Kumbaya

One of the fundamental tensions in Skypeland is between those who want discussions about topics of substance, and rooms that are only about vapid pleasantries. Some favor a room that is about nothing except maybe only a bit of light flirting. Others are drawn towards discussions that are about politics, religion, human rights, wars, terrorism, elections and cultures.

The rooms that avoid serious topics are pretty boring, but there are a lot of complaints by those who want to avoid arguments about the rooms that focus on more controversial topics. What is interesting is the demand that one hears over and over by those who want pleasantries that all other rooms also focus on light polite discussions and that they avoid serious contentious topics. Sort of like the aphorism, "Nature Abhors a vacuum", one might say that "Skypeland flirters abhor a controversy". I guess they think it makes it tougher for elderly gentlemen and assorted dweebs and geeks and pathetic losers to put the moves on various hot babes that wander into the rooms.

Recently there has been some problems from one of these frantic Kumbaya-promoters. He is very upset if there is any disagreement in the rooms, and wants things to be calm so he can flirt with the young girls. He has made repeated efforts to "link" two of the Sypeland rooms, a more politically-oriented room and a Kumbaya room, so people can interact and "be friendly".

A typical conversation between members of a political room, linked to a Kumbaya room, might go something like this:

P1: What do you think of the Taliban's latest efforts in Pakistan in the Swat Valley?

P2: Well, lately I have noticed...

K1: Hey everybody how are you doing? Hi P1, P2, P3!

K2: How are YOU doin?

K3: How are you doing? Hey hey!

K4: My name is S and I live in Idaho. Northern Idaho is different than Southern Idaho, that is for sure. I think you don't understand. You know, Northern Idaho is different than the South. Let's talk about Russets.

P1: We were having a discussion here...

K1: What is your weather like?

K4: I live in Idaho and we have weather. Boy, I wonder about those Russets. Did I mention that the North of Idaho is different than the South?

P2: As I was saying...

K3: How are YOU doing?

K3: What are you drinking tonight?

K4: I have been divorced 3 times and live in a trailer in Northern Idaho and you should grow potatoes in that garden. It is different here than it is in the South you know.

K1: What are you drinking?

K2: How has your day been?

K3: How are YOU doing?

K4: You know Northern Idaho is a lot different than Southern Idaho. Did I ever ask if you like potatoes?

P2 Um....

K1: How are YOU doing?

K2: Hey there it is T! Hey T!

K3 What are you drinking tonight?

K2: I am on the floor and I am flying my plane in for a landing.

K1: So is it vodka?

K2: How are YOU doing?

P1: We are not interested in what you are drinking.

K1: Shut up P1. You are a racist and a redneck. You should relax.

K4: The problem is, you do not know that Southern Idaho is not like Northern Idaho.


And so ond so forth. To link the rooms easily, the passwords must be shared. However, this leaves open the possibility for the passwords to be leaked outside of a small group.

Recently, the passwords associated with the political room might have been passed around so widely that someone decided to change the password, possibly for a joke. Or maybe there was a software problem, In any case, , it was impossible to manage the political room and the "Swede Fag" was able to squelch out all conversations for hours on end by playing white supremacist NeoNazi Rock and imitating George Bush's Texas accent in a Swedish falsetto voice; "Weapons of MASS Destruction! Yeehah! I want to be fat like an American! Where is my McDonald's hamburger and Coca Cola!..." After a few hours of this, it gets a bit tedious.

So perhaps a sharper line will be drawn between the Kumbaya rooms and the political rooms. Obviously, the two types of discussion do not mix very well.