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How Karma made me better than all of you


Sal Paradise

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OOC: most topics like this are in Open World RP, an OOC forum. I put this here, in an IC forum, specifically because I realize this is a game, and I couldn't seriously say any of the things I said without it being IC.

You could dismiss anything ever said on these forums with "hurrr it's just a game", but those of us with any real sense of what this game is only tend to do so when it's startlingly obvious that the poster is taking things too far. EZI, hunting down Nazi bogeymen, outrage over the desecration of fictitious flags being examples.

Users of the Fantasy RP forums get into heated debates of such childishness and vindictiveness as to put all of us here to shame. And yet nobody ever goes into Fantasy RP and smugly dismisses them because this is just 'a game'. It's likely that those RPers don't care what we think, and we are intelligent enough to leave them to their game. So Mr. Horizon, if you wish to play this game for its fascinating arrangement of pixels that's your decision. But next time you feel the need to be a witless boor in an in character forum, please keep it out of my thread. I don't care to know that you have nothing interesting to say.

OOC: I happen to be one of those Fantasy RPers. Lol, thanks.

IC:

Well written. I loved every word of it.

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There's a saying, I'm sure you've all heard, that when God gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Now, I loathe to use such a cliche, but I love extended metaphors. You see, good people of Planet Bob, from the founding of my nation I was thrown a particularly sour lemon. I was born in a time when freedom was a distant memory, when once proud men lay broken and groveling before a witless man-child with a cow fetish, who heaped praise upon them for their timely payments of tribute. It was a sick, repugnant age, the darkest age this world has ever seen.

Like many of you I found solace and purpose in the resistance: the fight against EZI, secret terms, tech extortion, viceroys, perpetual war, the rewriting of history, member censorship. There were many living under the tyranny of the Hegemony that couldn't speak and fight for themselves. We fought for them. There were many that didn't even know their oppression and argued vociferously against us. We fought for them too. And even among us, there were some that were freer than others. We looked to the freest of us for inspiration. I joined the Greenland Republic after exchanging messages with Virillus and being told that GR wasn't afraid to fight and die for a cause. And indeed, their long and rich history is endearingly rife with examples. We were among the freer ones, and our relations with some of our allies sometimes suffered for it.

As the hegemony began to slowly unravel before us, we wondered what to do. Would we join a Continuum civil war? And on whose side? Few were interested in being either side's meatshield. In fact, I can't recall anyone that was. Fortunately though, the choice was made for us. Twisted and sadistic, the hegemony refused to implode and destroy itself. It had to be destroyed, perhaps fittingly, with a last ditch attempt at tyranny.

The Karma War was seen by many as an opportunity to write all the wrongs of the ancien regime. In those first weeks we were euphoric. A new age was dawning on Planet Bob. Just as we had done during the resistance, we fought for everybody. We fought for the oppressed, and the unknowingly oppressed. But there was one new group we fought for. A small but powerful, and respected, enclave of rulers turned their noses at us in cynical judgment. Karma, according to them, was tainted by the past of some of its members, its disorganization, and its ambiguous goals. We fought for these people as well, the people that knew a Karma victory would benefit them but for whom Karma wasn't good enough. And as tyranny gave way to liberty, you could see it manifest in their words.

I felt the same way as the cynics though. I knew Karma wasn't what so many thought it was, but I believed it was a necessary evil, and the only chance we had at saving this world. I, like others I'm sure, held our noses and fought for that better world.

But I was wrong and the cynics that did nothing but complain were right. It wasn't "Just-As-Bad", pre-terms or supposedly harsh surrender terms that they were right about though. They were right about the virtue of being self-righteous do-nothing prigs. I should have expected moral perfection from Karma and haughtily rejected them for the slightest blemish. Working hard in the muck with others looking down on me, is not the path of a dignified man such as myself. Unflinching principle resulting in practical inaction is the correct position. I've realized this now and taken steps to act accordingly. Now that I am removed from this war, I can confidently look down on you all and feel the great self-satisfaction the cynics must have felt.

