The eCanadian Malaise: Fighting Back
SaraDroz
I have pondered long before writing this article as I am going to be brutaly honest and some may not like what I have to say. Why create more disunion when we have so much already? Well first it might help get some of those valuable players who have recently left eCanada back. Secondly because without honesty we can't hope to recognise and deal with the problems we face. Of course what constitutes a problem is always, to some extent, a reflection of ones personal view (only if you're not a Commie is it a problem if you have a Commie Government etc) so naturaly my diagnosis is, to some extent, personal.
The Return of the CP
A. The Identity Blackmail.
Well I suppose we must be grateful for this, although personaly I thought the VP did a great job of keeping us informed. I understand the threats against his rl identity etc have been withdrawn but this person, whoever they may be, should be sought out and dealt with by admins in game, and if indeed rl threats were issued, by the rl Police as this is a legal offence in most countries. I suspect the whole thing was a bluff but can understand why Acacia was disturbed by this and respect his fortitude in returning.
B. The Congress Pardon.
As has been seen this pardon, far from solving a problem has created a new one: An exodus of some of our most respected players; Chucky Norris, Rylde, Roger Griswald and jfstpierre (the best CP we've never had!). Acacia says he wants to see them come home... Let me tell you this Acacia you are COMPLICIT in this betrayal of our community! Remember how it was always said that Addy Lawrence was pals with Rolo? Did Addy ever pardon Rolo? No. We elected Congress so I suppose we must accept their right to vote things and can only blame ourselves but it was pretty obvious alot of people would become disillusioned with a community that refused to protect itself from a possible future theft of their money; because the Governments money is OURS! By NOT applying the veto on this insepid Congress vote the CP himself caused these people to leave... Think they'll come back?
Of Principles
As always Acacia talks a great fight in his podcast. The problem is that he lacks what he respects: In a recent article ('On Matters Of State & The Cabinet') he says: "I observed a conversation last night in IRC that Funky Hum24n was involved in, in which he spoke about the need to nurture and develop players who actually believed in something and did not simply sell out to the highest bidder...What we need to do is build on the concepts that are found in the CPF. A sense of pride of ownership in both your party and your eCountry. During my time in the CPF, I discovered a certain camaraderie that I have never seen recreated in any other party." One would almost wonder why he is not a member of our Party after such high praise... but it is enough for some to do homage to principles and then get on with trying to be CP and of course for this you must belong to a bigger Party. He mistook or distorted what our PP was saying; believing in something is NOT 'camaraderie'. In some cases it is the opposite; I had many fights with TFD.
Now the Pardon matter is also, in my opinion, a matter of principle. I am sure most of you read Ralph Klines recent article 'What is Honor' which is a thinly disguised attack on Rolo. I agree with his sentiments but to do something 'dishonourable' may in many circumstances be legal. Rolo is guilty of theft and stealing, like murder, is by definition immoral and illegal. eUK was 'dishonourable' when they changed sides to alow the first North American invasion; Rolo is a criminal because he stole from the community in which he choses to reside. Perhaps those who follow him do not regard this 'stealing' but he clearly took gold which was owned by the taxpayers without their consent. As a community we have a right to demand this back. He refuses; case closed. It is NOT honour involved here, it is principle. If we were to condone such actions no community or society would ever be possible, we'd all be at each others throats and trust would be non existent. This is NOT a matter of 'hating Rolo'; I'm sure he's a nice enough chap in his own way, it is a matter principle.
I would say that without certain basic accepted principles ANY community is destined to fail; Acacia and Congress failed to understand this and the result has been an exodus of those players to whom a principle matters most and thus the cimmunity is weakened when it comes to responding to further bribes, blackmails and thefts. Some of us though have resolved to dig in and fight for the community we care about; we at the CPF do NOT give up on eCanada to whom our elives are sworn.
Solutions
As I have said above 'Acacia talks a good fight...' but I see no solutions outlined in his podcast. Indeed as I have indicated he has already partly discredited himself by his implied endorsement of the pardon. So I put forward a few suggestions on how we may resolve these issues myself:
A. A referendum on the 'Pardon Question': Alias's surveys can be used or an alternative method created. ALL exiles will be asked to return to vote and the vote shall be binding for 6 months ie. IF Rolo is NOT pardoned no Congress vote can pardon him for 6 months.
