Intergalactic Summit

Alright, alright, alright. This is an interesting post, indeed. Reading all of it, and adding my personal experiences into it, I can see where's she's coming from. I've seen the worst in any people, in any "race" or whatever, and I can see what she's talking about, and I can kinda agree with her.

(I swear I'm going to get a psych eval after this, for all you worried people.)

I'm not saying that there's an evil "little Gallentean" inside us all, but I'm saying that excess is not good. Excess, from what I think Diana is saying, is typical of Gallente and more identified with them, rather than, to say, Amarr. But, I have seen excess and gluttony in every race, from a rich, fattened Gallente businessman, to an Amarr house leader with the want for more slaves than the thousand he has. We do need to cut back on excesses, yes.

So, all in all, I mostly agree with her, I hate to say it. No, I don't hate her. I find her to be a likeable person, mostly. But, I don't agree with the excessive hate to the Gallente, because I'm just that kinda person.

Now, I gotta go find a guy for a psych eval...

I think, too often, all the Amarrians someone meets are military, scientific, or corporate. They have been taught the Amarrian poker face, so they are never allowed to show a sense of humor.

Thank the Lord I was always horrible at poker. Until I got my chance at this new line of work, I did manage to claw my way up to being a bishop in a diocese on Amarr Prime. I suppose I always liked helping people through their trials and tribulations. People don't often wake you in the middle of the night for a chat for good reasons.

I suppose that my poker face is pleasantness. I've always found it better to have it than a mask of stern seriousness considering what I face. Especially now that those I minister to are very often persecuted minorities in other space, you hear heartbreaking tales. People have difficult questions and difficult situations to talk with you about.

If I couldn't laugh and enjoy life afterwards, I think I would be in a fairly poor situation.

I suppose where this ties into Diana's thread is that, very often, our anger and hatred is based on very skewed perceptions of humanity. The basic grind is essential in everything from slaves in the fields here to Gallentean artists to Caldari laborers: do your best to earn enough isk to feed your family and hopefully enough to make a difference in the universe. We simply have different names for it all.

Diana obviously has something she is looking back which she uses as a prism to view all of Gallentean society. It sets it apart from everyone else. Obviously, having read this, she and everyone else will readily agree that any society is impossible to categorize that way. I have ministered all over the cluster, and cannot even begin to fathom the infinite variation of the Lord's entire works.

So the story of Diana Kim, as she rightly understands it, is that it begins and ends with her own wants and desires. Very often, it is better for us to do what we know is right rather than what we want to do. I think even most of her people do not think it is right to completely collapse Gallentean society (especially if you subscribe to their stereotype of hedonism, as it makes them prodigious consumers of goods).

I think the problem is that, to understand another person, you need to be able to divorce yourself from your own prejudices and see things from someone else's perspective. Diana is having trouble seeing that Gallentean society is neither completely free nor is democracy inherently bad. It is simply another way of dealing with the same set of problems her own people encounter.

I do sense a great deal of anger in her that comes from a personal place (I cannot claim to have any direct experience with her than her writings here, as a disclaimer). I think that much is evident to everyone. I think the idea of meeting it with humor, without belittling her too much, is the best way to deal with the current situation. What would be best would be for her to find someone that she can implicitly trust with confidentiality so that she can speak freely about her life, but someone who can see the greater picture objectively.

Then again, I am a priest. Confession is part of what I do. I would recommend that.

I suppose you can call that my prism on life.

Excellent essay.

I have a quibble with the above. For God does not demand that we obey Him willingly, only that we obey. And if a man can obey only through force, then force does not "solve nothing", but rather force becomes the very instrument of his salvation.

Vitoc and slave collars save the Minmatar from the Gallenteans inside them.

I don't see how our fight is any different from yours. You say our "freedom is destruction of Empire", yet you are saying that your freedom is pursuant on the destruction on the federation.
We don't fight for the right to hedonistic pleasures, we fight for the right to self government and self regulation. Once again something that you seem to hold dear.
The National Socialist rhetoric you're spouting seems to have come directly from a street rally. All I'm hearing are catch-cries and slogans. Having a hard time finding any actually philosophy in your incoherent ramblings.

Seriously get some help.

All that talk about pure and free thought, and you think it does not matter whether we serve willingly? It seems God is very, VERY interested in what we think. He certainly doesn't speak much about how we are allowed to believe things contrary to our actions. Otherwise, I would assume those warnings would be very much about pure, free, and uniform action rather than thought.

You can stuff any slave full of vitoc and never teach them discipline. Discipline is a matter of thought, entirely dependent upon will.

If God still entrusted us with entire populations like the Matari, they would still be part of our Empire. The Book of Reclaiming calls out, quite specifically, what slavery is for. It is a period of re-education for our enemies, that we may show them the mercy of becoming part of our fellowship rather than to rot in a prison cell. It calls for us to teach our slaves for eventual freedom in the Empire.

Vitoc and collars are red herrings, especially the former. They do not teach Scripture or citizenship. They certainly have no place in the Book of Reclaiming.

The Scriptures never say we can take whoever we want because we deserve easy lives. It was meant to be a responsibility. We have dearly paid for shirking our duties. The Empress is bringing us back into line with the Scriptures, using slavery for its original purpose. So that we do not fill jails with layabouts who emerge from their prisons more hardened than they entered.

The human heart is a wicked thing. This has been true long before the Federation came into being and will be true long after it passes from memory.

Yes, indeed, Hanaya-haani. It is a battle that every human should fight, disregarding whom this human was born and where lives.
The only difference with Federation, is that gallenteans are so degraded, that they are beyond any help.

It's our common shadow. The one most of us never talk about.

I'm waiting for Gutter Press to write up a story about her being a Sansha spy.

In that case you can regard the Minmatar Elders rescue of their kinsmen and ensuing destruction of your forces as God's punishment for your misguided actions.

Time to rethink your methods and your views... Mr Nauplius.