Okay peeps, right is right and wrong is…well, a hot mess. There have been a number of insulting things being slung about regarding Blackliquid Tokyoska. These attacks have gotten personal. They’ve encroached into comments about her as a real life person and have gone straight past being appropriate or even reasonably stated complaints and straight into racist attacks and character slander.
So to start, I am guilty. Blackliquid and I worked together, I found myself disappointed with the results…largely due to my own ignorance about the state of my avatar at the time and I made comments to someone based on that experience that were neither very diplomatic nor very responsible on my part. I let human nature get the best of me and did the wrong thing.
A day or two later a photographer pal of mine and I were having a conversation and I realized just how injudicious my original reaction was. While it is too late to take that conversation back, I can apologize for it. And I have. To Blackliquid, in person, like an adult.
Some time after this, I had the opportunity to have a nice, long girly chat with Blackliquid. And you know what, she’s human! No, really. She has hopes and goals, wins and losses, and, more relevant to this discussion, feelings. She is someone I have a vast amount in common with. We’ve had some of the same life experiences whether good or bad. She is someone I can identify with and relate to.
Blackliquid is someone who is very focused. Since I am like that irl (okay okay, and in second life to some extent) and have myself been misunderstood for it, I can identify with what she is going through. Its hard when you push yourself to achieve and you are very cut and dry about getting the business end of things done. People want to make it personal or draw emotion into it and for someone who is focused on the job to be done its just not about that. That doesn’t mean you have a person on your hands who is mean or unfeeling. It means that they take being professional and getting the job done very seriously (as an aside, if I am hyperfocusing, please don’t approach me to talk about how shiny the sun is today).
Blackliquid is also a person who has achieved a great deal in a short amount of time. This will inevitably cause jealousy among those seeking the same goals. That’s normal. Its a part of human nature and its even okay to vent frustration about such things. However, there are limitations on what is appropriate and what becomes cowardice and bullying.
For whatever the reason, Blackliquid seems to have garnered some detractors who are making things way too personal. Commenting on someone as a real life person is taking things way too far. Second Life, for all that it comes to mean to us, is a video game. Played out in pixels and, for most of us, meant to be an escape route. A way to destress and have some fun. An entertainment.
If you have an honest reason to be upset or disgruntled, the appropriate thing to do is to address the issue. Communicate. I’ll even go so far as to suggest, and brace yourselves – this may be quite a stretch, that you might provide some example or proof *gasp* of fault. Something more than gossip or just general discontent would be nice.
For those of you feeling a touch more advanced, you might elect to discuss your feelings with Blackliquid personally before posting for all the world to see. I know this is a totally random concept, but talking problems out has been scientifically proven to work on occasion. *Bonks noggin* who’d a thunk it?!
My point here is that no one deserves to be hurt, slandered and humiliated for being themselves. If you just cannot find a way to accept the Blackliquidness in all its glory, humanity and highly styled ways, then suck it up and move along.
If none of this has caused anyone to see that the path of less drama is also the one of least resistance, I’ll leave you with this thought. Yes, you may be giving Blackliquid some bad press, but honey, its still press and you are contributing to her fame.
For those of you who agree that this has gone too far, join the Blackliquid Blog Brigade. Whether you have something positive to share about Blackliquid or just want to take a stand against posters who lay out claims and hide behind pseudonyms, get your post out there and be heard.
Black, forgive me my faults of judgement and allow me to call you my well heeled friend?