B. A Government of National Unity: All PPs of 'free Parties' (depending on referendum) to form a selection committee and decide who their next CP candidate will be. This is hardly NEW; at the last election it was Acacia or Rolo but perhaps we may get it more organised. This committee will also advise any CP afterwards regarding coordination efforts of future Party PTOs.
C. Fight fire with fire: If someone is being bribed to vote a certain way the State (community) should, if necessary, use OUR money to negate the threat. I hope that this will NOT be necessary but a Minister or some such should be appointed to whom those approached by attempted bribes can apply. It would also be worth asking the admins to look into solving this problem longer term.
I realise that these 'solutions' are NOT completely thought through; they are suggestions for others to work with or discard as they see fit. They are far from ideal but no idealist solution ever works in a practical way (Communisn being an example).
Conclusion: Sara's Crusade
"Bad! Bad! What? Does he not--go back?" Yes! But you misunderstand him when you complain about it. He goes back like every one who is about to make a great spring." Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil. (Forgive his sexist attitute).
Mostly over the last year or so I have spoken out ONLY on Foreign Affairs, war strategy and Party matters. Acacia is correct in saying we have a problem; we do and he has NOT helped it, nor does he seem to have a plan. I can NO LONGER stay out of this internal political debate that essentialy about the very soul of eCanada and our community. I have never stood for CP of eCanada for the simple reason that I am not Canadian. I do NOT believe however that Acacia can bring back the exiles nor that he has a plan nor, to be honest, that he's got principles. I wish him the best of luck and hope he succeeds. I am available as a Minister in a Government of National Unity or for advice anytime and intend to run for CP at the next election.
I suspect I am not like Acacia or the 'exiles' he has create😛
I don't want to be CP but I do stick by my community, be it my Party or my Country. There is a disease in eCanada and I am going to fight it; not because I hate it but because it is RIGHT! We need the exiles home and the malaise treated quickly and and for good. We need national unity and principled leadership, both at home and within Eden (who I note have have impeached the SG!). We also need resource bonus's and to start putting eCanada and the needs of the silent majority first. If anyone else can do this better than myself I will happily defer to them.
eCanada this is your soul. I will, if neccesary, champion the cause.
Comments
A thoughtful piece, so I will think about it. However, Acacia did not implicitly approve the pardon. He specifically voted for it: he was a congressman, and voted as such. Undoubtedly he did so in good faith, hopeful that it would produce a good result.
The opposite has been proven to be the case: we have traded good for bad!
Nothing has been proven except that some people are not yet prepared to try and repair the rift in the community.
Rolo's impeachment and ban cemented the rift that now exists. Both sides need to start moving towards mending the rift. I expected some bragging and trolling when Rolo's ban was lifted. I was prepared to put up with it. It lasted only a couple days and he's not been the one carrying the issue. Respected eCanadians who I would have thought capable of creating a less confrontational way of controlling Rolo are the ones who are continuing to infect eCanada with the illness we suffer from.
If that means they must leave for other communities due to their inability to resolve their latent feelings about Rolo, I wish them well. I am left disappointed though.
I personaly do not comprimise on matters of principle but as I have a suggested a referendum should resolve the issue. I hope I have made clear on which side I shall campaign.
Hark, the clarions of our Crusade call!
A stellar piece, Sara, and I really want to see your energy have some positive results.
To respond to your points:
A. A referendum on the 'Pardon Question':
Yes, it would be good to see the results of such a survey. Perhaps Alias Vision would even manage it, if we are lucky. It may be hard to get it to be 'legally' binding, but I think the benefit is to allow people to express their opinion on the matter in unison.
B. A Government of National Unity:
All it takes is a band of citizens who are trusted, persistent, well-meaning, and persuasive enough to gather support. Maybe then it can be like a snowball rolling downhill, gathering some inertia.
C. Fight fire with fire:
This is where it gets down to real business. But before we start burning out the political trenches with counter-bribery measures, let's see if we can get Rolo to relinquish the hold he has on some parties. The pardon is in effect; a person with any ethical sense should see its time to lighten up.
Also, let's not make this a CPF thing, but an 'all of eCanada' thing. It doesn't look right to promote a party off of our current discontent.
Yeah, Acacia does need to demonstrate the plan he discussed in campaigning. Perhaps this is part of it, yet it is costing us dearly in territory, battle drainage, and most importantly, our base of active players. Acacia, please get to the bargaining table and demonstrate there is some progress being made from the ruin. Sara, it sounds like you want Rolo out no matter what. If so, then you need to start digging deeper into those trenches for the long(er) haul.
