Norway internally crippled by partisan self-interest
Ailurus fulgens
Twas the night before Jul, when all through the hus
Not a smaadyr was stirring, not even a mus.
The stokkings were hung by the chimni with care,
In hopes that Stassi soon would be there TO ATTACK!
ANGRIP!!! DESTROY THE INFIDEL!!!!
*ahem*
Summary
Norway has four political parties. Two of the largest and most active are Teknokratene (TeK) and Binary Party (BP).
Following the election of Teknokratene member Eris Caelestis as Norway's president in December 2009, I was appointed to be the Norwegian Minister of Communications, a new role designed to streamline the efficiency and communication of intergovernmental and citizen organizations. Once the cabinet was formed, there was a distinct lack of participation from anyone in the Binary Party (with the exception of Sigurd Aasen who has been absent due to real-world priorities). The rest of us were all members of Teknokratene, the party which accounts for less than half of the active political members in a country with a small population.
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BP boycotts Norway's government
It was not Eris' intention to exclusively appoint members of her own party, and there was a distinct problem. The Binary Party, which had previously worked in unison with Teknokratene, had silently issued a boycott against the Norwegian government. This is widely believed to be due to the disturbance caused by the departure of former Norwegian president Cirno, a high-profile Binary Party leader who had lost the bid for re-election against Eris in December 2009. Immediately after losing, Cirno released a highly controversial announcement about his resignation from politics where he thoroughly listed and took credit for all of the things his BP-led administration was responsible for and chastised Norwegian voters, saying "you didn't let me benefit of the success." He would later downplay this departure as fulfilling his wish to join the mobile military forces yet spend the remaining month as an influential BP advisor and political commentator, as seen by comments left here. He tried returning to Congress as a BP candidate on December 25 but was prevented from running by a glitch that affected their party president's candidate choices.
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Binary Party member HeatedCoffee objects to Cirno's response to the election.
Due to the Binary Party boycott against Teknokratene, and subsequently the Norwegain government, Eris and her administration remained loyal to their obligations to serve Norway. This meant that additional roles needed to be filled. Without a dedicated Minister of Finance, Eris and Vice President Reboot took control over the state budget. Without a dedicated Minister of Foreign Affairs, I took on the vacant MoFA position. Why was this necessary? Why didn't BP want political power? Was it because Teknokratene refused to work with their competitors?
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No. Eris publicly gave specific priority to every Binary Party member who would work in Norway's government, seen in this public announcement. The facts were clear. The Binary Party refused to work for Norway's democratically-elected government. To our lack of bemusement, they would try to deny that they were boycotting the Norwegian government, despite practically admitting it: "all the politicians from BP is prioritising party politics instead of national politics." First, however, they broke the silence that befell Norwegian politics and unleashed a flurry of attacks against their rivals.
BP attacks harmless, educational TeK campaigns
One of the first promotional campaigns from Teknokratene after the presidential election was an article called the Norway Congress FAQ, which instructed and encouraged both citizens aspiring to become politicians and existing TeK members to run for Congress. As the Teknokratene party president, I released this article not only to increase activity inside of our party, but also as a way to put members on a quick path to fill the vacant government positions and receive training in political administration. This seemingly-benign action triggered a massive assault from prominent members of the Binary Party, as seen in comments. Being attacked by people I both held trust and respect for was not anticipated and certainly came as a surprise.
BP denies boycott against Norway's government
In the words of Damien Alexander, party president of Binary Party:
"We have also been accused for somehow 'boycotting' this government, because we lost the election? This is not true!"
What's BP's take on this?
All of the attacks on TeK and our government have been justified by BP for the following reasons.
1. Eris had exactly the same the same campaign promises as Cirno.
2. Since Eris promised the same thing as Cirno, her administration can manage alone.
3. Eris' administration should accept being attacked because BP is their political enemy.
What this article used to be
This article used to be a collection of quotes from four of the loudest, most outspoken loyalists of the Binary Party. There were scores of quotations among them, direct citations of unprovoked attacks, slander, accusations, fear-mongering and suspicion-raising dissent against the Norwegian government and Teknokratene. My better judgment told me that although effective, simply copying and pasting their quotations out of context was going overboard. That is why everything you see here has been replaced by my honest recollection of the events that transpired over the month of December 2009.
