Intergalactic Summit

That's exactly right! Unhappy people are broken people. They walk around and are sad or lonely or angry all day, because something is wrong inside their heads.

Since they are broken, they need to be repaired. And sometimes the idea of that is a little scary. But after they've had a slice of cake, a big hug and maybe a bit of surgery, they always feel loads better, forever and ever and ever.

I hope that one day, everybody will be happy.

Well said Hakatain-haan. It is this culture of choices, hard choices though they might be, which attracted me to the State. I consider myself fortunate enough to have had the best that the Federation could offer in education, but I still look upon some of those growing up within the State with a sense of mild jealousy, knowing that they have a greater sense of purpose and significantly higher levels of career-directed support. The concept of these children, adolescents and young adults being 'slaves to the system' is at best humorous repetition of cultural revisionism on the part of the four year old education reforms ushered in by the Federation at the advent of the Empyrean war; at worst it is willful ignorance of the fact that any education can be argued to be institutionalization - be it as a member of a family unit, society, commune or other structure.

I am fortunate to have had experience growing up in two cultures and living now in a third, and the truth of the matter is - all of our schools aim to propagate the values we as societies have experienced. To bring this onto the topic of Federation/Republic relations: Schools in both societies have overtones of the concept of liberty as a high moral value and right at their core, for fundamentally different reasons. The reason that the former General Inhonores is not accusing the Republican Minmatar of being slaves, all diplomatic and social faux pas aside, is because at present, their ideologies align. Their education systems do not produce people with incompatible views on 'the way things should be' even should such views be different. I am sure this would be a very different story if the Republic was more heavily populated with Voluval literalists or other extreme belief systems that espouse some value the Federation does not agree with. Then we'd get either 'see no evil' diplomatic opportunism to preserve their critical alliance with the Republic, or similar snide 'all equal, but the Fed more so' rhetoric with asides concerning the 'harsh lives and social exclusion based on symbolism, of some indigenous peoples of the Republic' in a patronizing, paternal tone similar to that seen in the original post.

Long story short, a slave can be described at the highest level of abstraction, as someone willing to live (whether by choice or refusal to rise up against force) in the middle or lower tiers of a society you take exception to. One willing to forgo the remote, likely suicidal chance to 'take a stand and take command' in the name of ideals decreed as unpalatable to the elite and working classes alike. We have Gallentean slaves to a system espousing art for arts sake, of meaningless vapid saccharine entertainment in the interests of inspiring their children to greater creative acts with little value to the citizens of the State, Empire or even the Republic. We have Intaki slaves who feel that this is a good way to live, forgetting their own values in the face of a, some would say, stronger ideology that has treated them well in body but poorly in spirit. We have Minmatar who are metaphorical slaves to their hatred and ignorance from an Amarrian point of view and Amarr who are slaves to a God who doesn't exist to the staunch Atheists among us.

Essentially, ladies and gentlemen, we wear the chains of one another's prejudice against the way in which we are happy to live. In my case, the perceived chains in which Inhonores has placed the Caldari feel comfortable and light indeed.

Bringing the conversation back to the topic brought up by Pilot Inhonores, that of the nature of the alliance between the Gallente and Minmatar (or properly, the Federation and the Republic)...

You're entirely mistaken, Lieutenant Commander. The Federation and the Republic are allies because the relationship profits them both. This is what all good, healthy relationships are founded on: mutual growth and benefit. Anything else would be an unhealthy relationship, with one of the members assuming a subservient position and the other a dominant one. This is a recipe for unhappiness, inefficiency, and social disorder. Much like social welfare.

I greatly encourage and support the various Matari peoples in their efforts. May their republic see great prosperity and success.

Freedom and fighting for the right to self determinate for your people, is a stronger duty than you'll ever know, our sense of duty is all the stronger because we are not forced to believe it.

Oh please. This is the same, beaten old mantra I hear out of the mouth of every Caldari nationalist I cross paths with. The Caldari notion of freedom is based on harsh, semi-feudal dogma enforced by a cadre of elitist dictators to mitigate conflict between hostile groups of small-minded people scratching it out on barren, inhospitable planets. You can pretend it comes from some kind of altruistic impulse but we all know the truth. You hide behind your pompous military academies and interstellar corporate buildings, but the truth is revealed when you walk through Caldari cities. Sullen-faced, nearly starving children dressed up in uniforms like little robots and herded around from place to place so they can struggle through a 14-hour schoolday. Civilians that have their shops open from dawn to dusk while the poor and indigent are made to sweep the street for a meal. Why don't you get out of your corporate uniform, take a shuttle down planetside and stop in somewhere for a bowl of Fah sometime? I think the reality of Caldari culture looks a little different outside of an office building or warship. I've seen Amarr houseslaves treated better than your civilians.