And loved the Friedrich quote, too.
voted. hard.
Sara4CP
Yeah, because the whole ostracize Rolo has been working great for us so far.
While this all looks good on paper, the choice really boils down to you can either have me as a minor nuisance (as I am now) and possibly even a productive citizen or a Constant threat, and by constant, I mean relentless....month in and month out
The choice is yours, The people who have voted "yes" are choosing to roll the dice on the first option,
I'm not your problem anymore... Yet you hold on to it like you need it as a reason to keep playing, as so many are currently showing us by their example
I think the results on March 15th and later on April 5th will help determine if any of this was worthwhile.
'Minor' is a subjective term. So I guess it's however either side wants to spin it: "Major Mountain" or "Minor Molehill." The problem is that there is no meeting in the middle, despite the steps that have been taken to open up a path towards such a resolution.
wait and see, wait and see, wait and see, wait and leave, wait and they never come back. You think there's infinite time to regain the confidence of everyone that has left? well there ain't
@Rolo- I guess the question now becomes, "with your pardon, will you release your grip on eCanadian politics and allow true democracy back into our nation"?
@sara- while we have found ourselves on oposite sides of some views, I agree with your views here. Also a great read, thank you.
Right...I should invite back treasonous exiles who run away like cry babies because they did not get their way. Their response? Attack not only us BUT the alliance itself. Nothing like watching US citizens fighting against their own alliance. Yeah...thats moral high ground for you!
I've been in office what? 4 days and already your screaming for a plan? What they heck do you think I have been doing 18 hours a day for the last 2 days on IRC? Meeting with Cabinet, quelling the fears of both EDEN and TERRA that we are a powderkeg and unstable and trying to demonstrate to the US that we are NOT a threat to spill over their borders. Terribly sorry that I have not begun to negotiate with the terrorists that are Ralph Kline and Fritzhill. Perhaps they should hold their fire until I can get to them...holding off a wipe by EDEN forces to keep us in check has taken priority right now.
Thank you!
Your completely immoral and inactive CP,
Acacia Mason
Plugson: A. For legaly binding I assume the President and Congress must adhere to any referendum decision. It would certainly give support to the choice made: if the referendum said no and Congress says yes they are (and the law is) an ass.
C. I agree! If Rolo wishes to play fair I am happy but restitution is due of OUR money.
This is NOT a CPF thing; Exalted Druid, for whom I have alot respect, disagrees with me. It is NATIONAL issue and cannot be decided by one Party alone; This is NOT a CPF campaign (obviously). I am a CPF member but this is a national campaign.
Acacia, as I said before the election is a self publicist. We shall see if he has a plan and I hope I have given him some ideas.
Let us suppose my plan (with adjustments) works... would Rolo hang about for another 6 months to try again? It is too early though to start digging long term trenches until the community decides as a whole decides in a referendum.
Lol those who left for eUSA are 'treasonous'??? Are you sure about that? Some chance you have of getting them home.
I agree with the principle part. To some it may not mean much I invested my own money into the country to cover the costs of thefts (which large parts of went to Rolo) to keep the game enjoyable for the larger community. All the while listening to ppl like crisfire (who voted for the pardon) whine because MU transfer dates were changed to 3 days later so we could restructure the economy. An unconditional pardon is a slap in the face to many who put in too much effort cleaning up those messes.
Sara4CP, because she's also the best CP Canada never had!
I missed my turn last summer, and I won't go back in this, my dear. Sorry 😉
I reckon you may not have really wanted to run because you're not Canadian IRL. You're a woman of principles, but I think your experience and your leadership would be really beneficial for this country. You know this country as much I as do, and ingame citizenship and e-life experience is much more valuable than RL when it's about politics. If you really want to take a chance, get it, Sara!
This is an excellent reading.
Considering what going how right now, I don't think that having a referendum will help.
Referendum on the pardon of Rolo is likely to not pass. Not because people might disagree with the pardon, but because they fear that eCanada will lose UK region people of those former ex-Canadian fighting against us.
Having a refenrendum is most likely only going to legitimate and give right to those fighting against us.
Moreover, Canadians has already twice fill AV's surveys asking them what they they about the pardon. In both occasion, the respondants were against.
Rolo, of course there's a third option:you could stop being a dick.
But apparently that didn't even occur to you.
