A number of real world political parties and politicians have in the past couple of months started exploring Second Life as a new medium for spreading their messages and garnering real world press. Most recently, the youth arm of the far right French political party Le Pen appears to be opening an in-world office, according to the SL Herald. Last month, three Dutch parliamentarians were supposed to have toured the Amsterdam sim as a way of courting votes. And the UK Independence Party opened an SL office.
All of these real world politicians coming into SL makes me think that maybe we need a regular in-world event where they can appear to talk about their views on current events and issues. Sort of like The McLaughlin Group avatarized. The difference being that the McLaughlin Group is focused on American policy issues, while the SL version would have to be much more international in scope.
Imagine how interesting it would be to get a group of politicians and political pundits from around the world gathered in one virtual roundtable to discuss and debate current events! Moderation would be quite delicate and security would have to be quite high. I can see griefers setting Le Pen supporters on fire or flashing giant phalluses at the Dutch parliamentarians. Then again, that might make it all the more entertaining to attend.
