Thoughts on Austria
Rangeley
For eleven months, the same general philosophy was used when establishing governments of Austria. Active members of the community would be reached out to and included into the government. This wasn't so much about building political coalitions, as political support was not a pre-requisite. How could it be if some people were included in several proposed cabinets? It wasn't about putting your opponent as your vice president, which happened very rarely. It was, instead, about recognizing the contributions of others in Austria. It was about building faith that you didn't plan to just push through an agenda without the community behind you. And it was about recognizing that no one person, party, or group, has all the answers.
But this practice - a genuine rarity in small nations who are often very polarized - showed brightest during perhaps our darkest hour, in a way we could not have planned for. The strength of the community - which stretched well beyond party or particular political views - enabled us a sense of continuity when taken over by two successive forces, first Hedera's presidential TO and later the Croatian congressional TO. Community leaders, with an almost surprising degree of legitimacy, were able to rally Austria, and form shadow governments that were quickly accepted both at home and abroad. The duties of the government were continued, and the takeovers failed to lead to a large displacement of people who had lost hope. That doesn't happen often. Neither does success against a takeover force - and Austria drew the attention of quite a few observers as being a rare case when a small nation managed to pull it off.
Who is in the community?
While the community of eAustria stretched beyond political views and groups, it also stretched beyond the real life location in which people live. Indeed - one shortcoming of recent government criticism is that there are Hungarians in the community, and Fragreg is the perfect example. There's no form you have to fill out to be in the community - there is no one person you have to be friends with to be in it either. Membership is, by and large, a decision made by individuals to participate. This can be in our IRC channels, it can be in our media. Membership comes to those who put themselves out there, make themselves known. And in so doing, they contribute to the life of eAustria.
Not only is Fragreg a trusted member of the community - he is a former president whose term was accepted by nearly everyone as legitimate. Clearly, the issue is not that Kikericsy is a Hungarian.
The Difference
Not only is Kikericsy an unknown to the vast majority of eAustrians - he posted one article in Austria over five months ago - but much of his cabinet is similarly unknown. He was supported by a political coalition, with a few exceptions, that consisted entirely of people who, while their contributions to the military operations of Austria cannot be disputed, have largely never participated in public affairs - never posted articles, never met others on IRC. Raising other issues, this political coalition also almost entirely consists of people who have come in recent months under the guise of fighting the Croatian takeover, from eHungary.
That they would then turn around and push through such a largely unknown candidate, when we have placed such a large importance (and rightly so) on having people earn our trust before being given the keys to the highest office of Austria, of course has caused great concern. Dismissing the opposition as the "same old same old," which certain members of the government have tried to do, is a gross misinterpretation of the situation.
Austria Threatened
While talk of foreign policy often is the centerpiece of what is important to Austria, the truth, as discussed above, is that it has been our emphasis on a greater community that has pulled us through the toughest of times. For the first time since early 2009, when Austria was put back on the map through a resistance war, we have a government led by an individual who is not a member of the community of eAustria. Not through exclusion - but through his own choice to not participate.
It raises a very dangerous prospect in my mind. With a steady and undeniable increase of citizens coming from Kikericsy's army group - including many who were approved on election day itself - it is possible that this group could become so large that the community of eAustria - the public world here where people can rise to prominence by making a name for themselves and playing a political game - will be displaced. The biggest safeguard against malicious takeovers - against the typical dangers of invasion - would be destroyed. Our country would be left vulnerable, and dependent on one exclusive military group to hold off all others.
This is something everyone who supports Kikericsy must consider. Whether you want to define this - a military group that grows so large it can win elections on its own - as a takeover (certainly it cannot be compared to the blatent harmful intent showed by the Croatians) is up to you, but personally I don't think the name matters. What matters is an honest recognition of what is happening.
And what matters more is a recognition of what to do next.
From Here
It may only be several days into the presidency of Kikericsy, but it has become more than clear that a dire mistake has been made which can never be repeated. We have taken a hit internationally, where person after person has asked me about the "takeover of Austria" and I am left to say, over and over, "it's not a takeover, its just bad politics." And bad politics this most certainly is, as the home front media can attest - no president, not even Hedera, has earned such ire from the community of Austria. Even he recognized you had to be active in the community to earn peoples trust, and reach out to other active people to form a government.
An Austria led by a secretive military group is not an Austria I want to be a part of. It's not an Austria most people want to be a part of. To those who oppose Kikericsy, please stop attacking the government because of where they are from. Focus on the real problem, and articulating it. Focus on the great danger Austria has been placed in.
To those who support him, please recognize the arrogance of pushing through an unknown candidate to the vast majority of Austria, and then acting with shock and dismissal when people object. Recognize that while some things do need changing, the fact Austria has had a strong community of active people is one of the few things going for it. If you want to start a political revival, become active in politics -first-, not after you have pushed an unknown through to the -presidency-. Look for candidates who are known that you can support, and support them. Surely this can be done, as it was done before. Trust -must- be earned, it can never be merely expected.
