Xenophobia in eRepublik [CP Entry]
Day 501, 11:47
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Published in Canada 
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by
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by Alias Vision
The Russians are coming! The Rus-… wait… the Hungarians are coming! The Hungarians are coming!
It’s a familiar cry, one which sounded very recently and whose echoes still resonate today.
Caught in our mob mentality and collective spasm of xenophobia, Hungarians became Huns which became Barbarians and sometimes worse. As a rule most of us are fine upstanding citizens who are a credit to our polite societies. The truth however is that each of us has a kernel of intolerance. A little bend in our mental makeup which means that everyone has a trigger that can be set off by “the other”, the foreigner breathing down our necks or crashing our gates.
Unfortunately this tiny flaw is exacerbated by an innocuous sounding thing called anonymity. Couple anonymity with lack of responsibility and consequences and you have the regrettable result that xenophobia is alive and well in eRepublik. Nobody will knock on your door and take you out to set you right. You may at most receive a suspension but being intolerant of foreigners is more likely to gain you allies than reproach.
This is something each and everyone one of us needs to work on. The unacknowledged beast must be tamed so that our eRepublikan lives can remain enriching and inclusive for it is at its base a social experiment that is meant as entertainment.
It is important to remember that today's barbarian invaders can be tomorrow's staunchest allies.
It’s a familiar cry, one which sounded very recently and whose echoes still resonate today.
Caught in our mob mentality and collective spasm of xenophobia, Hungarians became Huns which became Barbarians and sometimes worse. As a rule most of us are fine upstanding citizens who are a credit to our polite societies. The truth however is that each of us has a kernel of intolerance. A little bend in our mental makeup which means that everyone has a trigger that can be set off by “the other”, the foreigner breathing down our necks or crashing our gates.
Unfortunately this tiny flaw is exacerbated by an innocuous sounding thing called anonymity. Couple anonymity with lack of responsibility and consequences and you have the regrettable result that xenophobia is alive and well in eRepublik. Nobody will knock on your door and take you out to set you right. You may at most receive a suspension but being intolerant of foreigners is more likely to gain you allies than reproach.
This is something each and everyone one of us needs to work on. The unacknowledged beast must be tamed so that our eRepublikan lives can remain enriching and inclusive for it is at its base a social experiment that is meant as entertainment.
It is important to remember that today's barbarian invaders can be tomorrow's staunchest allies.
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Comments
Judge 1:
Written well and concisely. The presentation is a bit bland but that's easily made up for with the fantastic use of language and insight. Grammar is impeccable. Only problem with the argument I see is one place the writer says anonymity is a cause of xenophobia, yet at the end of the paragraph says being intolerant of foreigners is likely to gain you allies. They aren't totally conflicting allies, but they don't seem like they belong in the same series of points. But other than one tiny anomaly, a very, very well written article.
40/50
Judge 2:
The strongest quality of this entry was its expressive use of language. Though bordering on wordy, the overall effect was to persuade the reader with its engaging style. The writer also had a convincing point to make about xenophobic tendencies and wrapped up his argument in a very concise piece. However, it may have been good to elaborate somewhat on some specifics or provide an anecdote to support the observations. Nevertheless, it’s a convincing article with a sharp style.
41/50
Total: 81/50