PICKED UP LIVE FROM GALNET

“… the tragedies these Minmatar children have suffered through, the atrocities committed against them by Holder Yo’sef Kony, in the name of the Empire, are unspeakable. The feud between the house of Kony and the Royal Family Sarum has been an ongoing news item for months, but recent events have brought this otherwise common occurrence to the galactic eye.

Holder Kony has been abducting Minmatar children for decades, as many Amarr do, but instead of using them as slaves for his estates, Kony has been prostituting underaged girls and turning boys back to assassinate their families for fear of retribution. These are the least of his acts, and while Amarr theology has argued in the past that they are ‘enlightening’ the Minmatar to a better way of life, even the most zealous houses have condemned the actions of the house of Kony.

In a statement exclusively to GalNet, Amarr Empress Jamyl Sarum I had this to say – “The actions of House Kony are unforgivable, and do not represent the tenets of the Amarr belief. We condemn him. I have revoked his title of Holder and am working towards not only bringing Kony to justice, but also to reclaiming his investments, properties and holdings, as well as executing his lineage lest his beastial qualities be passed on to heirs.”

Former Holder Kony has gone into hiding, having not been seen in weeks, yet his reign of terror continues. Many of his “adopted” children come and go, policing agencies unable to trace them or track their behaviours. From the shadows Kony continues to grow rich and powerful off the backs of his unstoppable, under-aged army.

Stop these atrocities now. Make Kony famous. Only by bringing him to the public eye can we bring justice to the galaxy, and while we cannot undo what has been done to these children, together we can save future generations from …”

A bullet to the head would be the only way to bring justice to the situation. I thought as I turned off the monitor.

The entire scenario sickened me. I could feel the bile in my mouth, the deep frown etched on my face as I rolled around my tongue, spitting onto the metal grated floor. It reminded me of why I joined the Tribal Liberation Force in the first place, of why I knew it was my civic duty, my moral responsibility to enlist in the militia, to proactively take the fight to the Amarr.

But it wasn’t just about that, was it? I asked myself rhetorically.

No, it wasn’t. I recognized in a moment of self-honesty. Piracy, slavery, contraband, the entire universe seemed to be collectively flushing itself down the toilet. Sure, there were always going to be the popular bandwagons the masses would jump on, such as this Kony thing, but that in and of itself was part of the problem – a broken system.

As a whole, societies were reactive, people not responding to what went on around them until it directly impacted them, making them uncomfortable, leaving them feeling emotionally upset, or worse. Most times people didn’t even engage their neighbours, taking the time to get to know them – it was the nature of the society we had created.

The irony of course is that your neighbour could’ve been Kony, and you were completely oblivious. How does that leave you feeling?

We are all mistrustful, uncaring, lazy, self-absorbed sycophants. That was the truth. Helping others? Hell, most wouldn’t even help their own families. Let my wallet speak for me, that should be enough. The motto of generations too self-involved to see beyond themselves, too afraid to do anything real.

Being reactive wasn’t the way to illicit lasting change.

I’d heard of Kony before. This wasn’t his first time in the media spotlight. All the signs had been pointing to something of this scale for years. Where were these people then? Where was the bandwagon? Oh right, it didn’t get as much media play back then so the blind sheep didn’t obediently follow as instructed. They were probably busy with whatever the media had hyped at the time.

There were a million psychopaths like Kony in the universe. Hell, some would say I was one of them. Maybe I was.

Do you know what Kony and I have in common? Do you know what you’re lacking that we have?

We’re proactive.

That’s where the similarities end. If I had Kony in a room, it would be a slow and painful death for him, but I’ve said the same for any Amarr. Again, that is why I joined the militia – it was a proactive choice. That is why I risked my lives out there every day protecting the Republic – proactive choice. That is why the rest of you got to relax and walk obliviously through your pathetically mundane existence – because of my proactive choices, and the proactive choices of people like me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some uncaring, coldhearted bastard. What Kony did was rehensible. I had a growing unease in the pit of my stomach even thinking about it.

Of course, the cynical side in me wanted to remind myself that the only reason people like Kony existed was because of reactive people that did nothing. If people gave a damn, rats like Kony would never have had the opportunity to garner such a powerful position.

Fear.

People don’t act because they are afraid. Afraid of what might happen to their own personal comfort, afraid of being ostracized for being different, afraid of failure, afraid of success, afraid of their own damn shadows.

Do you think I’m afraid?

The answer is yes. I was afraid every single time I entered a cockpit. Afraid for my crew, afraid of being too late, afraid of not being able to create enough of a lasting dent in the trash can that is New Eden.

Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is going through with it anyway because it’s the right thing to do.

What’s your point?

I don’t know. I’m disgusted by the villains of the universe. I’m disgusted by the bandwagon mentality. I’m disgusted with the media because when I get a thousand spam messages in my inbox of sheep talking about this, it makes me want to delete the message without reading it and actually presets my mind against whatever the topic was.

I just hate the way things work sometimes. Maybe I’m idealistic.

I smirk.

It’s good to have ideals.