Calling All Minmatar Alpha Pilots

[Teinyhr]

@Arrendis

No, you don’t. I’m not. I have friends within the Empire. But you know, other than Samira, if they start opining about ‘Minmatar rage’, I’m gonna shut them down, too. Let them live as part of a maimed and brutalized people for a few generations, we’ll see how they feel about crap.

I see your point and have no disagreement on that.

[Aria_Jenneth]

@Arrendis

Because we’re not trying to kill each other?

Because you’ve had each other’s rhetorical backs for a bit now and have been flirting kind of heavily. Lots of taser jokes.

@Arrendis

I never said we’re not. I’m saying you’re not in any position to judge or comment on it.

I don’t really judge; that’s Miz’s game. Comment on?

… no … Arrendis, I think your reaction says you’re sensitive about this, not that I’m wrong or lack standing to make a simple, obvious observation. In other words, it says you know your eyes aren’t clear. I won’t make the point sharply, but what you’re really saying is that this is a raw nerve and a low blow.

That’s okay. But you won’t be able to bring me to seeing Miz’s perspective, or yours, as any kind of wisdom without addressing this in a way that doesn’t involve threatening me.

I won’t mock your pain. I’ll just walk away. You don’t get to call me a fool and then forbid me to explain why I think your perspective’s twisted, and still expect me to keep listening.

(It does sound like Ms. Teinhyr might have an interesting counterpoint, though.)

[Arrendis]

@Aria_Jenneth

Because you’ve had each other’s rhetorical backs for a bit now and have been flirting kind of heavily. Lots of taser jokes.

That’s not flirting. She has a taser in her augment. It hurts.

@Aria_Jenneth

That’s okay. But you won’t be able to bring me to seeing Miz’s perspective, or yours, as any kind of wisdom without addressing this in a way that doesn’t involve threatening me.

Let’s be clear here, Aria, I made no threats. I have, and have had, no intentions of wasting centuries making someone miserable. Rather, it was an evocative illustration, meant to offer perspective. That you take it as a threat is, honestly, not believable. Rather, I think you’re attempting to use that turn of phrase as a deflection to not address the fact that no, you do not have standing to offer your commentary on it. And you do not get to determine who does or does not have the right to go being dismissive and insulting about centuries of abuse which, regardless of your intent, is precisely what you were being.

[Aria_Jenneth]

Okay. Well … but I can’t abruptly shift my perspective to become Matari, Arrendis.

And I can’t share in your history, or claim it as my own. And I can’t actually experience your pain. And it’s not my pain, or that of anyone I’m very close to … well … except Ms. Kernher.

Even if I sympathize a little, I do think your pain twists you. You can take that as dismissive or insulting, but it’s still true. I don’t think your eyes are clear. Do you really think Miz is the picture of clear insight and robust mental health? 'Cause she portrays herself as someone well-respected for her insight and understanding. If that’s true, it seems like something’s really become distorted, for such a person to be seen as wise.

Maybe that’s all the fault of the Amarr, but, even if that’s true, to me it looks like an open wound that is going to be hard to fix. And I don’t feel a lot of need to come share in it.

Also, in the spirit of making meaningless offers: if you think accepting the world for what it is, and seeking to understand instead of judge it, is a thing for spiritual fools, let’s plop you down on ancient Achura for a few hundred years and see how far judging the cliffs, the seas, the skies, and your fellow human beings gets you. You can complain to the avalanche that it’s not fair to crush you; to the storm that it’s not right to blow people away; to the sea that it has no right to drown you; and to the nobles that it’s not right to cut down people who don’t have swords.

Curiosity is a spiritual virtue in my belief, yes, but the Caldari recognize us as spiritual kin for a reason: insight is about survival, and we’re survivors.

Edit:

(Also, suggesting that cutting on somebody would be good for their education is likely to be commonly taken as a threat. Especially if the recipient has personal experience like that. You do know Ms. Kim and I had a short blade duel not long ago? I very nearly invited you to come try your luck, but on further consideration that didn’t seem like a good or politic thing to do.)

