Shove it down my throat, why don't you?

Judging by my accent, which is an odd mix of Kansan, Oklahoman, Dutch, Brummie and a touch of deep-southern US thrown together, you would never guess that I am not from the United States. I call that country, for the time being at least, my home, but it's not my home (so to speak). When you first set foot in SL, you probably weren't thinking too much about the fact that you were about to meet people from all walks, many different generations, and all corners of the globe (the latter being technically speaking impossible since a globe doesn't have any corners).

The other day I was at an event at Linri's Palace. I was probably not in the best of moods to start with, and poor DJ Winston got to carry to the burden of me becoming violently upset over something that, in hindsight, probably wasn't all that important. Looking back on it I realize that I should not have attacked him like I did. It did however (once I calmed down) give me a chance to reflect on some of the intricate intercultural socialization (wow that was a mouth full!) that happens in SL.

Even though Second Life brings together the planet in a way that was previously unheard of, the celebrations that we share seem to be heavily biased towards the North American calendar. At least, that's how it seems to be, but in all honesty that could be because I like to spend my time with people who I have a language in common with and the fact that I am in the same time zone (roughly anyway). But let us for a moment just use my observation as the working assumption... For the sake of argument.

There are two American celebrations that I, for reasons entirely personal, have a big problem with. Those two are Veterans Day (the cause of my argument with Winston) and Thanksgiving. There are others that don't have any meaning to me whatsoever, but they simply don't bother me as much. Veterans Day celebrates the lives (and losses) of US soldiers. It is my firm believe that none of the conflicts, starting after WWII, the Unites States engaged itself in, were warranted. So to honor the soldiers fighting in those theaters, is awkward for me to say the least. I fully understand that not everyone is going to agree with me on that, and if you want to honor your (fallen) "heroes", be my guest. But please do it in a way that actually honors them. Closing the post office and sticking toy flags in your lawn is not the way to go about it! If 80 percent of the nation goes about their business as if nothing ever happened, you are not properly (as a nation) celebrating those that "fight for your freedom".

But let's get back to SL. If the crowd is so international, how come the celebrations are so one-sided? Why is it that a club, with a Japanese decor even celebrates Veterans Day? Doesn't that just seem a little bit ironic? We honor the service men of WWII in a setting that borrows its decorations from a culture that attacked the US in Pearl Harbor?

So I am very vocal about what I think is right (or not). You probably don't agree, and that is good! But all of a sudden I understand how people must feel when they get something rammed down their esophagus. You know, the Jewish kid who, every December is made to listen to the stories about Jesus Christ... The pacifist that is made to observe 11 minutes of silence at work, even though he (or she) is against the violence that goes on in wars...

If, as an international, intercultural society, which is SL we want to have a future, we have to be more thoughtful of the people around us. That maybe means we have to let go of certain rituals and embrace others. Maybe we have to stop celebrating Christmas and instead adopt Kwanzaa. Better yet, we need to create our own celebrations. Those that are not tied to a certain nation or a certain belief, but instead celebrate the life, the culture, the people that make up the new society that we are part of. We owe it to the (in)world that we inhabit.