Scylla Rhiadra

Me? I can hardly wait to start calling it "Mutter."

I'm not going to get into my own dislike of Musk. I don't think I need to; I think it's much less important than the larger principle at stake here. I'll just repeat -- depending upon any individual (not to mention one who has a very deep financial interest in producing goods in the "tech, medical, and scientific" fields) for a disinterested and public-spirited defense of free speech is leaning upon a very shaky stick indeed. I wouldn't trust Bernie Sanders to run Twitter for the same reason: the maintenance of the principle of free speech belongs in the public realm, and we therefore shouldn't have to rely upon the good will of an individual, who is inevitably going to have his own biases and agendas, for that. Twitter is going to be Musk's -- he can, within limits, do what he likes with it of course. But god help us all if we are devolving into a society in which we depend upon the wealthy and the powerful to protect our civil rights.

It's almost endearing that Musk thinks that the negative responses to his purchase of Twitter represent a fear of free speech rather than a visceral dislike and distrust of him, personally. Well, we all cherish our personal delusions, I suppose.

I think it would, albeit probably mostly indirectly. Twitter is the primary engine that has fueled scores of controversies, conspiracy theories, and even actual information campaigns. It has been a force for both good and ill in all our lives.

I've always been at a bit of a loss to understand how centralizing media power -- and Twitter has enormous reach and influence, whatever the relative size of its user base -- in the hands of a single person, whatever that person's political associations, represents a safeguard for "free speech." Nor why people who distrust democratically elected governments seem so often so very trusting of extremely wealthy and powerful individuals who will always have their own agendas, and many fewer constraints on their ability to push them. Would you trust ME to be solely of charge of Twitter? I wouldn't.

THIS is what we all need! AI that judges us by ridiculously outdated and arbitrary standards of beauty! 😡 (And my sour response has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO with the fact that my male alt, Richard, scored higher than I did. Grrrrr!) On the other hand, it loved loved loved my Artbreeder pic. Dahlings, I am simply stunning!

Such a cool idea, Rowan! Did you do the reflections yourself, or are they baked in?

"How Does Your Avatar's Back Glimpsed Distantly through a Doorway Look Today"? Well, like this!

Clever you! Yes. And thank you so very much! I should apologize to Charalyne -- I didn't mean to be all mysterious about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Reading_a_Letter_at_an_Open_Window#/media/File:Johannes_Vermeer_-_Girl_Reading_a_Letter_by_an_Open_Window_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Well, sort of! I actually calculated (VERY roughly) the angle from which my avatar would be reflected in the window. Because, of course, light bounces off a reflective service at the same angle at which it hits it. So, a simple crop-and-flip would look wrong, because of the angle. So I actually took a separate shot of my avatar from "behind" the window (having derendered the window and much of the rest of the room) so as to catch the correct angle, and then flipped it. On occasion I have then applied the image to a prim, stuck it onto the mirror or window, and played with the transparency. In this instance, though, the setting was too dark to see it properly, so I applied it in Photoshop, where I had more control over the lighting.

Close . . . 😉

/me nods. She's obviously "asking for it."

Relax. I've been disturbed doing worse . . . And thanks. 🙂

Hey, do you know what store she got the dress from? I love it!

You're going to need a new mouse soon, Julia. I mean this very genuinely, with the best intentions. Step back from this thread. Go make a cup of tea or something. Binge on Netflix. Whatever. This can't be good for you.

This thread has gone from "OMG, I can't believe someone actually said something so awful aloud and in public!" to . . . "This is the most inane and pointless argument I've ever read here." I don't think "locking" is good enough for it. Kill it with fire, and then salt the ground.

Julia, with the greatest respect . . . you seem to have just devoted the better part of three pages of this thread trying to "prove" Rowan is a man in RL. Which is pretty silly really, but more to the point would be against the ToS were it true. I don't think it's she or anyone else here who needs to be worried about the mods.

OMG, I just used a "scorn" laugh. I've never done that before! But it was . . . funny!!!

"Respect" is not about the form of words. It's an attitude -- not just something that one conveys through language, but way in governs oneself in interactions such as to show that you value the other person as another human. A bricklayer is every bit as capable of communicating respect as a prince, even if they address me with a "Hey, you."

I've been to a few, although not for ages. In fact, I used to officiate them fairly often. The most fun one was a vampire wedding.

No, you are not reading that at all. No one has said any such thing as I recall. In fact, I explicitly noted that I understand, even if I don't enjoy, polite attempts to connect with me sexually.

Who gets to decide what is "provocative"? You've seen in this thread -- and there are countless other examples sprinkled throughout this forum, and that many of us have experienced first-hand -- that there are some whose interpretation of clothing is idiosyncratic, to say the least. There is no universally accepted "grammar" or "vocabulary" for "provocative." And even if one actually is dressed to attract sexual partners, for whatever reason and under whatever context, one is still a human being, deserving of respect. Innula beat me to it, but if you want to treat someone like an object, you need to establish first that that is their intention.

Interesting set of quotes. You've got a joke from Twain, advice from Polonius, who is an utterly inept fool in Hamlet, and some really ancient comments from religious and ancient Greek sources. You do realize that the Odyssey is nearly 3000 years old, and Proverbs nearly the same age, right? Not precisely au courant. I am very far from thinking that clothes are not a form of self-expression. Some years ago, I started a thread here on that subject, in fact, and on the subtle differences between dressing "sexily," and trying to communicate that one is "available" for sex. Some people are better at self-expression through clothing than others -- and a whole lot of people are very very poor "readers" of clothing. But there is a world of difference between "reading" and understanding how someone is communicating themselves through clothing, and acting on it. And clothing does not constitute consent. I might also note that anyone who treats a sex worker as though she were dirt, without the right to dignity and self-determination, is a pretty crappy human being in my book.

This all seems so simple to me. Treat other people as though they were people, and not something to be possessed, owned, used, or exploited. And that means respecting their choices about things like what they wear, and whether they will voice or not. I am a very lucky woman: the men closest to me in my life -- lives, in fact, both RL and SL -- have almost all been wonderful people who have loved me, supported me, and encouraged me. None of them have been "toxic." Somehow, they have proven more than capable of controlling their hormones and their "animal instincts." None have ever behaved like what you call "sex-hungry 'dogs,'" and none, regardless of how I've dressed, have ever treated me as (to quote you again) "a slab of meat." Somehow, they have never forgotten that I am a real person, to be valued as such, and not merely as a "hookup." They've made a choice. They have chosen to be decent human beings, and to treat others with civility, kindness, and generosity. You too can make a choice. You can respect the choices women make, and not judge them for it on the sole basis of your own needs, desires, and prejudices. Or you can be a jerk. Why not choose instead to be a decent person?