Intergalactic Summit

I appreciate your frankness and I see nothing wrong in apologizing solely because we are members of allied organizations; after all we are Matari and as such should be able to keep the good relations of the organizations we represent in mind above personal disagreements. Apology accepted in the same spirit.

Obviously, as you point out, when the choice to form the Republic was made, it was not a choice our then leaders made in a situation where there was no outside pressure. Indeed, as we continue to make the choice of remaining in the Republic - for that choice is not dead letters on ancient paper, but something that the tribal leaders do each day - the greatest consideration there is that no matter what we think of the system and of each other's tribes, we have to stay united against an outside threat.

In the ideal situation, indeed, there would not even be a need for an alliance of the tribes, in any form. Each tribe would govern itself free of the influence of the others, and we would only come to sit together in meetings when mediation or negotiations about such issues as shared land, borders, or cross-tribal marriages were needed. Ours is not an ideal situation, however, and it seems to me unlikely that it will be in any sort of close future. For all the time the Republic has existed, we have been under an outside threat, and the past years we have been under direct attack.

While the transition of the Thukker, Starkmanir and the free Nefantar - for there are some still - to the Republic has been far from uncomplicated, I am personally still glad those steps have been taken. We need to stay united. The time to sort out our differences with each other and to (possibly) reform our systems of government comes after we have ensured we can do it without the fear that it weakens us enough for the Enemy to take advantage.

Dangerous shortcuts and propaganda bullshit. Ushra Khan have always deserved what they got : to be treated as murderers and terrorists.

The sublime end excuses all horrible means. Moralist against present time, the revolutionnary is cynical in action and get outraged against brutality, violation of human rights, oligarchies and the likes, despotism, and arbitrary executions. Nothing except a human oriented global reform will satisfy his/her hunger for justice. But as soon as he/she decides to be part of a party or entity as much as uncompromising as he is, he will start to excuse and justify in the name of revolution all he used to despise. The revolutionnary myth builds bridges between intransigent ethics and terrorism. Nothing is more common than this hypocritical game of strictness and leniency. Trying to explain the behavior of his kin, as long as it is done in the sake of the good doctrines, he will always use the sacred words : revolution and freedom.




This is one of the strangest comparisons I have seen.

In my mind a tribe uses tradition as a guide, not as a limit.

The ancestors may comment on our actions but we are those who must live them, as they did theirs.

The Electus Matari are many things, much of it good, but the pinnacle of Matariness we are not. We are simply Matari trying to Walk as our ancestors would want us to.

I'm tired of this idea that we Matari are somehow "selfless" or more "noble" for living as we do. I do not define myself by my Tribe, my clan and my lodge because I'm somehow more noble or less selfish than say a man in the Fedeartion. I do not give to them because I've a noble character. I do it because by doing so, I gain more than would otherwise, because by doing so I am able to be more of myself than I would be alone. Its a way of being a better me, of living a better life.

At the end of the day, "Democracy" and "Tribal Traditionalists" are merely loose fitting labels. Democracy, I'm told, means "rule of the people". Yet, we, as a people, as the People, chose to structure our government more in lines with our traditions as opposed to the Federations. We are still ruled "by the people", if not more so.

Im fine with that

The idea of individualism helps everyone in the long run. If you focus on being able to support yourself first, you will be able to have all you need in order to help others. Whether or not you actually help others is entirely up to you, however I suppose if Caldari mega corporations allegedly do what they do for the greater good and not solely profit I suppose the idea works.

Corporations are just like people, they make money, they act under their own name, and are run by thousands of individuals like the trillions of cells that make up our bodies. If a cell in our lungs failed will it be the end of everything? Probably not, but what if that cell is cancerous for example. It starts spreading to the other cells in a ripple effect until the entire part of body fails and if that part of the body fails, other body parts start to fail until the poor fellow drops dead.

For example, if a factory worker in an industrial corporation works himself to the point of exhaustion "for the greater good" now his fellow employees have to work over time to make up for his loss. Now these employees are overworked and a smaller group of employees start to make up for them. In time the cycle continues and an entire factory succumbs to the problem. Now the other factories have to work over time and one falls after the other. The production branch of the corporation is now either extremely weak or indisposed completely. Without products to haul, shipment goes under. Without customers to ship to the entire corporation is brought to it's knees.

Now what if that factory worker thought of himself? He would notice his exhaustion and take the day off. Sure others have to make up for his woes but they to have been thinking of themselves and are able enough to do his part of the job with no major issues. He shows up to work the next day and everything is back to normal. Now he is well rested and can support other workers incase they feel like they need a break.

In order for the whole to work, the individual needs to be in good condition too. It is safe to assume that many individuals, if not, the majority will not lend out a helping hand to help fellow community members. However there are a select few that have focused on themselves long enough to be strong enough to assists others. What if this assistance never comes? It's not a problem really. The other individuals are not relying on the person that needs help and the cascading breakdowns that would occur if everyone ignored their own needs would either be extremely limited or not occur altogether.

TL;DR: How can you expect to help the greater good if you can't expect to help yourself?

If you care nothing for your kin I'd assume it would be especially easy to help yourself considering you don't need to worry about anyone. Someone else will probably care for this person though and even if they don't if everyone is well off the fall of one will not be the fall of many. I elaborated more on this if you are interested in reading.

That's up for the individual to decide. If there is no need to pass on the individual's life work then the work is done and the person can pass on happily. If work need be done then I'm assuming friends and/or family will handle the task, especially if it is beneficial to them.

How sad and lonely and devoid of any long-term meaning must life be, when you believe that your life's work will stop mattering when you die.