[Arrendis]

I think she’s a lot more clear-eyed about it than you are. Your very detachment and distance has allowed you to condone atrocities, and yet you try to say that people labeling these crimes against humanity as exactly what they are… they’re the ones who don’t see clearly.

You’ve hitched your wagon to an engine of misery and suffering, and call it perspective.

I’ve actually been waiting for the ‘ancient Achura’ line this time, Aria. Here’s the thing: the cliffs, the seas, the skies, they’re not aware. They don’t do things out of greed, or malice, or spite. And those fellow human beings? They survived by working together. By pooling resources, by sharing, by caring for one another and making sacrifices for one another—even to the point of saying ‘I need to die now, because I can no longer contribute’ sometimes.

That’s people not being ‘at peace’ with the world. That’s people fighting the world’s implacable and relentless attempts to kill them.

And talking about human society, about the privileged few getting rich on the backs of generations of misery and suffering? That’s not the avalanche. That’s not the storm. That’s people. That’s people turning their backs on one another. And no, it’s not right for the nobles to cut down people who don’t have swords. And they can only do it as long as others who do have swords stand by, complicit in their crimes, and let them.

[Aria_Jenneth]

@Arrendis

And those fellow human beings? They survived by working together. By pooling resources, by sharing, by caring for one another and making sacrifices for one another—even to the point of saying ‘I need to die now, because I can no longer contribute’ sometimes…

And talking about human society, about the privileged few getting rich on the backs of generations of misery and suffering? That’s not the avalanche. That’s not the storm. That’s people. That’s people turning their backs on one another. And no, it’s not right for the nobles to cut down people who don’t have swords. And they can only do it as long as others who do have swords stand by, complicit in their crimes, and let them.

So … here’s the thing, though, Arrendis: they didn’t. Or rather, they did, but it wasn’t the peasants or the monks that defeated the nobles. There was no great rebellion that brought our culture out of the dark. You can learn ways to defend yourself, but, in the end, when someone is too much stronger, you submit or you die. The old Achur Empire brought our world to its knees at swordpoint. The rest of us survived basically by understanding how the nobles thought, and avoiding offending them: not by fighting for justice, but by understanding that people are people, and that you’ll live a longer and happier life if you understand them well and use that knowledge.

In its way, it was maybe for the best: the old empire was ruthless, but it did stop us fighting each other. In the end, it was the Caldari who defeated the nobles-- not by killing them, but by offering them something more. They uplifted them. Pretty much all the old noble families are now Caldari: full SuVee citizens.

People are people are people. We are as we are, as much a natural force as the storm and the sea. There’s no fixing us, and no human as dangerous as the one who thinks they can fix people, and feels qualified to try.

Edit:

Conquering Achura with iron age tech isn’t quite as impressive as it sounds. The average temperature of the planet isn’t actually very high; the habitable bits are mainly near the equator. If you get far enough north or south to have proper seasons you’re going to have an awful time just staying alive with iron age technology, so what they really needed to conquer was just a narrow belt around the planet’s middle.

It’s still a little impressive, though.

[Arrendis]

Just because your people were beaten and cowed into submission until someone came along to take pity on them doesn’t make that just, and it doesn’t make that right. Shrugging your shoulders and saying ‘people are people’ isn’t virtuous. It’s weak.

[Aria_Jenneth]

Okay.

[kul_Shaishi]

@Aria_Jenneth

The old Achur Empire brought our world to its knees at swordpoint.

Except the steppe . And there was an empire before that that they created that then collapsed before The rise of the old empire . In Qí known as The house of Yuan

[Makoto_Priano]

All else aside, I wonder.

Mr. Ronin, how go your operations against the Vigilant Tyrannos? Any luck there?

[Deitra_Vess]

I believe he switched back to fighting the Amarr. Can’t blame him for taking the easier fight…