10 replies to this topic

[Ter Ushaka]

By Ter U. Shaka
Published: July 8, 2013

Sian

What has been going on in Capellan Confederation is unbelievable, and it has been on my mind ever since it began. What's important, however, is that we focus on what this means to the citizens themselves. The current administration seems too caught up in worrying about their own skins to pay attention to what's important on the ground. Just call it missing the birds for the feathers.

When thinking about the recent ethnic strife, it's important to remember three things: One, people don't behave like migratory animals, so attempts to treat them as such are a waste of time. Migratory animals never suddenly set up a black market for FedSun HoloPorn discs. Two, House Liao has spent decades as a dictatorship closed to the world, so a mindset of peace and stability will seem foreign and strange. And three, the Word of Lowtax is an extraordinarily powerful idea: If corruption is House Liao's curtain rod, then Word of Lowtax is certainly its faucet.

When I was in Sian last month, I was amazed by the people's basic desire for a stable life, and that tells me two things. It tells me that the citizens of Sian have no shortage of potential entrepreneurs, and that is a good beginning to grow from. Second, it tells me that people in House Liao are just like people anywhere else on this flat galaxy of ours.

So what should we do about the chaos in the Capellan Confederation? Well, it's easier to start with what we should not do. We should not let the seemingly endless Liao dictatorship cause the people of St. Ives Compact to doubt their chance at progress. Beyond that, we need to be careful to nurture the seeds of democratic ideals. The opportunity is there, but I worry that the path to stability is so poorly marked that the Capellan Confederation will have to move down it very slowly. And of course Capella needs to come to terms with its own history.

Speaking with a local opium farmer from the large orthodox Korvin community here, I asked him if there was any message that he wanted me to carry back home with me. He pondered for a second, and then smiled and said, "sim sim salabim," which is a local saying that means roughly, "In time, Goons ruin everything."

I don't know what House Liao will be like a few years from now, but I do know that it will probably look very different from the successor state we see now, even if it remains true to its basic cultural heritage. I know this because, through all the disorder, the people still haven't lost sight of their dreams.

[Sabbathiel]

Well said!

[Demi-Precentor Konev]

Is this a commentary on the fact that the HL sub-forum is currently really just a place for a small group of individuals to put their dirty laundry on display? And that instead of throwing knee-jerk reactions at each other and worrying about who is in charge of what, we should just focus on building a community and having fun? And that, until Community Warfare is unveiled, command structures, allegiances, and more importantly all this politicking, are useless activities that do nothing but drive away new players from the Liao forums and set us up to become the Inner Sphere's punching bag?

If so, I like it.

[WARCRACK]

I think the most important thing we need to focus on is how to keep this drama going because I paid good money for these seats.

[metro]

WARCOCK, on 09 July 2013 - 06:14 PM, said:

I think the most important thing we need to focus on is how to keep this drama going because I paid good money for these seats.

you and me both bro!

[Name140704]

+1 hypocrisy

[metro]

metro, on 09 July 2013 - 07:27 PM, said:

you and me both bro!

easier than asking for a refund, which we all know cant and wont happen.

[Ken Fury]

metro, on 09 July 2013 - 08:07 PM, said:

easier than asking for a refund, which we all know cant and wont happen.

I don't want a refund on the best MW game ever. And neither should you!

[Literally]

Ter Ushaka you are truly a wordsmith among birds. I could practically smell the damp, as-yet-unsalted earth of Sian. Let us, as a community, come together and make it fecund with guano. Glory to the Tetatae, and our humans of Liao!

[Name140704]

Tank Boy Ken, on 09 July 2013 - 09:35 PM, said:

I don't want a refund on the best MW game ever. And neither should you!

Plastic girl doll man is correct.

[Literally]

NARCoMAN, on 12 July 2013 - 01:04 PM, said:

Plastic girl doll man is correct.

Man doll. Action figure.

Life in plastic is fantastic.