a result, the emotions associated with these situations are too, very real. Emotions and feelings expressed in a virtual reality are still real emotions and feelings, and this is what makes virtual realities ‘real’. This is in fact, not dissimilar to the concept of religion, something some may argue is even less ‘real’ than a virtual reality. Makes you wonder anyway…
I regularly get lost in thought imagining the possibilities of things simply being impossible for the human brain to comprehend. The human brain is restricted and I’m sure there are many things in our reality, world and universe that we are unable to identify and understand. No one can know what they don’t know, and it’s for this reason that I don’t believe people can really define if many things are ‘real’. I think there is just too much ‘out there’ to bother worrying about what is ‘real’ and what isn’t. Just writing this blog entry is enough thinking about reality for my liking.

My Take on Extremism

Today it seems like there is an overload of opinions on what is moral, what is ethical, what is right and what is wrong. To me, trying to take a particular stance on a lot of issues is overwhelming to the point where I can’t be bothered. Generally, I believe each person should be allowed to freely present whatever views they may have as I have no authority to deny them that right, and as I assume all the views expressed in the world balance each other out.

The world we live in is screwed up; always has been and always will be. However, when it comes to Extremism, Terrorism, and other beliefs which aim to cause harm to the lives of humans, a line has to be drawn specifically in relation to the use of the internet to present and further these beliefs.

I consider myself a well educated person that has been exposed to a lot of what the world has to offer, but after visiting eExtremism sites such as that of the Ayereon Nation and even the Australia First party, I felt completely shocked that these irrational opinions can still be taken seriously today. I acknowledge that some people in this world will always have extreme views and opinions, but I also think that they should still be considerate and unselfish enough not to force them on as many people as possible.

In the particular case of the Australia First party, I personally consider them to be a full-fledged extremist group, as their views are undoubtedly extreme compared with the views of the majority of Australians. www.thefreedictionary.com lists the definition of an extremist as ‘One who advocates or resorts to measures beyond the norm, especially in politics’, and the Australia First Party fits this description perfectly as they are a political party, their views are definitely not the norm and they openly stand for these extreme views.

The fact that the NSW Australia First Party chairman, Dr Jim Saleam, has previously been imprisoned for a shotgun attack on an African congress is enough for one to question the party. And on that note, I can’t believe that one of Australia’s most well known race supremacist/neo Nazis (Dr Saleam) is of Turkish decent. For a party who claims to be against violence and will not admit to racism, they come across a tad inconsistent.

Anyway, I think that in Australia for a group to be an extremist group, they’d have to be quite subtle about it right? Our relaxed and care free society does not accept groups that are openly extreme, and as a political party, Australia First is looking for acceptance and most importantly, new followers/members. The way they make it work is by covertly provoking extremism and associated opinions and beliefs, and viciously threatening anyone who dares to question them. Therefore, even though their website isn’t obviously declaring extremism, it has plenty of information and symbolism that makes an unsuspecting visitor feel quite uneasy.

I’ll leave you with these statements based on the policies of the Australia First party, found on the webpage Ausfirst.alphalink.com.au. Form whatever opinions you will...

‘Australia First Party recognises the right for all Australians, of sound character, to own and possess firearms for self defence in their own home, and for occupational and recreational pursuits.’

‘Australia First Party will end the enormously expensive and divisive policy of Government funded and institutionalised multi-culturalism. Our first step will be to cut entirely the funding for the Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs.’

‘Our policy on immigration is "zero net" which means the number of immigrants we will allow in each year will equal the number of people permanently leaving Australia per year.’