[CP/Dictator] Clearing the Air

Day 2,801, 17:25 • Published in Czech Republic Czech Republic • by milestailsprower




Hi,

One of the most important things about this game that many politicians fail to see the value in, is that you absolutely cannot take things too personally. There has been a lot of recent unpleasantness towards me and my colleagues. Mannerisms and words. I've been aware of it. I've been thinking about how I've wanted to respond.

Before I move any further, I will note that I have been a little busy in real life, and have been having personal issues with incoming higher education and finances, particularly with school debt. These issues are personal and I will not comment further on them. With all that said, I feel like I have been doing my job, and I've been given many concerns and challenges as well. I will address those too, as best as I can.

Janty_F: You have said that I am doing next to nothing, compared to the other members of my government. You have asked me to resign. So here is my response to your PM and your article. I'm going to explain how I work so you can better understand me.

You are right that I don't post in the mass messages as much as them or you. I don't find it necessary to. It is there so that everyone keeps each other in the loop, not just me. I personally prefer for people to contact me privately, but I read the messages and keep tabs on them as best as I can. If I misunderstand or need to clarify something, then I will post in the mass messages (and occasionally I will have news that has not already been covered by other members of government), but usually you all do a good job being clear and concise. I did in fact miss your message that Aragorn was to be accepted in, and I'm sincerely sorry for that. I wish you would have contacted me privately, since in the group chat, it is hard to backlog and re-find messages. Indeed, I would have rather you come to me and express your concerns specifically to me so I could explain myself before you went out to accuse me of laziness, though I understand why you are angry nonetheless.

We have had an influx of immigrants, more so than usual, and the government has been a little slow to adapt for a few reasons. In all my previous times as CP and Dictator, I was never added to the Congressional group thread, and I assumed it was so they could act impartially and not be influenced by my presence. I don't think that needs to change. Once Congress decides on a proposition, government can easily notify me.

Before even this though, given the previous inactivity of Congress, I simply asked previous cabinets for any objections they may have had for a CS acceptance, and that was how we did things. That'll change now of course, but until then, that is the way I dealt with things. I would see a CS application, notify the others if it looked legitimate to me, and then I would wait a little while to give time for any objections. So if I was slow to accept any citizenships Janty, it is because I was still talking with people. You were not in a lot of them, because some members would contact me privately about their thoughts on a proposal. There is also the Adjuncts thread, where I had to take time for them as well.

You may not see everything I do, but I assure you, I am behind the scenes in private talking with people. It's a rather strong claim that I don't do anything, one I wish you had come to me first about. I am a sort of man that highly values privacy when talking with people. It encourages us to be honest and more open, but in particular, ultimately more level headed.

As for your other points. With the other mass messages like in Nebula, yes. I don't post a lot. Again, I don't find the need to. Sometimes there are votes and I vote or I abstain via my absence. People have asked me in the alliance too whether I know there are votes going on, and I do. Do not worry.

You told me in private that I am unable to lead government, because I have not yet defended my colleagues. When facing politically charged accusations, it may seem easy to defend yourself merely by speaking of the principles you stand for or what ideology you stand for. But this does not bring help to either sides. Both sides can stand from behind their ivory towers and then there is an impasse. I have to speak on a personal level as best as I can, and crafting that takes a sort of emotion that I am not always fond of having to use. I have seen my mistakes from being too passionate over something. The burden is on me to reply in a careful and gentle manner.

That is partly why I seem so light-hearted and diffuse sometimes. I could try to be dispassionate over everything in this game, but that would crush me. Do you understand what I mean? I have to be dispassionate in my personal feelings towards those who choose to hurt me or those I care about, while still maintaining sunshine. In my private moments with others, I must even then do this, for pleasantness is not something I strive for with only a political purpose. It is what grows people.

So when I address incidents like what have been happening recently, I will take my time, because I must be sure I respond properly. If I go in and try to exacerbate the matter, even if it is unintentionally, because of how I may write in the heat of passion, then I am not putting forth what I feel is the best sort of effort. Writing from passion has its perks, but I choose today to take a step back now and quiet myself from this sort of politics. Because though I say I must not take things personally, I can still offer my personal, authentic self. That is what is important to me now, unlike when I was a younger eRepublik player, and merely felt that passion was enough to convey honesty. People require so much more than this.

By no means are you forcing me to be active, as you have told me. You are merely forcing me to be more careful. That is okay. I want to make myself clear to you, and then you may judge me on my actions in light of that. If you think I am too careful or quiet, I am okay with hearing that. But you must hear me out in the first place.

This is first and foremost a game, but a game about dealing with people. That is something I did not take as seriously when I was younger. Outrage should rarely be used to strengthen a political argument because it is so rarely helpful in actually solving anything. It just makes us mad. So I urge everyone to take a step back and think about what exactly is being thrown around, and why you so feel you must express it in that way.

With regards to Congress and the Councils, I have already addressed the nature of my relationship with Congress. I have never been added to the Congressional PMs as president or dictator, and I feel that is needed to maintain its integrity. We can reorganize exactly how the government gets information from them of course, but that will take some work. You feel like a secretary, and obviously I don't want that. As for me being re-elected dictator, I was not told I was re-elected either. I assumed I would continue the position when I was not told otherwise. Honestly, I did not want to make a deal out of announcing that I became dictator again. He/she is merely a button pusher.

