Economics and the Price of Peace
This war has been going on for quite some time now, and it has begun winding to a close. Some alliances have agreed to terms and have existed from the DH-NPO war, while others remain in a state of hostilities, with steep offers of peace on the table.
Many have tried to justify these terms as 'totally reasonable' and have analyzed the numerical aspect in great detail, sometimes honestly and sometimes not so much. But always, when attempts are made to justify them, one thing has been consistently ignored by those who we oppose: What are we, the allies and friends of Pacifica (and of course, Pacifica herself) going to get in this deal?
It's an easy thing to ignore; Throughout history, the answer to that question has been so obvious that it never needed to be asked in the first place: By "paying" whatever price is in the surrender terms, you are "purchasing" peace. So why does it need to be brought up now?
The key thing, from the perspective of Pacifica and her allies, is of course whether or not making the sacrifices demanded is worth what we will get in return. What complicates this question, is the actions and statements from those offering to sell us peace, and the way in which their trustworthiness has been irreparably damaged by those actions.
As it stands, this war was began over, literally, nothing. Doomhouse aggressively attacked Pacifica without provocation or justification, out of the blue. It was a random act of violence. In the past, wars have been structured like so: X commits an offense against Y, and Y gathers a coalition to smash X to bits. But here, there was no offense, this war is not retaliatory for any action. This presents a problem: If DH is willing to attack us whenever it pleases them to do so, what is to stop them from doing so in the future?
Indeed, the very words of Doomhouse indicate that they have every intent and desire to attack Pacifica and her allies again. From their Declaration onwards, they have been making this out to be some sort of "tactical operation" to "put NPO down" because they have gotten too strong for their tastes. Even the battle cry of "Everything must die" screams this loud and clear. And this only adds to a year of intense efforts by various parties to drag Pacifica into a war prior to current events.
In short, if Pacifica "pays" to get peace, if any of us do, there is no guarantee that it will last, in fact there are strong indications that NPO is just going to get smashed again when they have made too much progress rebuilding, when those at the top of the New Hegemony decide it's time to put down NPO again, and they've already demonstrated that they are willing to do so on nothing more than a whim.
So, it begs the question: If Pacifica and her allies are pre-destined to be smashed to bits again, what difference does it make to us if we just stay smashed to bits in the first place? The difference it makes is that we get to dictate our own strategy, we get to cause as much harm as we can to our oppressors, and our oppressors do not get the benefit of rebuilding on our paycheck.
What Doomhouse is offering to sell us is not peace, but a brief pause in hostilities, hostilities which are sure to resume whenever Doomhouse feels like it. They've demonstrated the desire, capacity, and will to carry out such an attack. There is no reason why anyone should not fully expect it to happen again in the future. Only a fool would think that there is any hope for a truly lasting peace.
And that is what makes the price far, far too high. It is a simple matter of economics. We know what you're selling us, we know it isn't what you pretend it to be, as proven from a multitude of factors, and we know it isn't worth the price you ask.
Why should we bend over, let you beat us into the dirt and then hand over our lunch money, when we know you're just going to come back for more? In fact, giving a schoolyard bully what he wants only encourages him to repeat his actions.
This point of discussion is something I have never seen any member of the aggressive side touch even with a pole of considerable length, minus perhaps a handful of snide remarks and assorted drivel we've all come to expect from "lulz"-type alliances. No serious discussion, not even a hint of a counter-argument, whenever it is brought up it is ignored with extreme diligence.
And that's why I will raise this point again, and I will raise it again and again to expose the situation for what it is, until this war finally comes to an agreeable close.
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