Intergalactic Summit

My name's Pieter Tuulinen and I'm what's called a Patriot - whilst I have often been described as "the acceptable face of the Patriot bloc" it should be noted that I am NOT a dyed-in-the-wool Patriot. Life as a capsuleer has opened me up to many ideas that can only be described as "Liberal". It's very hard to remain ideologically pure when you are exposed to lots of competing systems. I am a strong believer in the "marketplace of ideas" and I like to think I am flexible enough to adopt the best ideas that I've been exposed to.

A Patriot is a social, fiscal and political Conservative with a capital 'C'. Most Patriots believe in the central social tenets of State life, especially:

• That only Citizens have the right to be counted as members of State Society.
• That the foundation of State society are the two families - Blood Family and Corporate Family.
• That the original Caldari bloodlines should be preserved (Deteis, Civire and Achuran) and that it is every Caldari's duty to provide for the next generation.
• That the MegaCorporate system is the natural system of governance for the State and that a strong central government is anathema to the Caldari State. Competition breeds flexibility, efficiency and prevents over-specialisation and stagnation.
• That Meritocracy ought to be how advancement occurs in The State, with no room for nepotism and mediocrity.
• That Caldari State corporations should do business mostly within The State and that outsiders should be prevented from doing business within the State.
• That the lives of other people are their own concerns. The State ought to have no opinion on the culture of others and should not seek the opinions of others about The State.
• That a strong military is necessary for the defence of The State and that all Citizens should be prepared to live and die for The State.

Personally I believe in many of these things. This puts me into the same position as some of my Amarrian friends, where people are shocked to hear me voice opinions that are out of the moral mainstream in their own cultures but are very common where I come from.

Here I do have to hold my hand up and say that not all of my Patriot beliefs have survived my extensive contact with other cultures. Here is where I tend to differ:

• Love. Love is an incredibly strong force for good in the Cluster and I do not question when people follow where it leads them. Only you can draw the line between Love and Duty and decide which side of that line you stand on. So long as you accept whatever consequences follow, you will hear no criticism from me.
• Trade. Where trade is concerned I am something of a Liberal. I believe that strength for The State lies in trading with other cultures and, moreover, that it is okay if said trade deals are beneficial for both parties. Liberal Trading policies promote strength and diversity and are the truest expression of the Marketplace of Ideas.

I hope Diana Kim-haani will grace us with an explanation of her own beliefs. I hope other Caldari will do the same. I'd also love to see those from other societies perhaps start their own threads to shine some light on their own cultures.

Stolen. Thanks, Pieter.

Thank you, Tuulinen-haan.

My main belief is that our duty is to make ourselves stronger in order to survive in the harsh reality named the Universe. Yes, some may say that the Maker forged us to be strong... but we simply can't be strong if we don't train up ourselves. Even if you get a clone with perfect muscles, but you won't use them, they will just atrophy. For our strength and our superiority we should be grateful to ourselves, not to the Maker. But what is more important, we must maintain and enhance it.

I hope you don't mind if I start commenting with my point of view on your beliefs before I will add some of my own.

1. That only Citizens have the right to be counted as members of State Society.
I am not sure it is a belief though, but rather a legal and official statement, well as what does Citizen mean.

2. That the foundation of State society are the two families - Blood Family and Corporate Family.
I tend to put in front Cultural Caldari family. We may serve in different corporations and have different bloodlines, but in the end we share similar interests, we live and work together. The State is something more that just a collection of Blood and Corporate units.

3. That the original Caldari bloodlines should be preserved (Deteis, Civire and Achuran) and that it is every Caldari's duty to provide for the next generation.
I absolutely agree with it, especially with a point of view I have explained before. With maintaining bloodlines we forge ourselves. We venerate qualities and breed ourselves for our next generations will grow stronger and healthier than our previous ones. I don't agree though that it's every Caldari's duty to provide for the next generation, but rather it is duty for selected Caldari who have the best genes to pair with other Caldari, so their children will always be better than their parents. It is our duty to improve ourselves. On genetic level as well.

4. That the MegaCorporate system is the natural system of governance for the State and that a strong central government is anathema to the Caldari State. Competition breeds flexibility, efficiency and prevents over-specialisation and stagnation.
I think this is actually two different beliefs.
4a. The MegaCorporate system... well, I don't believe it is "natural" system of governance for the State. It was adopted by us, because it was better than what we had. We have improved ourselves greatly and from lest developed nation quickly became leading faction in the New Eden, leaving behind even those, from whom we adopted the system. Currently - it is the best what we can use. But it doesn't mean there aren't better ones. We simply haven't discovered a better system, but as soon as we will, I believe it will be our duty to ditch MegaCorporate system and shift to something better.

4b. The competition is what makes us stronger indeed. It forces us to train and develop ourselves further, and of course I fully support this. However, I believe that we shall not use any concept blindly and take it as an axiome, or we risk becoming stiff-minded like gallenteans, known to be freedom and democracy addicts. Yes, we train ourselves to be stronger, but training for the sake of the training is meaningless. We shall use our strength. And in order to use it we shall stop competition between ourselves, unite our strength in one single fist in order to smash the enemy... and as soon as the threat will be gone, we can again dissipate and start competing with each other, preparing ourselves for the next threat.