Human nature in action: our species has always preferred a warm and fuzzy lie to a cold, hard truth. The impulse is so powerful that most people will put themselves through hell rather than admit that maybe they were wrong to believe the advertising tagline.

Sell most people a product, and then show them a better made, more efficient, more attractive and all-round superior version of that same product that's also cheaper, and they will go to superhuman lengths to try and persuade you (and more importantly themselves) that the one they got is still, somehow, better.

anybody who buys that "live free in the Federation" nonsense has failed to realise something: Success isn't a function of where you live, it's a function of what you do.

There is a distinction between a Caldari who leads the life of the dishonored, disgraced and disassociated without virtue and loyalty to the State and a full corporate citizen who through hard work, duty, responsibility and obligation to the society and culture that bore them are rewarded for their efforts with peace, security and prosperity. Can life be harsh for those that lose corporate citizenship or whom seek to live outside the laws and structure of the corporation and State? Yes. Necessarily so. If one loses their citizenship then it is either through failure or a breach of the law, as such a life lived in shame is fitting if the punishment does not require death. Those who do not uphold their social responsibilities either through criminal acts or a failure in duty are no civilians, they are not citizens and are effectively persona non grata whose lives, freedoms and quality of life are no longer the concern of the State and its citizens they have shunned through their actions.

Federal propagandists may wish to portray such people and the parasitic existence that they lead in the State as the "average" citizen when they are not. They are nothing more than those that are to be held with the same contempt one reserves for a mange-infested dog that must be kicked so that they know their place, unworthy of either kindness or compassion by those citizens that know their duty and obligations to the State and Corporation and the freedoms and liberties that they grant are not extended to those that are no longer part of either. Those that contribute nothing, deserve nothing. To not punish failure to society and the greater good of the State with harshness and severity only further encourages and promotes failure.

As for specific points:



A misconception. As flawed as mistaking the corporate system as being, "Semi-tribal" - in fact, any other kind of social or communal grouping. Just because an apple and an orange are both fruits does not make them the same. A Caldari Megacorporation has very little in common with either an Amarrian House or Minmatar Tribe aside from superficial similarities in seeking to provide common bonds and shared interests. The society and culture of the State fundamentally differs and a Caldari Megacorporation differs in how it seeks to provide common bonds and shared interests to its employees - chief among them is that advancement and leadership is decided solely on individual merit and ability and not on grounds of heredity, religion, class, or family to name a few. One needs only look to State Executor Heth to see that it is possible to ascend the corporate ladder to leadership through talent, determination and initiative.



I would say there is little in common with the hypocritical de jure political tyranny of either President Jacus Roden or Prime Minister Darius Shakor who in both instances speak of the preservation of freedom and democracy yet grasp power through the unconstitutional breaches of the law and civil liberties through the dissolution of parliamentary assemblies on one hand and the use of secret police like the Black Eagles on the other. In the State, just as a corporate leader rules so must he serve those he is responsible over. It is a system of consensus whereby power is granted to those best fit to lead and their position is maintained only through success - failure to do so leads to removal through a variety of means both legal and social.



Altruism is best reserved for family and friends for its use or promotion in civic, professional or political spheres leads only to weakness and mediocrity such as in the Federation. Enlightened self-interest through society and the greater good of ones corporation and the State is the true means to strength and success.



I think it also looks different outside of the biased media reporting of the Federation and the ignorant assertions of its political leaders so that they can build their Hawkish credentials for the next election season.

The points of compromise between State and Federation do not, and have never, centered on differences of cultural values but on the conflicts of interests created primarily by the Caldari Prime Question and the economic order between State and Federation - nothing more.

Just because I may be a member of the Caldari Providence Directorate and a Provist does not make me unable to see reason or to be able to effectively judge what may be in the best interests of the State and its people. I do not hate the Gallente as a race of people or as individuals, I do however despise the Federation and its government for the hypocrisy in speaking of defending freedom and liberty for its elites whilst creating a system of colonial control and violence that denies freedoms to the majority of its own citizens.

Every Caldari should remember our history and recognize that the Federal citizens who today wallow in the economic and political servitude that is the Federation are just the same as we were two centuries ago and that they should not be the victims of our spite, but rather our mercy and compassion as we seek to liberate them from Federal injustice through acts of righteous violence against their oppressors in Villore.

Of course, I am more than able to make the distinction between say, a free Intaki citizen, and the lapdogs and cronies of the Villore Government.