Valuable Lesson to be Learned from this War

Day 620, 15:52 • Published in USA USA • by Jack Flufferton

Disclaimer: RL parallels drawn in this article! Beware!

The influence of American culture can be seen in virtually every society in the world, from blue jeans to Mariah Carey. Kids in Bhutan listen to rap music and smoke weed, and prisoners in the Philippines do choreographed dances to Thriller, for God only knows what reason. Millions would leave their homeland for America in order to provide better opportunities for their family. Why, then, do they hate us?


"Shame on you, America"

They don't hate us. When citizens of the world are polled, most people say they don't have a problem with America or Americans, just how America interacts with the rest of the world, and our arrogance is typically cited (sorry, no source for that). Things like protecting economic interests in countries with egregious human rights violations tend to piss people off. I'll forgo the RL tirade here.

I seem to remember Emerick (and others) writing articles months back about how we should not invade other countries for fun, as they have feelings, too. He was right. We hurt their feelings, so now we're the ones getting butthurt and it doesn't feel so great. PEACE has explicitly stated that the main reason they attacked is to knock our egos down a peg. Just like in RL, your past actions will come back to bite you in the ass. Never forget this. If you don't believe me, take a peek at how we helped cause our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq by funding groups to protect our interests back in the 70s and 80s.

We thought we were invincible. We thought we could muscle through Europe. We failed. We thought we could attack people for the lulz. We failed. We thought we could spend our way to victory in the Far Eastern Region. We failed. We thought nobody would dare attack us with 15 or so MMPs. We were wrong. We thought Indonesia wouldn't dare attack us alone and face our 15 MPPs. California fell. We failed to appreciate the importance of taking initiative and attacking early on because we wasted months dicking around with party politics instead of studying intercontinental warfare.

Just like RL, most Americans have no say in their government's policy and actions. Very few can be held responsible for our operations in France, Mexico, Portugal and Russia. In fact, most Americans weren't even around for most of those wars. Remember this PEACE. The offenders...well..off with their heads if you wish.

Am I a PEACE sympathizer? Absolutely not.
Am I a blue-blooded patriot? Absolutely.
Do I want to see eAmerica fall? No way.
Will RL America fall soon? Not likely.
Do I talk to myself in written form? Obviously.

I want to see America pull through this, but if we are completely wiped out, play in whatever framework you want. If you want to view them as oppressive occupiers and battle them politically and militarily, feel free. If you want to try to reconcile and forge a positive relationship, feel free. Make sure you don't let eRep prejudices sneak into real life--don't develop a disdain for RL Hungary--it's just a game. Work with emerging powers--don't feel threatened by them. Don't be afraid of people who act, speak or look different--learn from them.

Most importantly: get over yourself. It's a big world out there.