I suggest that if you require security forces that you take them up with an independent and neutral party, unless you intend for your reporters to be imbedded within said forces, incurring all risks involved with such an undertaking.
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Ms. Cielvoss,
Unsolicited information gathering during a combat operation or a preparation of one can be treated as an espionage attempt. Please show your gratitude to Lord Consort Newelle for not holding you complicit. If I were responsible for the operation, I wouldnât show mercy.
Why would that matter? If it anything like recent conflicts theyâll be undergoing the same risks indiscriminately to what banner they rally to.
And please donât take that as a personal jab, I feel confident in saying putting troops on the ground on your side only means following one rulers judgement, which wouldnât be yours per say. I have no faith in them to be an honorable combatant.
I believe he is implying that if any journalist is found to be embedded with enemy combatants, that they will be treated as enemy combatants.
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Oh, I know that, Iâm simply reminding him in recent history civilians were considered enemy combatants, gathered into a village and shelled even though they werenât actually combatants. His upper command has a loose definition of enemy combatants.
And you should maybe spend more time outside of yours. That little capsuleer celebrity club you so enjoy and love is not the wide-world outside of private circles you imagine it.
Meanwhile, youâll maybe excuse me if I do not particularly frequent the kind of events where I am expected to enjoy smiling politely to people who use their every opportunity to tell everyone 1) how much they despise me, 2) how their God will surely judge me on the day of my Death, 3) that my entire race should actually just be enslaved, or 4) any combination or all of the above.
I go when I have a reason to. As you well know.
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Getting to understand where the other side is coming from is more than enough reason.
You could even think of it as reconnaissance.
For example: You get upset when Amarr (and others) make overly broad statements about how we Matari are dumb and heretical and deserve only to be enslaved, and then you turn around and moan about how all Amarr are preachy and want to enslave us and all of this.
Tell me, how many Amarr preached at you at my roller skating party? How many tried to enslave you? (Trying to get you into the roller derby doesnât count; Iâm being literal here.)
No one can paint any one culture or race with a single brush. That includes you.
Azazel gets that. You apparently donât.
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I do a lot of that. Maybe you should ask around - I talk to a lot of Amarr regularly, more so frequently if you count every passing convo, and I co-operate with a pretty great number of them too (though I probably should refrain from saying even that much in public).
And I also talk to them about things that are actual reconnaissance. Not about who has the prettiest dress, how good the orange drink tastes, and who sleeps with who. Which are the allowed topics in the social club.
Did I say anything about âallâ? No. I said I do not want to go to parties where the idea of good time is to have drinks and smile politely to individuals who use every opportunity to tout their despise of me, or their wanting to enslave me, or how their God is surely gonna get at me eventually. Or all of the above.
Again, thatâs not the point. The real question is, how many Amarr or affiliated who regularly do those things I had to smile politely to and share drinks with, and pretend to enjoy the groveling, just to show respect to your invitation.
Answer is at least three or four - I am not sure if Nauplius counts because he did not have time to approach me to make me do that, before Newelle kindly prevented it by doing the spoon thing. It was still worth it, because you are - were, maybe, since that âsupposedâ, but at the time anyway - a kinswoman. Given how little value you give to it, maybe it wasnât worth it after all, but it was still the right thing to do.
Azazel is, obviously, allowed to appease and grovel as much as it suits him. Some people donât care, and others even enjoy such games, I understand. EDITed: And to be fair, also, no oneâs telling him or anyone else that heâs the Deceiver incarnate and needs to die, all the time, either.
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That last one can be pretty important, though.
And if you try that weird little creamsicle drink I see around the Empire so much, youâll talk about it all the time too.
The first post says âpeopleâ, so I understood it as the general Amarrian populace. Maybe I was wrong, or maybe my translatorâs being weird. But Iâll retract my previous criticism in that case and make a different point instead.
Of the Amarr âpartiesâ Iâve been to, Iâve only been preached at at one, and Iâve only been looked down on by the Usual Suspects, ie the ones who should have been banned in the first place.
So I still think you might be wary of the wrong âindividualsâ. On the Way Home is still at the Tebu, right? Why not meet-and-greet with your landlords?
I was thrilled to have you there. I thought it was a great honor, and I was glad to speak with you even passingly. Iâm not discounting your attendance there. Iâm only saying Iâd like to see more of it.
Again, this is not about preachifying during the party. That has happened too, but still, thatâs not the point.
Trust me, Mel. I have been to some general capsuleer social events. I probably will go, again, some day. My rarely going is not a political statement or fear of what might happen. The reason I rarely do is that I do not, for the most part, enjoy them, and I have a life outside of the capsuleer celebrity club that provides for my needs on that front.
I am sure you enjoy the parties, and so does Azazel. That is fine.