5. That Meritocracy ought to be how advancement occurs in The State, with no room for nepotism and mediocrity.
No doubt that the meritocracy is the most efficient management system, and I believe we shall follow it in order to be stronger... until we find something better, of course. Central idea of the meritocracy is that those, who take a certain position, shall display themselves the most efficient and prepared for their duty on this position. In other words, only your personal skill shall determine your position. Not what others think about you (and elect you for it), not your money (with which you can buy your position) and not your inheritance (as a birthright) or personal relations.

6. That Caldari State corporations should do business mostly within The State and that outsiders should be prevented from doing business within the State.
I actually disagree with it. I think the reason is that I was brought up not by Patriot, but by a Practical corporation. And I believe that we shall use whatever we need to make ourselves stronger without just locking inside.

7. That the lives of other people are their own concerns. The State ought to have no opinion on the culture of others and should not seek the opinions of others about The State.
I believe in this as well. No further comment.

8. That a strong military is necessary for the defence of The State and that all Citizens should be prepared to live and die for The State.
Yes. Absolutely. Our strength is strength of our military. And strength of military, is strength of every Citizen.

9. Love. Love is an incredibly strong force for good in the Cluster and I do not question when people follow where it leads them. Only you can draw the line between Love and Duty and decide which side of that line you stand on. So long as you accept whatever consequences follow, you will hear no criticism from me.
I do not think there should be line between Love and Duty. I do my Duty to the State and I Love the State.

(to be continued)

-

Observance of religious faith has always been something of a private matter. Of course, this is different from publicly observing a foreign faith - which is strongly frowned upon in Patriot circles.

Personally speaking, I'm something of an Orthodox Wayiist. I know that there's little pressure towards Heterodoxy within the State, so long as you obey the forms of worship. Verin Hakatain (Stitcher) believes that the Winds are little more than metaphors for certain aspects of the Caldari experience. Some see them as more guiding spirits, agents of the remote Maker.

Some Amarrian friends of mine have suggested that our Maker and their God might be one and the same. If so, I'm not sure why He'd be so remote with the Caldari and so 'hands on' with the Amarr, but I'll admit that they share some characteristics. No offence intended to anybody, either Caldari or Amarr, that's just some speculation I've been part of.

Do I believe in Winds and Spirits and Ancestors? I'm not sure - it's hard to believe in things you can't measure and detect. That said, I see no harm in acting as if those things WERE real. In fact I see a great deal of good in it - whether or not my unnamed ancestors ARE actually proud of me, there's no harm in conducting my life in a manner that they would approve of.

We've all seen what happens when people get 'hands on' with the Caldari, Pieter.

Honestly, I think it is counterproductive to label ourselves like this. There's much more in common between a die-hard caldari patriot - certain terrorists excluded - and a die-hard caldari liberal than between any of them and an outsider.
Regarding our stance on said outsiders continuous exposition to them makes most of us more tolerant - the more fitting word I'd say - all by itself.

There is nothing wrong in supporting Heth's view, since whole State was cheering him, and celebrated the liberation of Caldari Prime. All MegaCorp CEOs consisting of CEP were Heth supporters with exception of just two. But even they followed him.

On the other hand, I suspect many who behold themselves to any of the blocs would want to ensure their leaning are far from gallentean supporters view like J. Revenent. Even as treacherous CEO as M. Reppola (current Ishukone CEO) didn't went that far to declare open war against Caldari leading military corporations and signing military "blue" treaties with Gallente military corporation, that was actively engaging in aggression of Caldari space, that was leading to genocide of Caldari colonists in Black Rise.

I know everyone here has been waiting with bated breath for my comments on the subject.

Its true I am the elder statesman within the IGS having graced this forum for some considerable time.

It is also true I am a fountain of knowledge on all things Caldairy.

But I must defer to Diana Kim's words on the subject. Her thinking is at the Van-Guard of Caldari intellectual thought.

The more I come into contact with her the more I want to increase the Caldari population. So much so, I propose we take her blood and clone the next generation of Caldari in her exact image. Not stopping there, we should catalogue every word Kim utters and feed it into the Caldari education system. And I'm not finished........We should canonise her as a living saint, for all to pray to regardless of race.

I know you all will be in unanimous agreement, I therefore will speed ahead to enact laws to bring about the necessary changes to our systems, culture, faith and LORE.

Hail Diana Kim and the Caldari Nation o7

Much of that is relative depending on where you are. In the core worlds and the Citadel region, cultural customs and proclivities are definitely their strongest I'm sure. But our Nation is not made up of solely the core worlds.

As far as I'm concerned, if you are willing to work, fight, kill and die for the State, then you are a part of the State. Perhaps there are voices whom don't agree, but those voices tend to be very, very far away from where it matters, and it sometimes gets hard to hear them.