Intergalactic Summit

Careful Jimmy, she has responded to nearly every post you have made. She might be after your sock-puppet?

A "sock-puppet" is a persona, real or fabricated, that is being somehow puppeteered by another, whether directly or by more indirect means (such as obligation or profound loyalty). Mika Firestorm and Luna Hanaya are often accused of being "sock-puppets" to Diana Kim because despite their different backgrounds they tend to pop up in arguments to lend her support and rhetorical cover. If you talk to them separately, they're rather different people. Neither of the other two shares Ms. Kim's frailty, but both will leap to her defense when she's in a rage, so the distinction doesn't really make much difference. The tendency to act as a single unit, closing ranks against, basically, anybody gives them a reputation as, functionally, a single person with three heads.

Aside from agreeing with you about even stuff he has no clear reason to, Mr. Arto also shares some of your language and rhetorical habits. He's even lazy in the same ways. That might just be personal affinity of some kind, but it makes the claim that he's a "sock-puppet" at least plausible.

I thought you might be with Mr. Soter for a bit, but your rhetorical and language habits are more like Mr. Syagrius. And, actually, it's the repeated self-description as a "simple media observer" that provides one of the links to him.

Mr. Syagrius virtually always describes himself as a "humble trader," when asked, and has done for as long as I've known him, even when threatening Dire Consequences. It's kind of a tag line, even.

On its face, "simple media observer" follows a different pattern, if only slightly-- minimizing adjective, clarifying adjective, noun, instead of minimizing adjective, noun. Only, "observer" by itself says nothing much without the "media," so the two really ought to be taken as a structural unit. Really, we still have exactly the same pattern-- minimizing adjective, noun-- which you, too, use semi-continuously as a kind of shield.

Just like he does.

Even the obviousness of the mask is the same, though you might be winking less about it.

You were accused of that? That's amusing.

One thing I am sure of: Julianus Soter is not the sort of person who would need others to stoke controversy on his behalf.

Tsk. Paranoia isn't space dementia. It's simply a survival trait. Everyone around you is looking to kill you, some of them just haven't been offered enough money yet.

That's one of the other things that has me suspicious, Praefecta. He's been a member of the Royal Amarr Institute for years, and yet the first we hear of him is him stepping in to object to Ms. Priano objecting to Mr. Soter's egotism. That is, he's an Amarr siding with a Gallentean against a Caldari on a subject (arguable hypocrisy) that's about as common on this forum as, um.

As words are, actually.

He chooses this particular moment, this particular argument, to make himself heard, pro-Gallente, arguably pro-Amarr if only by dint of being one and employed by an Amarrian corporation, anti-Caldari. There's someone we know whose politics that tracks really well.

He's just a humble trader, though....

Media observer.

Listen, I know that it is strange and frightening when someone new interrupts the echo chamber around here, but you are quite far off the mark.

I do wonder why it is so strange to you that a high profile media darling would attract criticism in a media related topic like this one. Galactic politics is of little interest to me. Ethics in media analysis is.

It is pure fantasy to impart a political agenda (whether pro-Gallente, or anti-Caldari) simply because I criticize the conduct of individual Capsuleers. Anyway, personal agenda would make more sense.

It's not just that a lot is being said, but the things being said and what/who it's being said to and about. Of course I could be wrong but there's just so much smoke for there not to be a fire somewhere.

People keep using this "smoke and fire" analogy. Usually I think it's used when you're trying to track down corrupt officials or something.

Here ... uh. What are you trying to track down, exactly, Miz? That Makoto Priano has an ego? ... I think she admitted as much a page or two back.

That I have an ego? ... Sure. Probably. Yeah.

Both of us seem to kind of wrestle with our pride. A little bit of my pride, and I'd guess likely hers, comes from the fact that I do actually wrestle with it. Ego often seems to be nearly as standard equipment for a capsuleer as ships are. So is arguable hypocrisy-- mass killers expressing outrage over a few thousand dead crew, for example.

What do you think you'll find here at the source of all this smoke? Hurt feelings? Political tension? A personal grudge?

Does anybody doubt that any or all of those might be a little bit in play?

People are people. Motives are typically at least a little mixed. Ms. Priano's probably not sorry to have seen a clear shot at maybe wounding Soter in however small a way. Neither actually was I; in the minimal contact I've had with him, he's been pretty uniformly awful to me.

Your fire might basically boil down to a couple of apes taking an opportunity to try to douse a third they don't especially like with accelerant and set him alight, metaphorically speaking.

That doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't deserve it. It doesn't mean that at all.

Well I am glad we can all agree on that at least.

As to Mr. Artos ‘loyalties’, I cannot say. I won’t deny any association with him as there is no profit in it and it would be wasted effort considering the obvious proclivities of your personality.

I am sure you believed with equal vigor he was someone else, before you categorically believed he was me.

No offence Mr. Artos… I can understand how being me would be appealing to most. I do like how you counter succinctly and with wit others wordy expositions on self-correctness.

Crotchety though he be, I like him better than most already.