But I am who I am. There is history here. And I know which ones of the smiles and polite gossip are fake. I know who disparages me at every turn, I know who wants to kill me, I know who believes I am the worst threat in existence to their people, I know who thinks I am a subhuman. And unlike many others, I donât enjoy the fake. The party is not fun for me, with all that going around. And some of these people, they seem to even enjoy coming to me, to make that small chitchat, to smile politely, to see me restrained and tamed by the hospitality laws that require me to âleave my politics at the doorâ, to follow a code of politeness that is theirs, not mine. Their clear satisfaction at that power makes it even less enjoyable for me.
But not going is not a political statement. It is not some âI would never talk to an Amarrianâ. It is about not going to parties that are not fun unless I have a bloody good reason to.
PS. It was suggested to me just that the best way to get people to understand this is to just punch them when they donât.
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I donât know if it was intended - I would like to presume not - but that does sound rather⌠ominous.
See, I donât think I have changed that much as a person. Less dogmatic, certainly, but personality? I would rather hope that people would see past the politics to the person rather than allowing a change of outlook to be the deciding factor.
With all due respect, however, this is all a moot point. I wouldnât want a party in my honour anyway - I rather like having my downtime in Saisio and reading. I havenât had much opportunity to do that before I left the New Order and now itâs rather nice to learn new things.
I hear, however, that a glass of wine goes well with a good holonovel or reference text. As I have never drunk wine before - well, no alcoholic beverages actually - does anyone have any recommendations so I may try it?
Youâd have to see me in person in order to punch me. 
Itâs not about whether you attend parties. Itâs about the fact that you characterize the entire Empire a specific way, and Iâm trying to get you to see that youâre doing a disservice to yourself and to the ones who do not fit your script.
Is âexplain Elsebeth without ever asking her about it directly or listening to anything of what she just saidâ some kind of Collaborator Game Of The Week or something?
Adding to my previous point, I also think the IGS has a criminal issue of capsuleers over relying on the epic-for-the-win GOTCHA! argumentative style where they practice sophistry for a good 45 minutes and say nothing except instigate and not seek understanding.
Or, apparently, theyâre your armchair psychologist and deconstruct various folks, such as Captain Rhiannon who, as far as Iâm aware, has never once sat down and said, âyes, but let me tell YOU who you REALLY are.â
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As far as parties go, I think itâs just as erroneous to judge an entire society on its worst examples as it is the best examples. Iâve had the pleasure of discourse and positive engagement with many Gallente over the years in my foreign postings. I have even served with Caldari of Gallente descent. That does not change my opinions of the Gallente Federation, or my opposition to its politics and ideals. Nor do I really hold people like Duvalier, Harner, or Broteau as indicative of Gallente as a whole â just the worst examples.
People are people; and politics is politics. I think itâs dangerous to conflate the two.
I think itâs most certainly unreasonable to judge everyone from a certain society with a broad brush or judge a society by its best or worst examples. I donât believe anyone was guilty of doing either, though.
It is however reasonable to decide who you will and wonât associate with in your personal life based on pretty much any criteria you wish. Itâs also reasonable to interpret loyalty to certain factions as having meaning. While itâs true you can be loyal and supportive of a faction while disagreeing with certain policies or actions, if youâre staying quiet about and / or not visibly acting on those beliefs, itâs fair to view you as supporting those policies or actions.
Sometimes itâs not possible to separate politics from people. I couldnât ever âhang outâ with a Sansha loyalist, for instance.
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I believe everyone has an agenda Khan Elkin.
Even something as apparently benign as hosting a party can serve an agenda. Whether itâs social networking or seeking to convince others through discussion and interpersonal interaction. I donât attend many capsuleer parties due to that latter motive, attempts to change my politics or beliefs, âIf only I got to know them betterâ. I can get to know people, I can even like people, without my politics or beliefs changing and it feels onerous when such an agenda is pursued with me.
I can also pursue an agenda even if I have negative opinion of those I might come to work with. For example, I have the opinion that Sanshaâs Nation is a haven for those who have given up on humanity, and cannot cope with the harshness and cruelty of existence so seek a mediocre technological palliative in their lives. That did not stop me working with professed loyalists of Nation out of quid pro quo so long as my own personal and political agendas were fulfilled.
Okay, that much is fair⌠Everyone wants things.
Yes, anything can be part of some scheme and nobody should be mandated to attend any social events. Still fine.
Hereâs where you lose me. I can certainly work towards common goals with people whom I disagree or even fight with, but only if I respect them.
Example: I dislike the Gallente Federation, but I can work with certain people from the Federation who I might think are mostly good people, but incorrect (sometimes about very important things).
Sansha who have, as you say, given up on humanity have also given up their humanity and I canât respect either of those things. I would rather fail in my goals than succeed through a Sansha loyalistâs help.
Since I only worked with Sansha loyalists during my tenure in PY-RE which was a mercenary outfit, I would say less emphasis was placed on the politics of members as much as on the utility of combat effectiveness. I canât say I always respected the choices others made, but I accepted they were what they were and chose to turn a blind eye so long as I secured kills.
I remember PY-RE. I would say turning a blind eye to the corruption in your group as you did was wrong.