The company you keep
Day 1,498, 06:40
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Published in Sweden 
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by
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by Valnad
There's a Swedish saying: "man blir som man umgås".
Rougly translated, I guess you could say: "You're known by the company you keep". Or simply: "You can tell a man who boozes, from the company he chooses".
This is especially true in ePolitics. If you affiliate yourself with a citizen who commit acts or say things that you feel you can't support, it's generally a good idea to actually do something about it. Personally, I usually start off by nailing such persons down (figuratively speaking, unless it's Olle21, but that's another story) demanding a good explanation. Depending on the answers I'm getting, it tends to leave me with two options: either I choose to denounce this person and we go separate ways from there on, or I choose to show my support and accept the fact that I'll be taking heat for something I never agreed with in the first place; that I too will take part in the madness.
To do nothing is not even to be considered a choice, it's just plain stupidity.
Some would say that this line of reasoning is unfair and that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover and yada yada...
Yes, in many ways, I agree with that. I'm reading a very nice book right now and it has a shitty cover. However, in reality, that's not the way you'll be treated by your political opponents. You need to learn how to deal with it. If you choose to live by Ghandi principles I can only pray that it will give you better Karma in the end, and that you'll never be tempted to bite back when the shit storm comes knocking down your house.
Because, in all honesty, you can't choose to go both ways.
Either you stand by a decision, or you don't. Either you kill your darlings and tell people to sod off when they deserve it, or you join in and support that which you don't believe in. This makes it clearer for everyone - both friend and foe - where the distinction lies between your person and the political company you keep. I'm often wrong about things, and whenever that happens, I'd much rather have a good friend tell me so than anyone else. Let's not confuse compassion with foolishness: letting your comrades rush head long into foolish decisions can never be a sign of compassion or good friendship.
So, in general, if there's something I would like to see more of in eSweden right now it would be citizens who dares to stand up for what they feel is right and critize poor decisions - even when they come from a person they call friend.
It goes without saying that such reasoning allows you to also applaud good efforts - even if that effort wasn't made by your own party.
Signed,
Valnad,
Vice President under Raticon
Keeper of The Cake
Rougly translated, I guess you could say: "You're known by the company you keep". Or simply: "You can tell a man who boozes, from the company he chooses".
This is especially true in ePolitics. If you affiliate yourself with a citizen who commit acts or say things that you feel you can't support, it's generally a good idea to actually do something about it. Personally, I usually start off by nailing such persons down (figuratively speaking, unless it's Olle21, but that's another story) demanding a good explanation. Depending on the answers I'm getting, it tends to leave me with two options: either I choose to denounce this person and we go separate ways from there on, or I choose to show my support and accept the fact that I'll be taking heat for something I never agreed with in the first place; that I too will take part in the madness.
To do nothing is not even to be considered a choice, it's just plain stupidity.
Some would say that this line of reasoning is unfair and that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover and yada yada...
Yes, in many ways, I agree with that. I'm reading a very nice book right now and it has a shitty cover. However, in reality, that's not the way you'll be treated by your political opponents. You need to learn how to deal with it. If you choose to live by Ghandi principles I can only pray that it will give you better Karma in the end, and that you'll never be tempted to bite back when the shit storm comes knocking down your house.
Because, in all honesty, you can't choose to go both ways.
Either you stand by a decision, or you don't. Either you kill your darlings and tell people to sod off when they deserve it, or you join in and support that which you don't believe in. This makes it clearer for everyone - both friend and foe - where the distinction lies between your person and the political company you keep. I'm often wrong about things, and whenever that happens, I'd much rather have a good friend tell me so than anyone else. Let's not confuse compassion with foolishness: letting your comrades rush head long into foolish decisions can never be a sign of compassion or good friendship.
So, in general, if there's something I would like to see more of in eSweden right now it would be citizens who dares to stand up for what they feel is right and critize poor decisions - even when they come from a person they call friend.
It goes without saying that such reasoning allows you to also applaud good efforts - even if that effort wasn't made by your own party.
Signed,
Valnad,
Vice President under Raticon
Keeper of The Cake
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Well spoken.
Valnad for President.
As flintan said well spoken!
The problem with saying what you think (especially in Sweden) is that you get your head ripped of the second you open your mouth, by some oldfag who thinks he knows it all right
eSweden is not exactly a place of multiculturalism nor a place with room for everyone..
At least that's the impression I have gotten during the last year or so, where I have been staying in eSweden..
Let's hope that you and Raticon can turn the ship 🙂
Stente, you're absolutely right. But by now, most oldfags lie silent in their crypts. There's still one or two left and they make a lot of noise but that's what /ignore is all about. Or you could just simply troll them back a little and see what happens - that's a good past time.
Oh, btw, it wasn't me.
I'm quite sure that it was Misho.
"Why should we bother to swap deer for oil with Norway, you are so few that you should just give it to us" -CP Valnad, when Sweden still was in EDEN.
I have another saying, "Det du gjør i det små, gjør du også i det store"
If only...
fredrikz:
It's true that I may have written something like that, but let's be honest about it: it was written in affection almost a year ago, and due to reason which I'm not sure whether we should bring up in a public discussion as it has to do with your IRL life issues. Many things happened back then that made me dissapointed with the Norwegian community and perhaps I expressed that disappointment in words that now come back to haunt me, through your out-of-context quotes.
I regret taking the stance that we should keep Jamtland after we had helped you clear out the mess your cabinet inflicted upon eNorway, by allowing both Russia and UK to invade your regions. That war costed us quite a lot of time and resources and I allowed myself to be colored by the dissapointed mob who felt that it was unfair with a 1-1 swap with a much weaker opponent. Finland was fairly dissapointed with your actions as well at that time, and EDEN had almost given up hope with you due to many missed summits and wars. The bottom line is that both you and I made mistakes back then and we'll both have to make sure that we won't make the same mistakes in the future.
I wasn't aware that you still felt a grudge against me about that, but that's your choice. I've never been an enemy of your country - you were proposed to enter our union many times, I signed the region swap which gave Norway as much bonus as Sweden had. Admins came and messed things up by adding the trade routes, which could have been handled better, but like I've already sai😛 I don't think that your quote reflects my view of eNorway in the right light.
Not now, not then and not earlier.
Strong vote, both on the article, and you as a player, Valnad.
I want to be Valnad when I grow up. 🙂
I agree; letting your fellow eSwede make some bad decissions without you saying a word just to be able to backstab (not first time used this week, I know) him or her is not fair. Thats mean AND stupid!
We need to stand united; maybe not politicly but patrioticly. We have a bad trend that we must change, and thats soon before we make more players leave our country and/or the game. As long as we are straight with one another and not go behind eachothers back just for our own winnings sake.
Its up to us... I hope your words get heard Valnad!