You know we do have a “Keep
everything positive” sort of spin on this blog, and frankly it's
been rendering me mute. I've got something on my mind and I'm kind of
bollixed up until I speak it.
So.....
The following is NOT me being negative,
but rather me being mentally hygienic. I feel the need to address
this because frankly things are getting a bit out of hand.
Second Life has been commendably
generous during times of need. Many large charities have major
campaigns in Second Life. They seem to do well.
But frankly.... sometimes so smaller
charities, so small you might even call them personal crop up. An
example of this would be the “Save Beth's Brain” charity for a
Second Life resident that needed a HUGE amount of money to deal with
her medical situation. Now personally I don't have a problem with
this kind of charity, but some do. Some feel the residents of Second
Life are asked to be too charitable.
My personal feeling is, if you want to
contribute to a cause, no matter how small that is up to you. I
pitched in to “Save Beth's Brain” and I'm sure glad I did.
However, there seems to be yet another
group people with hands out waiting for your money. I'm sad to report
this group is.... musicians.
First up I want to say I'm not about
personally bashing these people. I have nothing against them as
people. However, I find their actions pretty messed up. To protect
their identities I'll give them Fake/Fake names and not use their
real/Fake names. Let's call one “Double Spooky” and the other
“BoyLike Can'tDraw”.
Both these guys want to make a record.
Seems they feel it takes either 8,000$
or 10.000$ to make a recording.
They are quite wrong. But that is not
really the point. The point is..... Drum roll please... they expect
the charitable residents to Second Life to finance their dreams.
Some would argue if people want to chip
in.... what is the big deal. I would agree if that were the case, but
this is being treated just like a charity event. Yes... They are
having benefits for Double Spooky and BoyLike Can'tDraw.
The problem I have with this is, it
further fills the already crowded field of charitable events, with an
event that dose no social good whatsoever. It doesn't even address
someone's emergency need. It only strokes the ego of two musicians
that feel their ticket to “The Next Level” should be underwritten
by the generosity of Second Life residents.
And the utter travesty of this all is,
even if they succeed in raising the money, they will ultimately fail.
They seem to think if they make a wicked cool professional record in
a real studio, it's just a hop skip and jump to “The Big Time”.
But in reality, recording is the easy part. Selling your master work
is always the hard, and costly part.
Mostly costly.
If their budget were ten fold larger
they might have a slim chance at success. Frankly it's the promotion
that cost money, but the promotion also sells the product.
Provided.... people want it.
To sum it up. Let's keep our charity
events about actual charity.
Let's not beat the generosity out of
our residents with constant hands out for grid wide philanthropy.