I'm so much better than you now.

Thank you Karma.

This is why I didn't join Karma side. Very good post. I fought against the NPO in the past and knew I couldn't this time. Many of them was on both sides. I figured the results would end up like it did.

Edited by Thorr
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Why? I just finished saying I don't care if or what others opinions of me are and what makes you think you have that right to tell me what to do? Who are you to judge me anyway?

1) If you really did not care you would not have posted anything in response to it. The fact that you responded tells me you have some level of caring.

2)I am just giving you a piece of advice. If you ignore others just because they are not part of your group of "friends", your world will be smaller because of it.

Edited by raincoat2
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My point being is morality was just the point of view of the winning side this time, was there actually any morality in war or has there ever been morality in war? No, war has no room for morality it is and always has been kill or be killed. That may not completely apply in the cyber verse but it more or less holds true up to the point of "kill or be killed" since you can't actually die on a computer game.

A war can always be fought for "the right reasons." If no war measures up to your particular standards, then that is your problem, not the problem of those that support it under certain circumstances.

We must avoid moral relativism, both here on Planet Bob and in RL. An environment of moral relativism is what NPO thrived in and attempted to advocate strongly through Francoism.

Never question if the war against NPO a good war. That is the talk of a generation of self doubters that vex my RL nation. I'd like to think that perhaps we can do better here.

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Whatever will I do if all the self-righteous heroes of karma all adopt this attitude? Who will save me from the hegemony? D:

This sums up a lot of my feelings.

Those of us who stayed out of both sides don't necessarily think they're equally evil. Personally, I feel Karma is a better group of people, overall, than the Hegemony. However, there are still a great many Karma alliances that are either great hypocrites, or just asshats in other ways.

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This sums up a lot of my feelings.

Those of us who stayed out of both sides don't necessarily think they're equally evil. Personally, I feel Karma is a better group of people, overall, than the Hegemony. However, there are still a great many Karma alliances that are either great hypocrites, or just asshats in other ways.

That's my point. Karma isn't as bad as the hegemony; they just aren't good enough for us. It's tragic that there are so few alliances with comparable levels of moral fortitude, but loneliness is the burden we bear in exchange for our superiority.

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That's my point. Karma isn't as bad as the hegemony; they just aren't good enough for us. It's tragic that there are so few alliances with comparable levels of moral fortitude, but loneliness is the burden we bear in exchange for our superiority.

Thankfully, Karma is just as smug as we are, so we don't even have to feel bad! :awesome:

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A war can always be fought for "the right reasons." If no war measures up to your particular standards, then that is your problem, not the problem of those that support it under certain circumstances.

We must avoid moral relativism, both here on Planet Bob and in RL. An environment of moral relativism is what NPO thrived in and attempted to advocate strongly through Francoism.

Never question if the war against NPO a good war. That is the talk of a generation of self doubters that vex my RL nation. I'd like to think that perhaps we can do better here.

I like to avoid moral relativism by rejecting the validity of any moral system.

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Because I'm that much more important too.

Good sir, there have long been important people morally and intellectually beneath me. It never worried me.

Thankfully, Karma is just as smug as we are, so we don't even have to feel bad! :awesome:

Why would we have reason to feel bad at all? Ah, perhaps you mean we pity them because we are so much better than them. Hmm, good point.

Being satisfied by your attitude towards the actions in this game, while being mindful of the distinction between OOC and IC, is tantamount to acting OOC.

OOC: how so?

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Why would we have reason to feel bad at all? Ah, perhaps you mean we pity them because we are so much better than them. Hmm, good point.

I pity you Sal. This thread is most certainly a cry of attention from a desperate soul.

My Existentialist will save your soul (that he doesn't believe in) Sal! Give in, you know you want to!

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