Communication – Not Propaganda
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by Shadow Figure
Well, I’ve written propaganda articles myself, but not this time. For a while there is a strong debate and propaganda regarding the wars in erepublik. And I’m not talking only about the arguing between ATLANTIS and PEACE, but also about the contrary positions inside Atlantis.
Atlantis also used to complain about a lack of communication, after French Toast and the conflict in Russia. And this events were followed by a lot of propaganda, but I don’t think this really improved the communication between countries.
I will take for example the very different views of USA, where I am ambassador, and Romania, my home country. Maybe this have been already written, but I didn’t saw it on international news, so I’ll take the pleasure of presenting my point of view.
Disappointing as it might be, for all of us who live in this new world, it’s all connected to the old real world. Let’s look at recent events in United States: the war based on lies (no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq), the deaths caused by war, the tortures, the brutal breaking of Geneva Convention (George Bush’s twisted interpretation of “acts against human dignity”), the Patriot Act, etc. This actions were, as you know, against the values United States was found on, the reason why USA was highly regarded as model of democracy and civil rights by other countries. And this actions had a strong impact on people’s view of life not only in America, but around the world. After this the citizens of USA elected a new president – Obama. So it’s naturally the good leaders of eUSA and many other people of the new world world are fighting for “the good”, moral values, and so .
On the other hand, taking a look beyond Dracula, we would see that Romania fought for hundreds of years to maintain it’s independence from the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire… Jumping forward we get to the USSR’s influence, the communism, the violent revolution in December 1989, and then followed a long streak of democratic but incompetent and deeply, deeply corrupt governments. So again it’s naturally the people of eRomania and many other people of the new world are fighting to achieve glory for their country .
At this point I should make an obvious statement. I’m not advocating any point of view about war at this time. If you want to start another debate about this, maybe we should start a Geneva Convention of the New World. What I want to say is that the communities around the world have very different values, and before judging them we should first try to understand them. I belive a better understanding of our different values would improve our communication .
My dear subscribers, I hope you liked reading this article at least as much as I enjoyed writing it. My fingers were itching to communicate with you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropa
We should look beyond the obvious.
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PS 1. Va rog votati-l pe international.
PS 2. Pentru ca situatia alegerilor e destul de clara deja, il pot felicita pe colegul Felix-Focus pentru modul in care a reprezentat Romania Unita la aceste alegeri. Cei batrani s-au retras, dar o noua generatie este in ascensiune.
Le multumesc si prietenilor din eUGD pentru mesajul electoral.
Am plecat in Norvegia sa votez!
Dragut articol... ciulamax
Indeed, most probably the problem in the communication was not regarding the communication channels (as I understand there are a few), but because of the cultural differences. If the chief of states and representatives of ATLANTIS countries work on that things can improve.
I wholeheartedly vote for this.
To _really_ listen to somebody is about the hardest thing that we can achieve.
Oh, btw, the picture is a nice and simple way to present the diversity, but on the other hand we should look for answers beyond the popular beliefs about nations.
I am always an adept of outright civilized communication instead of propaganda, but only if the other side allows that.
On that picture I see some Hungarian salami on Slovakia. I belive they were upset for it. There are some vampires on Romania also. We should look beyond the obvious.
I agree Zoli, that's my point also. With your permission I will quote you 🙂
Great idea about that Geneve thingy.
voted
I think your article speaks the truth. Even though, I am what is considered a Russian minority now in the conquered lands of eRussia, I think all extremely nationalistic posts involving events from real life should be punishable by some sort of e-international law in eRepublik.
A game is a game and if we lose something here, we should be able to control our real life emotions and not start bringing up very unpleasant events (every nation has them) from real life history and bad-mouthing each other.
@Marat Makhmudov: i second that. But there is a thin line between reality and fiction. It is inevitable that in-game emotions will be present in RL.
Some values are trans-national, but in eRepublik are mostly national communities, and somehow the national values prevails.
@Marat Makhmudov: Though we can't draw a perfect line betwen RL and eR, as Sith and Von Ach pointed out, I totally agree with you.
I have voted for and enjoyed this very lucid and insightful article. Though it does give me a sense of déjà vu. Perhaps I have not had enough sleep and my synapses have an echo? Kudos to you Umbră Figura...Or is it Figura Umbră? Regardless good on you.
Foarte tare, Umbră Figură!
Take a look at what this friend say:
"Totalitarian democracy is a term made famous by Israeli historian J. L. Talmon to refer to a system of government in which lawfully elected representatives maintain the integrity of a nation state whose citizens, while granted the right to vote, have little or no participation in the decision-making process of the government."
"A totalitarian democracy, says Talmon, accepts "exclusive territorial sovereignty" as its right. It retains full power of expropriation and full power of imposition, i.e., the right of control over everything and everyone. Maintenance of such power, in the absence of full support of the citizenry, requires the forceful suppression of any dissenting element except that which the government purposely permits or organizes."
from
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/another-message-to-turkey-part-1-731317/1/20
the boundaries are set by the comunication (ability and chanels), sadly 🙁
If I may add an insight into certain values... then I link here my article written in Norway just a few minutes ago.
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/chances-and-choices-731345/1/20
@Ogdensign: Thank you. Your synapses must be fine, we actually talked about something similar a while ego, trough emails 🙂 Now I had some time and I though it might be a good read. Btw, I hope you received the email I sent you today.
About my name, I didn't thought 9 moths ago it will be taken too seriously. This is where it comes from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBrDzZCOQtI it's a little outdated thanks to Obama.
It is a real pleasure to read your articles ... as always. I have no intelligent comment though 😁.
I remember..I was making a slight joke. It is a difficult thing to communicate that ones tongue is in ones cheek when typing. Also thank you for the video..I laughed myself silly. It is great to know that I live in the land of the illusory free under the protection of my brave shadowy puppet-masters. I am sorry to report however Mr. Kenilworth is no longer with us... Our Overlords do not tolerate incompetence and the fantasy must be maintained.
I think real life motivations for eRepublik policies are irrelevant. It doesn't matter how an eNation decides its foreign relations in eRepublik; they could just as easily adopt the same policy from imagination as from real life.
In communication or negotiations, all that matters is the eNation's stubbornness or willingness to compromise, and its practical capabilities.
Regarding stubbornness, it could be argued that eNations who base their policy on real life motivations might be more stubborn than eNations who do not.
An eNation with a powerful military and econonomy will of course have advantages in a negotiation, regardless of the source of policies.
Let us examine 2 examples.
Example 1: A stubborn eNation that bases its foreign relations on real life. They have a powerful military and economy.
Example 2: A stubborn eNation that doesn't base its foreign relations on real life. They have a powerful military and economy.
Looking at those 2 examples, you must agree that you would have to deal with them in exactly the same way in this game, however that may be. The reasons for their stubbornness don't matter to their opponents.
The only advantage understanding a real life motivated eNation brings is that you might be able to predict who they want to fight by studying their real life history. But I would argue that, if given the choice between invading a reasource-rich eNation, or a poor real life historical enemy, an imperialist eNation would go for the resources.
good one!
Down with Romania! Up with Russia!
Unity in Diversity, Indonesia 😁
Unity in Diversity, eIndonesia 😁
Unity in Diversity, PEACE 😁
ffs?