And to all of Austria, we must never again repeat this mistake. We must not undo what is in fact our greatest collective achievement that, through all else, has endured. We should not destroy the bulwark that saved our nation and leave us vulnerable to future threats. We must learn from this mistake, and do better next time. This month, though just beginning, has been more than enough.
Comments
Fully supported, this is one amazing article!
Adeptus Astartes can not push a candidate themselves. Fact is the candidates who was supported by a coalition of which I myself was part of were simply more plreasent to the people than their oponents. There was not a single strong candidate so far but rather those 'oponents' destroyed their own credibility with their own actions.
If you ask around in the IRC channel you will hardly find anyone who supports Kaiser, Samu, Nikan or Dietmar. The people are not stupid and can see if somebody tries to hide behind big words so please to not blame the others if you fail to present a strong candidate yourself.
Lol, a coalition? Dont try to lie to all the serious eAustrians here. There was 50 OBVIOUS hun citizenship requests which obviously means 50 OBVIOUS votes for Kickseriously. Then there is you and I am assuming around... Well 6. Saying that Omnicorp cannot push a candidate itself is ludicrous, as even without any bias they have 50 definite votes for themselves, and thats without winning anyone over.
You also seem to completely ignore a third of this article pointing out Kickseriously's complete and utter ignorance to the entire population. No-one knows who he is but his co-conspirators and Hungary! As for support on the IRC, out of the ten active people that go there, I'll think you find Fragreg calls in the cavalry whenever a debate is going to make it look like he has support. Most of the people in IRC are ingame inactive, foreign, or dont even play.
Please, respond to my comment rather than trolling.
Rangeley you are speaking the truth. What I meant wasn't that I was against Kikericsy and his cabinet, because they were Hungarian, but rather against those very things which you pointed out so nicely, just that I failed to express them the same-proper-way you did. No matter how good a president Kikericsy will be it can't be denied that democracy in our country died a bit since the election day and no smooth talk from his vainness Penegrin will change that fact. KU supported Kikericsy, but without all the militia's votes he wouldn't have stood a chance.
Now for the fun part🙂 Penegrin would you have the kindness of naming people and not generalizing shiz like that. That's not as smart as you think it is. Proper arguments are made of facts and not hyperboles.
>no president, not even Hedera, has earned such ire from the community of Austria.
You mean only two people were constantly crying under the articles not three? HOLY CRAP 😮
"It's not just a few people who have concerns about this government, and I'm not really a fan of singling people out to downplay the importance of concerns."
Yes but that's exactly what they do. We don't need to be afraid of not having the right to speak out loud, because this has already been taken away from us. People have been dissed and cast out of the political society by certain members of that very society That goes back even before Kikericsy became president. Some like to play this little game of backstabbing and those who are concerned will know when they rea this.
samu-L: "People have been dissed and cast out of the political society"
Finally, your real problem surface😛 YOU were left out from the cabinet. : D
Oh, wait, and so did Rangeley, and Kaiser Alex.. What a coincidence, right? : P
No this is simply another attack on my credibility. I am talking about Kaiser who has been dissed like that before. For calling Rangeley a butthurt loser-indirectly of course-you must be totally stoned for everybody who knows Rangeley knows that he is the calmest and most level-headed of Austrian politicians. I know that this reply will just cause many other skull-heads or omni-bots to appear. Taking you as a group you are strong, but if one talks to one of you alone you turn out to be just a bunch of two-clickers who happen to participate in battles once in a while-this does not include the leaders who really do put a lot of effort in the game-and then you don't seem so strong or smart at all. I just need to look up that comment where one of you tells me he hasn't bee so active in like over half a year. This fascism is pathetic.
Attack on your credibility? What would be the point in attacking something that doesn't exist... : )
Add average-troll FAIL to that list above. Please don't try yourself at trolling. If I want to see people making complete idiots of themselves up to te point where one doesn't know whether to laugh at them or cry because of the fact how some humans abandon their dignity for whatever reason I can watch "Big Brother".
Just let Switzerland conquer you and all your problems will be over.
If I want to see people making complete idiots of themselves up to te point where one doesn't know whether to laugh at them or cry because of the fact how some humans abandon their dignity for whatever reason I can always read your comments.
We have gone from failing to mimicking eh? You don't even know what dignity is so there really is no point in talking with somebody like you.
You are not worthy of my time, that's why I use your own words to point out the butthurtness you must feel for being left out from the cabinet. : )
I would be quite content to remain out of the cabinet and have even done so willingly on several occasions in order to let others have positions. The concerns expressed in this article are not about including me, but rather about the key role the active community has played here, and the mistake that is made by neglecting it through the election of someone who has not participated in it or made themselves known.
