Intergalactic Summit

Sensible to you perhaps. To anyone else it's a waste of good biomass.

This act of violence like most acts of violence in our cluster was perpetrated by men and women with unrefined natures, not because they are Matari or Caldari, or Gallente, or Amarrian, but because they are humans ruled by hate. This was not an act of self-defense or of even justifiable war, but of vengeance, pure and simple. We will not solve the issue of terrorism by assigning fault on the basis of race or culture or nation, but only by looking within our base natures, identifying our own instincts of ruthlessness and then deciding to subdue that base nature. We must choose peace; that choice being most difficult when tempted by vengeance and feeling justified in that temptation.

Let those who subdue the impulse to strike back be held up as the most honored among us, whomever they may be, of whatever tribe, race, nation, people. Those are the men and women of will and courage.

And there it is.

Unfortunately I have not been able to return to this discussion as quickly as I might have liked, so let me try to respond a few points raised.



I did not come to the summit to offer my approval or support of this attack. I do not think that this was the correct target. I do not think that act will do anything to improve the position of the Minmatar. And if nothing else, I certainly question the timing of it all, as I clearly stated in my opening statement. I believe that this was a miss-calculated move on the 'Hands part.

What I did come to say was that I understand what motivated the 'Hands to take such an unprecedented action against the Gallente. And it is because I understand that I cannot bring myself to condemn. I do not expect many people to agree with me here, so don't for a minute think that I'm blind to this.

I believe that the correct focus here would be for the Gallente to make a greater attempt to understand why this happened and to take steps towards rectifying their attitudes towards Tribal culture. If they continue to blithely disregard it then we are all doomed to see a repetition of this incident and worse.

We Minmatar are a tribal people and our culture runs within our blood. It is folly to think otherwise and to ignore this reality when there are so many first generation Minmatar immigrants now living within Gallente space.

Why do you say that? Because the Bloody Hand will continue to burn down factories? Or are you arguing that this is an emergent behavior due to the fact that you Minmatar are these special "tribal" folks? 'Cos it sure doesn't look like that to me.

Stop making excuses for what is really just criminal behavior. Stop trying to paint all the rest of the Republic Matari with that brush. I don't think they really appreciate it.

I suspect that the Bloody Hand may now be finding new recruits among the Minmatar population within the Federation. The Gallente should be considering this possibility and asking why this may now be the case and what they could do to change opinions and address the problem at an early stage.

Or, they could follow your lead and blindly insist that there are no underlying issues surrounding this event and that Gallente society has flawlessly integrated many millions of immigrants in only a few years, miraculously eliminating any and all sources of racial tension.

Sadly, I'm fairly sure that is not the case as we are not discussing a hypothetical event here.

Let's see:

Option Number One: "accommodate the tantrums of a civilization so corrupt and incompetent that billions of its citizens have been forced to find refuge in the Federation."

Option Number Two: "pretend that plague-ridden cockroaches are not sneaking in to the Federation along with legitimate refugees from the above mentioned corruption and incompetence."

Hmmm. Might there be a third? Perhaps... the Federation could create a sophisticated intelligence and security apparatus, one capable of identifying cockroaches among legitimate refugees and making those cockroaches disappear? Yes, I like where that's going. There might even be a market for those cockroaches. Why, at least one medical research project is in need of Sebiestor brains.

But with recent State-side developments, the pressure has let up a bit on the Federation's military-industrial complex, hasn't it? That could lead to, you know, peace and budget cuts.

A few reminders for voters, now and then, that there remains a threat.... oh, Matari "terrorists!" Perfect!

Now, I do love the smell of tribal culture in the morning, and not but a year or so ago, I myself made the argument that the "tribes" should actually, you know, act like tribes. Feisty is good, yes, but scurrying around like plague-ridden cockroaches in an empire that doesn't really want to destroy you is not "tribal," its chickenshit.

Amarr is the enemy of the tribes. Amarr hates you. Amarr wants to leave you rotting in cages until you either die or learn how to act like a real civilization. A warlike response is to be expected. That's what makes the crucible of hatred work. On the plus side, it appears as if House Sarum might actually seize the initiative on this one.

Its not often a gift such as you comes along.

Your basic argument is "tolerate our stupidity or we will hurt you."

Excellent absolutely excellent. I hope the body politic within the Federation is listening.

Yet, I think you might be surprised by how many "Tribals" prefer the Federation to the former Republic and will remain loyal to the ideals that gave them sanctuary in the first place.

Well, I have just come out of a Personnel meeting where I formally authorised the cancellation of the employment contracts of fifteen workers of Matari ethnicity because sufficient background checks could not be run to meet the minimum standards now required to ensure workplace safety and security.

So, that's fifteen lives subject to uncertainty and upheaval. Matari lives.

Except the cost is higher than that, because eight of those fifteen were married. So make that twenty-three lives... Oh, plus the ten dependent children, of course. So make that thirty-three people. Of course it's the children who'll suffer the most - yanked out of their schooling, deprived of their food, cut off from their medical care.

Curious.