East of Eden

Day 748, 19:45 • Published in USA USA • by Lowell Kennedy

This article is so titled because of my connection to James Dean and the general circumstances of where I am and where America is today. America has always been my Eden in this game, the place I was born and helped to cultivate and nurture. That perfect place for me in this game.

I recommend you listen to Southside of Heaven as you read. There’s something rugged, and somewhat uninspiring, about this course, a sentiment the song captures perfectly.

More often than ever, it takes extraordinary circumstances to strike up my interest in writing an article. However, when I am so moved, I find it necessary to speak aloud. I know my thoughts are not always well-received. I expect that to be the case now. There has been much moralizing and rationalizing of the recent events. I don’t seek to do either but to play a soliloquy that replaces my silence on what’s happening and to explain myself.

Let me first state that I am not privy to any high level discussions of what is going on. Nor do I want to be. I am satisfied to be the outsider. Especially, when considering some members of the ‘in’ crowd couldn’t tally a hand's worth of correct decisions. Some have built cults of personality and reinforced them by promoting their supposed expertise (I’m not talking about Emerick, though he is the first that jumps to mind when someone says cult of personality in the game). What amazes me is now that they have been elected to control the levers of power. I take solace in knowing they will come and go. They devote more hours a day than many of us can in a month. Kudos to those who have time to waste. They will burn out.

Let’s be frank; this was the course of least resistance towards high resource regions. The war drum has been beating for some time now. The frothing dogs of war have ceased using any semblance of reasoning in their course. They have rationalized, and we should not mistake one for the other. America will flex its muscles as much as possible, to show strength for the Serbians and other rising nations to see.

People don’t always recognize the intricacies when they look at such a simple game. Many just see a war game. A couple see a social experiment. A few see an economic simulator. All are right and the view you take depends what your views and values are. It, nevertheless, amazes me how we overlook simple human nature. I stopped being shocked when people steal gold, hack organizations, or cheat in some other way. It reflects the lying, cheating, and stealing that we see in real life. Cuz we’re all humans besides Emerick. We forget many things but we remember who hits us. We see this on the national level of this game. It’s not coincidence that Hungary lines opposite of Romania at every turn. We sometimes support our allies; we always fight our enemies—simple human nature.

America has set its course and along the way it will make many enemies. America may very accomplish everything its leadership sets out to do. Yet, I will fight against it at every turn because I swore long ago to fight what Indonesia was becoming. Now, as much as I don’t want to see it in America, I see a new Indonesia, the bad guy, so to speak, and I can’t support the bad guy.

Every one is waiting on the end of the world and it won’t come in this game. The game goes on and those enemies you’ve created won’t forget. It’s the wrong course to choose, but I’m afraid it’s already chosen. That’s why I am in the far east instead of my Eden.