The Road of Least Damage is ALWAYS the Low Road, Jewitt!

Day 748, 06:14 • Published in USA Bolivia • by Arjay Phoenician

There are certain concept of eRepublik life I’ve always railed against. The idea that the larger and shameless countries somehow have the duty to invade the small and new has always rubbed me the wrong way, but it seems to be a fact of life I fight against every chance I get. The double-standard concerning the PTO, how perpetrators are villains when they’re attacking YOUR country, but liberators when they’re on your side, grinds my jaws. People arguing how the ATLANTIS and PEACE spheres are somehow different, that’s something I’ve had many words on.

Another thing that’s become distressing is the “road of least damage”. That’s the argument the Jewitt administration and its apologists are putting out there, that in their design to “liberate” Asia from the clutches of the defunct PEACE and the rising PHOENIX, they have to invade and take Kyushu to do it.

I first heard that term concerning the Theocrats when they PTO’s South Korea—yeah, that’s the level the US government is these days, on the level of PTO artists.

The logic is, if you want to do something, do it, just find a way you can live with. Find a path to your goal that angers the fewest people, endure the backlash, and everyone will either deal with it or leave. It doesn’t matter what you want to do, good or bad, essential or for fun, there’s always such a road, and if you can deal with the blowback, the angry words, the counter-movements, even if you’re completely in the wrong to do it, you’ll get what you want.

When the Theocrats nestled in South Korea, they did so with the knowledge that it was the “road of least damage” to gaining a new country to dominate. South Korea never had more than 120 people before their arrival, and in their opinion, if people really cared about South Korea, it would have been populated by people who really gave a damn. Never mind the work of the original community to bring the country back fro oblivion in the first place, they snatched power, and they dared the people living there to do something about it. They dealt with the anger in the press and opposition movements, they sucked it up in the understanding that people have short memories, and if those there didn’t like it, there were sixty-odd other countries to move to. What the Theocrats did was a prime example of the “road of least damage”, because, at the end of the day, they consolidated power, they have become beloved members of Sol, and they managed to turn the country into as total a totalitarian state as there is in eRepublik. I’ve learned to respect them as most likely, man for man, woman for woman, the most potent fighting force in the e-world, but that doesn’t lessen the fact that, at the end of the day, they are a mercenary PTO group.

The US is using the same thinking as a PTO group when they see Japan in terms of geography. It’s no secret, Kyushu is the doorway between Asia and the Americas, the “road of least damage”.

Indonesia realized this, that’s why they put up with Japanese defiance, because, whether they agreed or not, Indonesia was going to invade the US, period. They were willing to endure Japanese resistance of any kind. Sweeten the pot with a Q5 hospital so they don’t look like complete goons, but essentially, Indonesia wanted to invade the US, they found the “road of least damage”, and they took it, they dealt with the bumps in the road, and they took the western United States.

Now, some might think there’s nothing wrong with this. If a greater good can be accomplished by pissing someone off temporarily, what’s the harm? The Theocrats robbed a small community of a country they did the hard work of bringing back to life, what’s wrong with that if it results in a functional (?) South Korea? What harm did it really do Japan to have Indonesia use Kyushu as they did? In the long term, is it really going to hurt Japan if the US snatches the doorway to Asia, if it results in a greater good?

I have three major problems with this:

the lack of respect for a country’s sovereignty,
the lack of foresight in such actions, and
the false belief that there is simply no other way.

Japan said no to the US’s request to use Kyushu, that should have been the end of it, if they truly respect the concept of sovereignty. Apparently, for the US, that’s a concept that’s flighty at best, it comes and goes, whichever way the wind blows, I guess. In order to “liberate” portions of Asia, they’re willing to violate the sovereign wishes of the people of Japan. Some might say, ok, Arjay, so what? The problem comes when you try to post the myth that the US and EDEN stand for something at all higher than they claim PEACE stood for. You can’t say you’re for liberation by violating the sovereignty of others. By invading Japan, the US is the same as Indonesia in using Kyushu as their “road of least damage”. They’re using a shortcut they were told not to use. Such an arrogant act must be called out for what it is.

Then there’s the problem concerns the shortsightedness of such policies. Rumor has it that this is all about the US snatching iron-high regions in Asia for themselves. So far, there’s no outward sign to diminish this rumor. There is no guarantee that Japan will get Kyushu, or any other regions they may lose, back from the warmongering Americans. They’re supposed to take the US’s word for it? There is nothing to prevent the US from taking the entire country if it chose to, and all we have is the “word” of American officials, the same people who planned the invasion in the first place.

And then there’s the belief that there is just no other way to get to Asia but to snatch Kyushu. Bulljive. Buy a bunch of plane tickets and land in China, if you’re seeking to “liberate” sections of China, most assuredly they would welcome such an influx of Americans; surely it would cost less than it would to finance a straight invasion of Kyushu, what with the gold necessary to start it, all the weapons, it’s an extra battle to fight, one that most likely will lure Hungarians and other old PEACE powerhouses. Or, since Russia was one of the prime occupants of the US this summer, I don’t think anyone could argue against going through Alaska and Far Eastern Russia to get to the same part of Asia. I’d have a hard time convincing Americans to not use Russia in this manner, mostly because, when other PEACE invaders were negotiating with then-President Emerick, Russia’s greed and bloodlust kept their war machine going, and quite truly, had Portugal not signed their truce, Russia would have been able to attack Florida, the last stand for America. It’s only one region to go through to get to Heilongjiang, the Hungarian-held region of China the US would seek to “liberate”, it seems it would be just as feasible, geographically speaking, to use this route.

Japan, in and of itself, poses no threat to the US, so it becomes the “road of least damage”, although there are alternatives which may be more sound in terms of cash paid out and the amount of regions to be ransacked. All the US has to do is endure the loss of prestige and the avalanche of criticism, and they get their doorway to Asia all to themselves.

America is as villainous a country as there is out there. They aren’t the good guys in this world. In fact, they’re rather nasty.

But they’ve bought into this disgusting concept of the “road of least damage”. The US government knows there are enough Americans who want to go to war so bad that they’ll vote for anyone who promises it. All they have to do, in their mind, is endure the criticism of “butthole hater trolls” and ignore the whining of the Japanese, and if they can do that, they’ll get that little war with PHOENIX they’re craving.

Apparently, for the US, their “road of least damage” includes destroying the myth that EDEN is not about imperialism and thuggery, but about freeing people from their PEACE oppressors.

To violate the sovereignty of one nation to give it to another is the epitome of arrogance.

The “road of least damage” is inherently the low road, the road thuggish entities take to meet whatever end they seek.

That is where the US is, on the low road. Is this really the sort of America you want to live in?