Unhealthy competition
Cirno and Binary Party's leaders have made the accusation that me and my friends are "all talk" and "no action," and "talk is cheap." The only "talk" we have been doing has either been a direct response to BP's attacks or an explanation of what progress has been made in government despite the lack of available manpower. In an ideal bipartisan government, everyone should be trying to out-perform one another. The impression I have received from Binary Party is that they want our Teknokratene government administration to fail, and since they have purposefully invested nothing in the Norwegian government. It will only benefit their partisan agenda to see us weak so they can keep pointing their fingers at us, assuming they are needed to become our "saviors," To quote Scorpicus, "we can't be expected to save your government." It is the ultimate guilt trip placed on the Norwegian people for not letting Binary Party "benefit of the success," to use Cirno's parting words, and this infuriates me.
I digress. The ideal government we were aiming for shared power, and gave Binary Party a chance to prove to the Norwegian people that they could do a better job than us. Instead, they have played the same card against the Norwegian people by saying, "You made it pretty clear in the election that TeK would do a better job than BP, and that our work was 'bad'" and subsequently the responsibilities of our administration are spread too thin among few hard-working people. "Talk is cheap," and talk is all we have seen from Binary Party this month. Notice that I emphasize this month, because I have seen they are intelligent and capable of doing a great job under Cirno's leadership. Their lack of innovation and resort to defame the Norwegian government is a terrible consequence of short-sighted vengeance against the Norwegian public, and it needs to come to an end.
Reflecting on what I said about Cirno
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The good ol' days.
Even if it was wrong of me to publicly discuss my experiences with Cirno, the ensuing rebellion became a self-fulfilling prophecy through an ironic twist of fate. My resentment towards his actions originated from his attitude against people outside of his own political party. Me saying this was interpreted as criticism against the entire Binary Party, causing the aforementioned attacks, and resulting in more of the same thing I once criticized Cirno for.
Why is this any fun?
The reason I came to eRepublik was not so I could have a fun time messing around in chat rooms or insulting people I'll probably never meet! I came here because eRep is a strategy game that allows a lot of people to come together and find solutions to simulated conflicts. It is a mind-expanding exercise, and a social one that allows us to meet both friends and rivals in terms of ideologies. The challenge itself is enjoyable to me, and I enjoy learning from other talented individuals and utilizing my skill set and personality to accomplish this. I strongly feel that I am not alone in this endeavor. People I have met all over the New World share this common objective, including people who are political enemies today. There is no need for any of this to be personal or taken too seriously, but I take pride in my hobby and dislike the bad sportsmanship witnessed throughout last month. The attacks have been demotivational to myself and those investing their time on our country's improvements, and there is no reason we can't remain respectful to each other by drawing a line between constructive criticism and uncouth slander. Allow us each our individual differences, but tolerate them as well.
Divided, the perils we face
Say hello to our new "friends."
After the December 25 Congress elections, we saw several new, unknown faces enter Congressional politics. I don't know about you, but when I was brought into the New World for the first time I wasn't yelling, "HAIL EDEN!" or displaying propaganda from our parent alliance like these people were. This raises a red flag for suspicious behavior, especially when these pro-EDEN newborns politically out-perform the real Norwegians in the region without saying a word about recent events or politics (probably because they are neither Norwegian or English-speaking). There are more people like this who have entered our country, even increasing our total population by 15% in one day. Our government needs all available hands to prepare for ominous times ahead.
The bipartisan solution
This coming January 2010 presidential election, I am calling upon all members of Binary Party and Teknokratene to support one candidate for president and form a bilateral cabinet for Norway's government. We need to put everything behind us and focus on defining our roles in Norway's future. This is probably the hardest thing for us to do, since it is so easy to dwell on the negativity we feel against our opponents. I know first-hand how hard it is to drop feelings of vengeance when you feel so justified and righteous. Don't let these feelings cloud your judgment as they once clouded mine.
Join me at http://erepublik.no/ so we can begin the process of assembling qualified candidates, ministers, and leaders for Norway's future!
Comments
I agree with your last paragrapgh, it´s time to settle things down, we don´t need a party fight, a little beef not more, this only damages our country.
We should look forward and above our all mistakes we might did in the past.
We shall never forget that we all are responsible for eNorway and we owe this country something.
Our very best.
"This coming January 2010 presidential election, I am calling upon all members of Binary Party and Teknokratene to support one candidate for president and form a bilateral cabinet for Norway's government. We need to put everything behind us and focus on defining our roles in Norway's future."
You post 10 pages of insults, then ask for that? You gotta be kidding me..
Stassi, better work to deliver your promises, rather than continuosly accusing BP. Your government does NOTHING what promised!! People arent stupid and see this!!!
