Over the last couple months especially (though it's existed as a problem for some time), I've gained something of a reputation as an overly bitter troll of the far-left variety (as well as general attention whoring). I've cognitively understood that I'm probably not bringing much positive contribution to the forum, though by virtue of having a rather dull life outside Atlas (and more and more in Atlas Tongue) and having been in a chronically poor mood for a while now (though I've felt a bit better lately), I haven't really made an effort to improve myself as a poster.
So I'm sorry to those I've needlessly gone after or tried to get a rise out of, and to the forum in general for being something of a pretentious attention whore. Will I be fine after this? Of course not, and I still have rather radical political views (though that doesn't excuse me being a poor man's opebo about them). But hopefully with some encouragement I can improve myself and reestablish myself as a valued and veteran contributor to the US Election Atlas Forum. Smiley
Though I expect it to be thoroughly parodied and referenced until well after its expiration date like the infamous apology thread, I feel I should announce something. I'd make a big effortpost about this, but I'm rather tired and have work to do so I'll condense it to the important parts:
- Yes, I see how my "sage" is insufferable to some. To a large extent that was the point of it, though I've long passed the point where I'm getting tired of and annoyed by my own forum persona.
- A lowdown on my actual views: Very left-wing, though rather more nuanced than I let on. I mostly dumbed them down in a misguided effort to combat/make fun of the dominant political perspective on this forum (progressive liberalism) which I'm finding more and more annoying.
- I won't be posting (or more likely, maybe posting once every couple days) for a while, though I fully expect to return in full force at some point. Hopefully my affected forum schtick will have mostly died by that point, though given past attempts at "reforming" I shouldn't make any absolute promises. I will most definitely continue to lurk on the forum and if my hiatus lasts long enough will probably be a zombie voter in Atlasia (and since it's barely connected to Atlas I'll probably stay in that game Lumine's doing).
I'm fully back a bit earlier than I sort of expected myself, though the few days mostly off have been a bit refreshing and gave an exercise in self-control. I know I've reneged on my "promises" before but I hope I can finally kill off the worst excesses of Sage and get on better terms with some of my old forum friends who have been understandably put off by my affected Marxist propaganda.
If you've had enough of my "sage", rejoice that I'll be pushing most of it into here. I have literally nothing up so far, but I'm currently drafting my first post on the roots of Russia's swing to the right and another critical of Obama's domestic policy. This will be an exercise in both better articulating my views and trying to avoid my flaw of making sweeping generalizations without bothering to back them up.
I've already decided to (at least for now) focus on international affairs from my political perspective, so what should I tackle? For the record, I've already decided what the topics would be for all of these (protests/inconsistent Western policy in the ME as a whole, civil war/French intervention, peace talks/protests/status of the left in the country, sabre-rattling, and deconstruction of the Nordic Model, respectively). Currently leaning towards Bahrain but could be swayed easily.
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