Nice read, actual it has some meat in it. (Samu, Kaiser this is called argument and discussion what is in this article so you know what you two should be doing if you actualy wanted to make any sense).
Rangeley, what you may want to put into perspective is that out of approx 200 Austrians 79 voted for Kikericsy, so claiming that he nad his supporting team (we all know people vote for the team/supporting parties as much as for the actual person) is unknown to vast majority might be cheesy. The cabinet was known before the elections, so i dare to say that there is a majority who is willing to give new faces a chance, and let the old dogs take their well deserved rest (there were complaints that the same faces being rotated in goverment positions, if i recall correctly from the las couple of months). In my view you dont need to hold goverment position to have your impact, that is what irc, congress and press is for, use them in an intelligent manner. Unfortuneatly what Kaiser and Samu is doing does look pretty much that they are not being able to accept defeat plus the way they present themselves easily makes their arguments nuisence even if a some of the would be worthy of thinking about.
I say give the cabinet a chance and make your voice heard in an intelligent manner, that is currently the best for all of us and for Austria.
AlianSK
Some of our arguments are worth thinking about you say. Now why doesn't anybody do so? In the beginning we simply protested with our own arguments. Even Kaiser wrote a serious article where he trolllessly explained what he doesn't like about the govt. Yet all we got in response is stupid trolling from people like ArmweniaE. Nobody from the govt. took our criticism into consideration which only proves my point of the govt. not listening to its own people. Yes we were trolling a LOT, but we also got trolled in return so all we did was getting more agressive until even the biggest ArweniaE douche couldn't ignore us any longer. Even after me quitting this protest will continue and you had better listen to it instead of ridiculing it for it is Austrians you are talking to.
Worth thinking about does not equal agreeing with it. I hear your arguments and i am presenting mine, which is not in agreement with yours. It does not mean i dont respect your opinion (when it is presented in civilized manner) i do, i just think that is not the only way. As things stand, it looks whatever is happening likely to be closer to my views, then yours. Belive me normaly presented arguments are heard and noted even if they do not form part of the current govermental work in progress.
As for the trolling business, not everything you got was stupid trolling, i personaly dont recall my answers for example being trollish. You decided to pick up on the more aggressive ones and the vicious circle went on its way.
well that's how it works: someone trolls you, you troll back;people who report are not welcome. Regard it as the unwritten law of eRep🙂
Re: AlienSK
To some extent you will always face issues of people who will accuse candidates of being "chosen behind closed doors" - ultimately, the party presidents do choose the candidates, afterall. And a few were there to accuse Fragreg, Penegrin, and Thomas of this. In those cases, it was easy to defend them: they did what anyone can do, they became active, they made contributions, they earned the peoples trust, etc. Anyone who did the same could also find success. What sets this current case apart from previous is that Kikeriscy did not follow this same course, and was selected without making contributions in that way. This will of course be objectionable to many people, but more than that, its a risky way of doing things into the future. If the public world doesn't matter, and its just a matter of "knowing the right people," there will be political apathy and people will just stop caring (or alternatively, they will just try to suck up to the people they think they need to). Neither of these situations really will help activity in Austria.
Giving the current cabinet a chance is really the only thing we can do for now, so it should of course be done😛 If they become active as a result of being thrust into the top positions, great. But party presidents and other leaders in Austria really do have a responsibility to keep in mind what effect their decisions will have on Austria. I would say a candidate you don't feel too confident in is a better pick than a guy you know but that really hasn't put himself out there in Austria - you might disagree, or you might think they are equally bad, but that choice can be avoided entirely if you choose a candidate who you are both confident in, and has also put himself out there😛
This is exactly what I was accusing the govt. of. Kikericsy got voted by huns because he is a hun. Not because of any of his non-existant political deeds, but just because he belongs to the right group of people. In return for saying this out loud I got attacked by the most retarded of trolls. Fragreg, Ymdar and AlienSK have proven their good intentions, their competence and intelect by being active members of this community, by giving good advice, by being active in the media and communicating with EVERYBODY. A Hatszeg, ArweniaE or Mogyi have hardly done anything beyond their duties as footsoldiers yet these people start trolling me. Just why do I feel that they are below my level and my dignity?🙂
On a sidenote: I wouldn't go trolling Kikericsy in Hungary either for I know he has done great things there, but this is Austria and if you want respect do something for it.
Thank you for writing again. I always enjoy your articles.
I can only loosley quote this i think: "Kikericsy is the best President we have" 😛
Like i said i see where you coming from, and cant deny that from your angle their is certain truth to it. But i also think true value of this choice we will see in a months time. As for trolls they are everywhere i think they were born on the same day internet was 🙂
Thank you for writing again. I always enjoy your articles. 2x
voted.