Finally, I did get awfully quiet with writing articles. Normally I don't even write as much as I did during that election. I've been struggling to think of something fun to do that isn't just nonsense lolz. My artistic side can be slow and I'm sorry for that. I'm still working through the logistics of a sort of game show project I want to do, so yeah. It'll happen, I promise. 🙂 I like you guys too much not to.

TL😉R:
-I don't talk as much in the group chats because I use private chats as well, and the group chat is mostly for news and such. I did miss one of your posts I think, and I'm sorry. Reminders to me in private are appreciated because things get lost in the group chats.
-If I'm slow to accept citizenships, it is because others still have private thoughts they wish to express to me (or in that one case, I simply missed a post).
-Yes, I'm aware members of my government have been under fire and it's not just that I don't want to say anything stupid. I must say something meaningful and personal.
-I am doing my job, sometimes publicly, sometimes privately. Sometimes you see it, and these particular days, most of my work you don't. Most of you know me as outgoing or silly, so it must be odd to see little out of me, but I am a quiet, private person by nature. I just ask that you take that into evaluation.
-Can't rush artistic genius with these articles am I right?? I'm actually struggling with how I want to do it.

Vladislav Baloun:

I will be firm with this: Throwing around past history as the primary evidence for what measure of trust we should give to our new citizens ignores the other evidence. John Locked was accepted readily into the Czech Republic again as a citizen, and the only objections came when I put him into government. I am no fool, and I know of what he has been accused of. He is in my government though, because that is that chance I wish to give for him. You don't have to like it, but throwing around your suspicions without giving credit where it is due, I feel it is ungracious. That is not to say I don't think your suspicions are out of nowhere, it is just that in spite of them, there is clear good that is being done.

Despite what others may think of my activity, I have been watching my cabinet closely. I could not be more pleased with the work they are doing. There are a few bumps and oddities in communication, but we have worked in spite of those.

I do not fear a PTO. These citizens that we are accepting in come from many different parts of the eWorld. I'd find it a little odd if they were all coordinating for some conspiratorial left wing takeover. I do not mind that you disagree with our ideas of economy, but at least for me, our extra funding hasn't come through taxes. Rather, it is through patronage. We give because we believe in it. I don't think private charity is enough to move us out of our nation's isolated policies, or fund everything indefinitely, but it is what we are doing. You can assume we will go tax crazy if you like. I feel like what we are planning is a bit different.

But I am not here to talk about economic policy, so back to the matter at hand.

Maybe you feel that any past policies of bad politicians, who are now only loosely related to us now, make us unworthy of redemption. What makes politics so unpleasant is that we fail to realize that a mindset of tit for tat is not actually ruthless, or necessary political efficiency. Because again, this game is first and foremost about people, not politics. Dealing with people requires graciousness in our delegation of the tasks needed to run the country. I offered you a spot here, and you declined. That is fine, but if you wanted to impact policy, I wish you had joined. If you wanted to be the voice of opposition to whatever policies you may have found objectionable that I wanted to implement, I wish you came in and were. Ultimately, if you want to criticize the policies of this government, you have to specifically criticize my actions; you have to tell me why you object to what I am doing. My party may suggest things, but ultimately, I have the word on what goes through. I will not tolerate an attack on my delegates, when the real issues you will have with the policy that comes out of here will be with me.

Talk to me Vladislav. I am not an enemy or a figurehead or a brain dead CSD member. I am a person first. Treat me like one. If you have a problem specifically because you fear what policies may come, talk to me. Lay your anger and distrust on me. But do not punish these people who help me by publicly accusing them of being a product of past circumstances. I sincerely ask that you find in yourself grace to give to them, even if you feel they do not deserve it.

I don't care what party my cabinet members are all from. I delegate on the merit I see, and I knew that Rathena, John_White, Janty_F, and especially John Locked would at the least, work hard, along with everyone else I asked to advise me on government. And they have done so much more. Grace is necessary to find talent, in spite of our biases. Janty_F has ended up very strongly disagreeing with the way I run things, and perhaps feels that my particular methods aren't transparent enough. But I can appreciate even that, despite how much I disagree with the basis of his criticisms. He is not afraid to disagree with you or me. Fair play.

The Public at Large:

Indeed! I promised many articles, and I have delivered none. My weakness is that I can be filled with indecision, and I simply do not know what sort of article I want to publish. I saw how many things I posted before the election and thought to myself, "Why did I post this many articles?" So I told myself I would slow down a little and try to organize them better. Most of my articles and jokes are simply off the cuff, spontaneous little things. I wanted a little more depth. Unfortunately, it has gotten me into trouble. I have never really been good at art because of this. I WILL publish something, but it needs more work.

But otherwise, what has happened in our alliance and country? The Nebula alliance is going through some leadership changes due to some questionable activity (or, heh, lack thereof) and we're signing some MPP proposals with our allies. That's it. We haven't revamped the economy yet or changed any internal legislation. Our party has not gone wild and destroyed anything. We are just dealing with the relationships we've got for now, and we'll work from there.

Anyone who knows me is very aware that they are always free to contact me about anything that is happening in our country. That will always be my policy and always has been. If I seem quiet, rest assured. There's something going on, and it ain't anything rotten, eh?

I will continue to serve in my position. Sometimes quiet, sometimes loud. Please understand, and thanks for all the support I have gotten so far. My style of governance is not new, and it has done well back then, and now.

Warm regards,