Oh wait, that's probably what you want, destroy all hope of a cooperation and then write more propaganda blaming BP for a possible PTO.. Good thinking Stassi.
Strange to write 10 pages about grudge from the past when you want to focus on the future.
I must admit that Terje Hansen as MoD work is really good. I apologise Him and Eris for not mentioning it in previus comment.
I`m standing here as Norwegian citizen and politic, not polish ambassador (for Eris). I stand against all this accusation for me and my friends!
and areqw, Stassi has made progress on the ambassador program by creating the Norwegian Consulate, and will be releasing the recruitment article tomorrow.
You must be very proud, single handedly destroying all relations between BP and TT like this. If it was your plan all along - well done. You've had a productive month...
I love Hammaburg.
Me too!
Problemet er at du lar dette gå inn på deg.
I want Hammaburg's babies.
There is a fine line between clarifying the past and smearing the opponents, and what has been written here is barely inside the clarifying part. It even has evidence, proofs and lots of references, and nothing here is written with any other intention than that of making it clear to the public what the hell has been going on for the past few weeks.
Even though Stassi wrote this article all by himself, I'm safe to say that it representes TeK as a whole. We're sick of this fight, and we're sick of being accused of everything when it is obvious that this all could have been resolved if BP didn't resort to childish means like refusing to cooperate.
inb4flamewar
Again, you're saying TT can't function without the help of BP KAG, you're the second TT veteran to utter those words.
Still you blame us for lots of false accusations.
Seriously, what's up with BP and completely manipulating everything a TeK member says? You guys NEED to stop doing this. You know very well what I meant, you're merely making yourself look dumb right now.
I'm saying that not only did you refuse to cooperate, which would make the job easier for us, but you even went on to doing everything you could to avoid us succeeding, just to make you look better.
You know, I may be the new kid in town, but here's what I see:
1) I see a party that isn't involved in the government;
2) I see a party that has given ample opportunity for that to happen;
3) I see both parties as having potential to work in coalition;
4) I see neither party making that happen.
Maybe that is too simplistic, and maybe I'm leaving out the backstory, but all I know is this: I came from a country where this attitude ran rampant, and people like me got lost in it. I thought the priority of any good statesman was to put country first. But I can't, for the life of me, recall a political entity worth its mettle that jumped ship on their country because they lost an election.
Seems to me we should be working to build bridges, not tear them down. That's all.
Name one congress suggestion BP have blocked KAG, if anything we're more active then your guys in the congress discussions.
And I think you meant what you said, that TT don't have the manpower to do this alone.
As for manipulating things said, you shouldn't speak to loud, as the author of this very article is the master at it. 😉
Stassi, du klager som ei kjerring. Du setter deg selv og TT i rollen som et offer, og anklager BP for å være slemme og at vi ikke vil leke med dere. Dere er som sagt politiske motstandere, og når vi ikke er enige med dere begynner sytinga. Hva er vitsen med politiske partier når alle skal være enige? Hvorfor skal vi føye oss etter et parti som ikke har utrettet noe særlig mer enn propaganda og tårer? Dette er noe du bør kunne svare på.
down with BP! länge leve eNorge!
Cirno, you're a downright stand-up comedian.
We can easily do this without BP, but we can't do it without BPs cooperation. And by cooperation I don't mean say YES to everything, I mean don't say NO to everything, just because we're TeK.
Eha: Syting? Seriøst? Skjerp deg'a, du er jo en intelligent ung kar, du burde vite forskjellen på å syte og å legge frem bevis på bordet. Det eri kke TeK som vil at debatter og diskusjoner skal bli til hjerneløs skitkasting.
Og til alle BPer som av en eller annen grunn tror at dere er TeKs reddende engler: Lær dere forskjellen på samarbeidsvillighet og hjelp, for vi vil ikke ha deres hjelp, vi vi lha deres samarbeidsvillighet. Ingen kommer noen steder om opposisjonen absolutt skal være sta.
Si meg hva vi har sagt nei til KAG?
Kan ikke huske at BP har blokkert eller sagt nei til noen gode forslag som er kommet opp.
Det eneste vi har gjort er å ha sagt nei til ministerposter. Det er alt.
@KristofferAG So point just one think where we said no. I cant see any. It`s only in TeK who are source of your failure. Work not flame!
