Gabu
Atlas Star
Posts: 28,386
Political Matrix
E: -4.32, S: -6.52
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« on: February 14, 2005, 12:36:36 AM » |
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In light of recent events plaguing our board, I feel compelled to write this message.
It has recently come to light that Akno21 did, in fact, know about the fact that IrishDemocrat created GirlGoneWild. People were rightly displeased about this act. In light of this event, the wound of voter fraud that had been trying to heal was again disturbed into an open position. However, this was not an isolated event; it was, rather, the culmination of a series of events that, more and more, are leading to an atmosphere of mutual anger and distrust. My friends, hear me out on this. Now is not the time to point the finger at anyone but ourselves.
It is a remarkable and lamentable thing that, many times, events that nobody, nobody at all, wants to happen, do, in fact, come to be. War is the most prominent example of this: nobody wants war, yet wars continue to happen. Anger is another example of this. Hatred is another example of this. None of these are beneficial to anyone. All of these are detrimental to everyone. Yet they continue to occur despite the multitude of reasons for why they should not.
These peculiar things - hate, anger, and so on - are especially dangerous because they are self-perpetuating. Hate begets hate. Anger begets anger. It is a continuous cycle, one subjected to no resistant friction, and thus one that will continue to infinity if no outward force is applied to it. I call these things dangerous because they are solely destructive in nature: nothing good can ever come from them, as evidenced by what they have produced in the past.
Let's back up a second. I'm not defending Akno and his decision to lie about what he knew. It's obvious that that was a large lapse of judgement on his part. There's nothing wrong with holding that opinion.
Let's put things in perspective, however.
It has now been several months since the GirlGoneWild incident. Recall that IrishDemocrat confessed to it himself, before you wish to point fingers in response to the following statement: no lasting negative effects have come from what IrishDemocrat did. It was certainly an unacceptable thing to do at the time, but nothing lasting came from it, except for one thing. This one thing was, unfortunately, one of those things that is self-perpetuating.
This brings us back to the initial topic.
The one lasting thing that has come from the GirlGoneWild incident is anger, and, to a lesser extent, hatred. I'm not pointing fingers to anyone. We're all guilty of it to some extent. I am, and I freely admit to it, and hope to repent of it.
Let's examine the situation.
It's simply an objective thing to say that the atmosphere of the fantasy elections at this moment is a toxic one. Distrust, anger, and hate seems to be the soup of the day. Every post we make that contains any of these three items increases the toxicity. We're in the cycle. Let's admit it. We're angry, and this makes others angry and bolsters our own anger: thus the anger continues.
We come to this board because we want to have fun. This is true of everyone, I believe, without exception. It is a peculiar thing, then, that we, all of us, are contributing to the destruction of this fun that we wish to experience. What we're doing is not fun; rather, it is the antithesis of fun. Yet it continues, and continues, because we do nothing to stop it.
It doesn't have to be this way.
We are all rational people. It's strange, then, to see the unneeded perpetuation of such a destructive force continue on our forum. Disagreements are natural, normal, and healthy. Anger and hatred are natural and normal, but extremely unhealthy. Now, here is the most important thing in this entire message:
Disagreement and anger are entirely unrelated, disjoint concepts.
I'll repeat that.
Disagreement and anger are entirely unrelated, disjoint concepts.
This is not an opinion; this is simply a fact. To disagree with someone is not to hate that person or to feel anger towards that person. The two often come in conjunction, but they don't have to, and that is the entire purpose of this message.
My friends, if this anger and hatred is left unchecked, it could lead to the total destruction of fantasy elections. None of us want that. I know that. You know that. Let's prove it.
If you feel that someone has done something wrong, don't feel anger or hate; point it out and rationally talk it through.
If you feel that someone has done something unlawful, don't feel anger or hate; bring it up and get to the bottom of the matter without involving unnecessary emotions.
If you don't like what someone has done, let them know in a courteous manner. It doesn't have to start and then perpetuate the destruction.
If you begin to feel any of the mentioned feelings, please, don't post while you continue to feel that way. You will regret it later and will likely find it extremely difficult to stop once the floodgates are opened. It's natural. Humans are a proud species and the most difficult thing of all is often simply to admit that a mistake has been made.
If you enjoy fantasy politics, please, heed these words.
If you enjoy having fun, please, heed these words.
If you're a human being, please, heed these words.
Thank you.
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