Like Aeriala said, many eCanadians invested RL money in game. Fritz and Ralph have invested also RL money in this game, and when Rolo stole the gold, indirectly he has stolen their RL money. Calling Fritz and Ralph "terrorists" is a shame, thinking how much damage they did in the past for eCanada (with RL money, not with stolen money) and thinking how many peoples they helped out. Why they should agree with the decision of Congress? Everywhere in history were riots, when someone disagree with the way of the leaders. Are called "fighting back".
If someone decide to do something, he/she will see if his/her decision was good by results: if the decision has bad results, then it wasn't a good decision and it must to change it; if the results are good, then go ahead! Can someone show some good results of the decision of "Pardon Rolo"?. Because it isn't one single good result here. Just bad consequences. So, the decision was wrong from the start. But as Sara sai😛 it's a question of principles here.
Can someone explain to me what the sentence given Rolo was accomplishing? It wasn't keeping him from playing the game. It wasn't keeping him from participating in the eCanadian community.
What did it do to protect the eCanadian community? What did it do to offer remedy to the situation?
Four of the top five RL spenders in eCanada have left, but eCanada still has Rolo.
Connor, your argument cuts both ways: if the sentence wasn't really hurting Rolo, then why not leave it in effect as a statement of a higher principle, say "stealing from your teammates is not cool."?
Also Connor, your comments fail to recognize that almost every offer made to Rolo for reinstatement has represented a HUGE compromise from a "restitution in full" position - and all have been rejected by the thief.
You can't have 15 people wave away a 2 year old theft and political terrorism with a magic wand and expect no consequences.
One good quote deserves another...
"And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
Rigour, it wasn't hurting Rolo, but I think Connor was pointing more towards the possibility that it was hurting us all by not actually solving the problem. We tried it. It seemed to work at first but the ban may not have had the lasting results we expected it to have.
Stealing is not cool. Trying to rationalize theft (even when done by another person) is also not cool.
Higher principles alone were becoming less effective in protecting the political parties in eCanada.
Looking for alternatives when higher principles are being undermined and it's ruining actual gameplay does not feel cool. I don't think the pardon was the right solution, just as the permanent ban wasn't the right solution anymore.
People feel betrayed because the wrong alternative was chosen. There were others, olivermellors had a good one, but sadly it went unused. 'Beau Risque' would have lessened the hurt feelings, I suspect.
(ha!, PQ that one is in my citizen profile)
I believe you will have a unified country when congress is seperate from the external forum known as eCan forums. I know if I was a newer player I would not be running for congress if it meant that someone could obtain my perdonal info such as IP or home address
Keep the game within the confines of this website.
Here, Here!
"Let me tell you this Acacia you are COMPLICIT in this betrayal of our community! Remember how it was always said that Addy Lawrence was pals with Rolo? Did Addy ever pardon Rolo? No."
😁This...
When you get in bed with thieves, you become one of them...
I have said this now for over a year, and I will say it again:
Every single player who has chosen to associate with the thief has come away diminished.
Can anyone explain to me how we can actually get Rolo to leave? How about return the gold? Why do you blame the rest of the community for something none of us can control.
We don't hate him enough? We all wish he would just go away, that this drama would end, but don't blame us if he does not. Not even all of us together can change this.
I am pretty sure we were all together at the time of the theft. We now attack each other because we are powerless to change the one thing we all agree upon, Rolo.
Tell us the plan that will give us what we all want?
Actually Ethel, in case you were busty being an inactive MoFA
Addy did Pardon Rolo, or he tried to - The congress at that time voted the motion down
Maybe some go getter can provide a link for Ethel, she was a government minister at the time.... Good to know they keep up to speed...
"Right...I should invite back treasonous exiles who run away like cry babies because they did not get their way."
Acacia, you should get your facts straight before you resort to name calling. Don't forget you ran away immediately after being elected and are directly responsible for a large part of the mess. I'm not a cry baby. I'm still fighting for eCanada. I just chose to live in a better country because I saw this place falling apart at the seams.
I was wrong about you, bro. Big time.
A group of players did not get they're way and now they have run of like children throwing a temper tantrum! Just because they are 4 of the top 5 eCanadian VISA players doews not mean they should get they're way! For months they yelled and screamed by they're RolePlaying rules, Rolo was banned after his conviction. Now that they're rules have handed him a pardon and they don't like it off they go...
They may have once been the most respected players but now they have given up any right to call themselves that. There is NO HONOR in leaving your post and fighting against your own country
Where's the honor in giving into a thief and political terrorism. After the pardon there is no Honor left to lose.