Intergalactic Summit

You shouldn't, really; you put one of these on every time you plug yourself into your capsule, albeit a highly advanced one. People don't really need technology for this, either: many people blind themselves - either subconsciously or willingly - to anything that doesn't match their worldview without it.

Keep in mind I'm not defending his choice to let her attend, or the decision for her to wear those things (assuming she didn't make those choices on her own, which is entirely likely). If I had kids, I'd never make them wear such things, and I wouldn't take them to parties like that either.

I agree with the original post. What a celebration may have used to mean in other cultures has become replaced by the Gallentean way of throwing a party these days. This may be a sign that there is still hope and that our media is being followed across the cluster. Perhaps, as time goes by, the light of culture and civilization may reach even the most vile savages and make them begin to crawl towards elegance and sophistication.

I'm not sure that's what the General was getting at.

I'm gonna have to agree with the chiphead, slick. It's three pages of people - sort of - discussing, debating, whatever something that's essentially a whine thread. Congrats to Inhonores for that, and you for missing it, I guess.

The Fed doesn't have a monopoly on sophistication, and it sure doesn't have one on hedonism.

When I'm eating some proper Caldari-style fried seafood in The Forge, I don't want a Quafe to go with it. When I'm in Rens, I'd rather be seeing the local events on the holo instead of the latest stale sitcom from Luminaire. When I'm in Amarr, ...I just try to be faster than their customs agents, but you get the idea. So, why don't you turn around and find your way out before you make the rest of us any more embarrassed.

I think I'm falling in love.

Sometimes, past performance is an indicator of future results.

Forgive me in advance for using your statement toward a different recipient Truza, but I couldn't have put it better myself.

I avoided answering because it was a hilariously stupid question, Kim. Any amount of research would show you where my allegiances lie and I have no need to justify them to you.

However, as you enjoy labeling anyone who dares disagree with you an "enemy of the State" and have already done so to me, I felt there was even further reason to not bother answering your question.

You're welcome to continue firing your pellets and attempts at cleverness here, though you'll be ignored.

My only disappointment with this thread is that Inhonores has not stopped by to defend himself.

The only conclusions I was able to draw from having read all this is that a certain minority of the Caldari and Minmatar have the unsurprising tendency to have misgivings of liberal democracy instead preferring adherence to ethnic nationalism and collective identity. Viewing Federalism, multiculturalism, and democracy as threats to their own romantic notions of their culture and society. That such forms of national identity and association seem to have the unerring tendency to lead down the path of bellicose militarism and war due to the misconception that being a patriot means your culture and people are superior to all others for the simple reason that you were born into them is perhaps a question those nationalists and cultural fundamentalists should ask themselves. Certainly, one need only look to the past in the Federation with Luc Duvailer or to the present State with Tibus Heth and it is plain to see that it is that kind of thinking that it is at the core of their ideology.

That both men in their own ways have managed to lead both the State and the Federation into unnecessary wars in the name of nationalist ideology and the human suffering, death and bloodshed that it entails may go in some ways to explain why so many in the Federation are ambivalent towards such a flawed brand of, 'culture'. That is not to say that it isn't important, only that in the Federation it is of second importance to ensuring the liberties of the individual and their right to pursue their hopes, dreams and desires in whatever manner they deem fit - cultural explorations may or may not be a part of that. That is not to say that cultural identity is unimportant in the Federation, one needs only look to Lirsautton and the Jin-Mei to see how even though in many respects the caste system of that society runs counter to certain fundamental ideals of the Federation regarding individual rights the local assembly is respected and there is no direct intervention in the cultural norms of the Jin-Mei. What is offered to Federal citizens is the right to celebrate and engage in their cultural heritage as they deem fit. This is true of not only the Jin-Mei but also the Intaki, Matari, Mannar, and indeed every citizen and immigrant to the Federation who becomes but one thread in the tapestry of the Federal milieu.

Of course, it is again understandable that a Federation that seeks to promote a free, open and tolerant society may be misunderstood by those ignorant of such values and that it is in fact some form of sinister conspiracy that people, when given the choice, will seize the opportunity to realize their dreams even if it is at the cost of the cultural and nationalist values others may hold dear. An example perhaps may be this:



Certainly, one may expect some degree of bias towards the Federation given past history with the Caldari in addition to whatever additional bias may exist from the CEO of a corporate subsidiary of one of the triumvirates that constitute the Provist Axis of Power in the Caldari State - Kaalakiota, Lai Dai and in this case Wiyrkomi. At first, like most conspiracy theories I was tempted to dismiss its lack of further factual arguments by simply responding to its absurdities with:

"Well Monsieur Khross, I have a pet furrier on my head. Your argument is invalid."

Or perhaps I could have been rather trite and responded with:

"Force other to live by their same interpretation and practice of those principles? So not much different I suppose to how the Caldari Providence Directorate seeks to force other Okusaikan in the State to their own interpretation and practice of the principles of what it means to be a Caldari citizen as enforced by their Provist thugs and which your parent company both supports and endorses?"

Or I could have been particularly vindictive and simply pointed to the Brothers of Freedom, who for having to dare speak out about the plight of the common worker in the Caldari State were forced at the end of a barrel of a gun to spill their blood as martyrs so that others may live by the interpretation and practice of the principles of State corporatism.

That however would simply be mere propaganda and would not do justice in explaining or exploring the political complexities and cultural predilections of the State and its citizens. I think I would have looked rather foolish in allowing my ignorance and prejudices of other cultures and societies public airing. No more foolish perhaps - aside from offering titanium diboride foil hats to protect oneself from the shining satellites of the all-powerful Federal Government that seeks to control your mind and abandon your culture - than seeking tenuous reasons in order to denigrate those you might consider enemies.

For down that path leads only the stereotyping and jingoism of other peoples, the idea that they are different and somehow evil because of it, where the potential for the greatest acts of brutality and atrocity become permitted once others have become sufficiently demonized. It is only when ignorance is given free reign in the minds of a populace that the debasement of human dignity and spirit becomes possible. That if anything is why ethnicity and culture can be seen as threats to Federalism and democracy for it becomes so easy for it to devolve into a very base kind of nationalism that is intolerant, breeds ignorance and is violent towards anyone who is different.

As an aside though, is it just me or does it seem that Lord Vaari in the Empire, Diana Kim in the State and Seriphyn Inhonores in the Federation all seem to be cut from the same sort of self-delusional cloth? It's certainly amusing how all three appear to act in a similar manner to each other.