eUSA Congress BRAWL

Day 3,737, 14:25 • Published in USA USA • by Gnilraps

Date: Day 3737 of the New World






Last night I bought the movie “Darkest Hour” and watched it. If it weren’t so late I’d have watched it twice. It was awesome.


It tells the story of Winston Churchill’s first days and weeks as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It unapologetically portrays Churchill as a man of flawed genius.


“Nobody strings together words better than you do,” says his stenographer. Indeed Churchill is one of the most quotable figures of the 20th Century.


“How are you able to manage when you are drinking (alcohol) all day?” asks his King. “Practice”, replies Churchill.


Flawed. Genius. Don’t miss this film.




But there’s an important reason I mention it today.


Throughout the days and evenings of meetings with Parliament, War Council, Party members, and even family, Churchill was often at odds with those around him. He had strong views. So did those around him. And when people have strong views, they argue. A lot.


At times Churchill was wrong. At other times he was right. But what was important throughout was that there was a common goal being pursued during a time of incredible duress. In brief, Churchill came to power as a ‘hawk’ with a checkered past at a time when his ‘dove’ predecessor (Neville Chamberlain) had lost the confidence of Parliament. Why? Because the entire British army was surrounded by the Germans; hemmed in at Dunkirk. Stressful times.


But what has me thinking today is how those men in government had extremely heated debates, even calling into question one another’s character, motive, morality, and patriotism. They argued HARD.


And it was a good thing.


Those arguments were necessary for the forging of a vision. In Churchill’s case, it was a vision for the miracle-rescue of the troops at Dunkirk. (Don’t complain to me about ‘spoiler alert’, if you don’t know what happened at Dunkirk then shame on you.)


OK, so what about eRepublik?





You won’t catch me trying to suggest that the things that go on in eRep are even remotely important like the events of WWII. But there are some similarities. It’s a war game. There are eNations. We run a government. We have Parties.


And most importanly, we are real people. Behind our avatars and energy bars are living breathing human beings with emotions and passions and concerns and flaws and occassional moments of genius.


So it is necessary that we argue.


Lately we’ve been arguing a lot in eUS Congress. Because we have a (beautiful and flawed) forum where we conduct our affairs, our arguments can be played out at great length. At times people say things that are every bit as quotable in the context of eRepublik as Churchill’s highlights were in the context of WWII. At other times we throw down a meme and move on.


But if we are at our best, we are arguing… vociferously… passionately… at times almost insanely. At times we’ve all been right, and at other times we’ve been wrong.


But our brightest hours have not been those free of argument. No. When the halls of Congress grow silent with stale air we are at our worst. Our brightest hours are our loudest, most active arguments.


I’ll admit that things occassionaly get acrimonious. It doesn’t happen very often, really. Don’t get me wrong there are insults slung with regularity (and hilarity). But that’s sometimes what passionate people say to those who disagree. (At one point in the film Churchill’s own wife calls him a pig, and it’s a wonderful moment of truth.)


Let’s all remember that what separates this game from most of the other clickfests is the near-real relationships we have with our friends and enemies.





So today I salute the eUSA Congress. You are a beautiful mess. Your pettiness is profound. Your maliciousness is magnificent. Your assinine arguments are awesome. You are flawed (and yes we know that some of your Congressmen are drunk all day just like Churchill was!). You are genius (MensaHQ FTW!!!).


I also encourage every active Citizen of eUSA to do a few easy things.

ONE
Get yourself an account on the eUSA Forum and peruse the Legislative Branch Boards.

TWO
Identify yourself to your Party leadership as someone who wants to put on some boxing gloves and spar in Congress. You won’t regret this. You might get a black eye, but hopefully you can dish out too, and Congress will be a better place having you.

THREE
Don’t ever believe those who tell you that the Forum is a toxic environment. It is not teatime with your Nana… it’s a brawl-a-minute. But it’s a game within this game.

FOUR
By all means ask someone (I’m famous for answering questions no matter what party you are in) and get some help with orientation.


This game is still worth playing if we will just play.


And one last note to those I’m currently arguing with in Congress.


I love you, man.



You may now return to your regularly scheduled clicking.