Fighting like this will get us nowhere you know. You need to calm down and stop slandering and accusing each other of things and just talk to each other, negotiate, come to an understanding. Otherwise we will fall when Norway is threatened again
I'm surprised Stassi still haven't managed to reply to any of the questions here? Do you need a week to collect new propaganda and accusation and post a new article saying we attacked you in the comments of your previous one?
"😉u, Kristoffer, har bedt på dine knær"
wut.
Vet ganske så godt at det ikke var Stassi som startet det hele. Var ikke han som ble forbanna da Eris vant valget.
"Vel - å godta løgnaktige påstander og halvsannheter er ikke en posisjon vi føler er bra. Det er villedende, og skittent spill, og jeg trodde med hånden på hjertet mitt at TT hadde kommet over den slags oppførsel, men jeg tok visst grundig feil!"
Merkelig nok er det nøyaktig det samme vi tenker om dere. Jeg syns det er moro å se at BP og TeK bruker de samme argumentene mot hverandre, med forskjellige partinavn. Ser vi nå at dette ALDRI kommer til å løse seg, fordi den ene siden mener at de har rett og at opposisjonen har feil, og at den andre mener nøøyaktig det samme.
Det hele startet før valget var avgjort KAG, så kanskje du ikke er oppdatert nok? 🙂
"TeK didn't start it. BP didn't start it. Let's say it was joint. Disagreements escalated. Who started it shouldn't even matter at all. Point is that it's still going on, and it's COMPLETELY unnecessary. How about you show that you want these peaceful times back, by not pointing the finger?" -KAG- 25/12-09
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/poli[..]1/20" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/poli[..]1/20
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Videre, kan jeg sette fingeren nøyaktig på når og hvor det hele startet. Det var her, for 26 dager siden;
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/eris[..]1/20" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/eris[..]1/20
Med påfølgende annonse lydende; "Whaaaat? He's runing again???"
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Så slik er saken. Hadde situasjonen vært motsatt, tviler jeg på at du, eller noen andre i TT hadde sagt; "Jaja - vi trenger ikke skrive noe tilbake, for folk skjønner vel selv hvilke utsagn som er feil".
På samme måte som du har våknet til live ut av det blå, for å forsvare alt TT skriver, så forbeholder vi oss retten til å forsvare oss når vi blir angrepet - forsåvidt et ord som har vært flittig brukt av folk fra TT, selv på vanlige, kritiske spørsmål. Hva med å svare på spørsmålene, i stedet for å legge seg i fosterstilling og kalle BP for store, stygge og slemme - for så å produsere artikler som den over her?
Fighting like this will bring us no closer to a solution. We need to come together, talk and negotiate with each other. Otherwise, this division between our political parties will destroy us. Do we need to agree on everything? Of course not. But, we do need to stop slandering each other or we will go to ruin.
Seriøst, om noen tar "Whaaaat? He's runing again???" som en krigserklæring, tviler jeg på at det er noe håp for fred i fremtiden. Det ville være som å ta Eha seriøs når han kaller Congress FAQ for indoktrinering og kommunisme.
Jeg merker meg igjen at du tydeligvis ikke leser kommentarene i sin helhet.. Hvorfor tror du at jeg mente tittelen på annonsen var en krigserklering? Det var artikkelen som ble produsert, i SAMSVAR med denne annonsen.
Jeg siterer meg selv;
"Videre, kan jeg sette fingeren nøyaktig på når og hvor det hele startet. Det var her, for 26 dager siden;
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/eris-caelestis-a-welcome-change-of-scenery-1069122/1/20" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/eris[..]1/20
Med påfølgende annonse lydende; "Whaaaat? He's runing again???""
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Hva var det som var så vanskelig å forstå, KristoferAG? Glemte du å lese artikkelen? Var du klarover at det var denne artikkelen, som kom FØR presidentvalget, som er årsaken til det hele?
Tydeligvis ikke, da du tror at grunnen til det hele er at Cirno tapte.. Nei, det var det ikke. Du har tydeligvis ikke satt deg inn i situasjonen, og at du da driver og kommenterer i øst og vest om ting du ikke vet noe om, er rett og slett tåpelig...
Det er meget vnskelig å diskutere med TT, da dere enten unngår å svare på spørsmålene dere blir stilt, eller dere svarer på bare en brøkdel av det dere blir spurt om, og gjernesvarer dere på ting som ikke blir spurt om. I ditt tilfelle, så svarer du på ting uten å ha nok kunnskaper til å kunne svare.
Til du er oppdatert på tingenes tilstand, synes jeg du bør la være å kommentere, slik at du ikke dummer ut både deg selv og partiet ditt.