I. One Bad Apple Spoils the Bunch

Day 1,556, 20:17 • Published in Canada Serbia • by Dereck Ryan


I’ve never owned a newspaper before today and I’ve never really given it much thought, either. That’s changed, obviously. I guess I’ve got more time on my hands these days, now that I’m no longer in university. That said, I probably wouldn’t have started a paper regardless, but for the political machinations of the last few days.

You have all heard by now about the efforts in Congress to grant Rolo a pardon. Perhaps, like me, you were shocked that such an attempt was underway. And yes, when I say shocked, I mean shocked. I can’t help it. The current congressional term was about to expire and certain members felt it necessary to push forward this agenda without public debate or consultation. Rather than wait for the election on the 25th, and run on a platform that includes a pardon for Rolo, they felt it necessary to put it to vote as quickly as possible before the term ended. Granted, they did give debate “at least 24 hours” to mature. HAH. Like a day is enough time to debate the merits of such an historic event.

I can understand the efforts at reconciliation, truly. I cannot, however, understand the reasons for forgiveness. What Rolo did all that time ago was THE MOST heinous act against eCanada I have seen in my nearly 3 years of existence, and I was here during the Hungarian PTO. To rob the treasury at a time when we were trying to rebuild and find our place in the world was a slap in the face. It set us back months and we live with that stain on our history to this day.

Yet that’s not all. Take a look at the list of political parties in Canada. The keen observers amongst you might notice something odd. Yup, Rolo has also been active in PTOing and thereby destroying several of our top political parties, and that isn’t ancient history. These were parties with long and storied histories and truly dedicated members that worked hard to build a community. Destroying the CPP and MOO was a selfish, childish act and it isn’t the type of action I would expect from a team player.

Let’s be clear – eRepublik is, at the most basic level, a team game. The very notion of citizenship implies belonging to something greater than oneself. The vast majority of players accept this unwritten rule and happily go about their daily affairs with that in mind. I usually try to avoid using a dichotomous view of society, but I really feel that in this case the old adage applies: you are either with us, or you are against us. There is no other way to see it. You cannot run about nilly-willy, robbing from the state and destroying the hard work of countless citizens and claim to be playing on the same team.

Similarly, if you support such acts by way of a pardon, you are NOT playing on the same team. Your allegiances have changed and you can’t be trusted to do the right thing for eCanada in the future. So, who has stopped playing for eCanada? Who supports unconditionally pardoning the greatest threat to eCanadian advancement?

They are:

crisfire
mirek12345
Sasha KammakitzJen
Code-Y
ultimate523
Homer J Simpson
Simon Boucher-Ruest
KateyValentine
Gary Hubert
Dierios
Nogin the Nog
James McNamara

I strongly urge all eCanadians who wish to build this country with honesty, integrity and a sense of community pride to vote for anyone BUT those listed above. Rolo hasn’t changed, he hasn’t shown willingness to change and I can’t accept that he’ll ever change. You shouldn’t either. On Election Day, make your vote count. Vote for candidates who did not support this outlandish pardon.