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Against the Party Clubs


What immeditately follows is a transcript of a conversation with a Party Recruiter, informing that particular party (names ommitted so as not to lead the reader to imagine there is but one problematic party in eCanada) of my ultimate refusal to join, owing to past experiences, and a deeper reflection upon them. Following this is a discourse on the danger of the "Party Club."

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From
[Party Club Recruiter] 2011-01-14 19:14:06 Delete
Report message [PARTY CLUB]

you should join us if youre back

From
William Duncan 2011-01-15 12:44:45 Delete
Report message Re: [PARTY CLUB]

Dear [Party Club Recruiter],



Upon further consideration, I refuse your offer to join the [Party Club], remembering now their immoral, ungrateful and ridiculously (in the literal-critical sense, not in the sense of hyperbole) half-hazard treatment of me in times past. The [Party Club]'s methods and tactics, unless I can be satisfied are and have been truly reformed, are otherwise contemptible ; furthermore, they are excessively clique-ish, clubish, etc., and this is inherently dangerous to eCanada's overall polity, solidarity and national interests. Lastly, their mentality was overly childish with a useless addiction to comedy, triffles and other irrelevant activities. For these reasons - if to this day they are yet evident in and of the [Party Club] itself - I shall not support or otherwise accept, encourage, etc., membership in the [Party Club], and shall for those same reasons assume the suspicious or critical attitude toward all its advocated policies.





Respectfully,

WD.


From
[Party Club recruiter] 2011-01-15 12:56:21 Delete
Report message Re: Re: [PARTY CLUB]

lol, what now?


From
William Duncan 2011-01-15 13:12:59 Delete
Report message Re: Re: Re: [PARTY CLUB]

Dear [Party Club Recruiter],



As to your inquiry, "What now?"

My plan of action consists of actively opposing the [Party Club] and drawing those in it far from and out of it, and - by what means I can - enlisting them into a more positive political formulation.

Depending on how true or accurate my assessment of the [Party Club] is, this shall be met with certain characteristical behaviours and reaction from the [Party Club], which shall serve as positive reencouragement toward my goal, viz., reconstituting the majority of eCanadians into a political formulation that is more positive, for themselves and their ecountry.



Respectfully,

WD

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What Is a "Party Club ?"

I use the term, "Party Club," to help describe ePolitical Parties that organize themselves very similarly to how one might a private club, but one that is nonetheless open to the general public (like a night club) - with a few (seemingly unimportant) conditions satisfied to permit general admittance. The words "party" and "club" help describe the overall atmosphere inside these parties ; that is, (to use eRepublik lingo) all too often "for the lulz."

What's Wrong with Party Clubs ?

Party Clubs are, as I said above, often far too "club-ish" and "clique-ish." They typically maintain party lines by aggressively, and sometimes even mercilessly, granting or depriving e-social favours, be it as simple as being publicly and warmly welcomed by the Party Club or otherwise coldly and sternly rejected and dejected before peers. Party Clubs, like the name implies, are truly organized around a private clique of persons who personally benefit from, and often outright use, the remainder. Party Clubs manifest a strange conjoining of two otherwise opposing principles ; namely, citizens who by their nature are truly "anti-social" with those who are truly sociable.

And What's Wrong with That ?

The pressing problem is that Parties so constituted become an existential threat to the e-country. They tend to addict their members to the favours and society of the Party Club, which works to re-align the natural and default allegiance of citizens away from their country and fellow-citizens, and perverts that into a dangerous allegiance to very private citizens or individuals, who may or may not be concerned with the real interests of the e-country.

Signs and Symptons of a Party Club

- An excessive indulgence in idle, off-topic talk
- A propensity to the trivial, often made obvious by encouragement and participation in trivia
- A "for the lulz" atmosphere
- A fixation on comedy and tendency to confuse comedians, because they are popular, as also being credible leaders
- An "in-group" and "out-group" mentality towards the status of citizens, based rarely if ever on national reasons, but on likeability or acceptibility
- A very real sense of peer pressure at play
- Constant combativeness with real or imagined threats or competitors

The Danger

The ultimate and very real danger of Party Clubs is the dolling out of favours, which can create a seemingly vital dependence of citizens upon their particular Party Club, which favours also serve to induce citizens to become members. Party Clubs offer advancement often without regard to merit, capability or suitability, but based purely on domicility ; that is, a willingness to do as one's told and to play one's part, as it were. Citizens might find themselves assuming too much, imagining that their Party Club would never have any reason to ask them to go against either their conscience or the e-national interest. Such citizens, being elevated to high and real e-Offices (such as Congressmen, Presidents, Justices, etc.) are often ill-equipped for the real requirements of those offices, and therefore become even more dependent upon the help and advice of their "Party Clubs." With time and practice, however, we might expect such dependency to diminish. At such stages, the citizen and public servant is now torn between his or her indebtitude to their Party Club on one hand, and moral and practical considerations on the other, which might be contrary to the interests of the Party Club or one its prominent or important members, who often may be quite jaded - and not a little diluted - by the Party Club culture.

Retaliations

If a citizen finds themselves on the wrong end of a Political Club's favour, we see a shocking reversal of extremes : from being habituated to receiving real, coerced or conjured praise, acceptance, etc., to now being isolated, attacked, and in serious confusion about whom they can or cannot trust. Few can cope with such sudden and dramatic reversals : their social support structure is compromised, and they find themselves often in need of help from those who, in times past, their Party Club actively fostered enmity with. This means one's fall from grace, as it were - regardless of its reasons - will result in a general tarring and feathering, as one's previous Party Club's opponents are rarely so benevolent (they themselves often being memebers of their own Party Club) as to forgive, and let live, as it were.

Results : Lame-duck Democracy

This results in a lame-duck democracy, and an equally lame-duck e-country. It doesn't require too much imagination to see that such an e-culture will result in often incompentent citizens holding some of the most important offices, and the civil-service being filled with private, often pointless, creatures of the Party Clubs. It results in pointless animosity and distrusts that destroy the nation's civility and social harmony. It fosters trivial e-cultural pursuits that center around entertainment and popularity contests, distracting the e-nation from its vital and long-term interests. Worst of all, the worse it gets, the more necessary it seemingly becomes to participate as these Party Clubs monopolize and utilize coveted offices and institutions.


A Warning to Citizens

Socizalizing is well and good, but too much of it is not. Moderation is necessary in all things. Trying to impress one's peers often results in a Wizard of Oz type fallacy, where we think we need someone else to certify that we have a brain or a heart. Of course we do. Public opinion of us is not so important as objective standards we have for ourselves ; e.g., doing what is right whenever we are able, etc. The best way to legitimately advance in any society is to be of good will and service, to place oneself at the disposal of others for the common good. In this way we learn the basics at the beginning, and steadily advance in competency, while earning a good reputation. The added benefit of this is that one does not rely strictly on the favour of others, but by combination and upon one's own, often hard-earned (through failues and successes, but especially the failures) experience.




Take Care,
WD