Alignment of Taijitu Militia

[Of The US]

It has been said that Taijitu is neutral, though in our military actions we are decidedly defender, I believe that we should clarify our position entirely, are we neutral, or are we defender, if we are neutral why only defend, if defender only, why don't we do more?

[Funkadelia]

After some discussion and controversy earlier tonight, it is apparent that we need to adapt an ideology for the Taijitu Militia to follow. We had intentionally left this unlegislated, because we simply did not feel like it had to be, but apparently some people found that confusing.

I suggest that we adopt regional sovereignty as our identity for the Taijitu Militia.

[Funkadelia]

Admin note: I have merged two similar topics in this subforum.

[Cormac]

After some discussion and controversy earlier tonight, it is apparent that we need to adapt an ideology for the Taijitu Militia to follow. We had intentionally left this unlegislated, because we simply did not feel like it had to be, but apparently some people found that confusing.

I suggest that we adopt regional sovereignty as our identity for the Taijitu Militia.

I support this as well.

[Myroria]

After some discussion and controversy earlier tonight, it is apparent that we need to adapt an ideology for the Taijitu Militia to follow. We had intentionally left this unlegislated, because we simply did not feel like it had to be, but apparently some people found that confusing.

I suggest that we adopt regional sovereignty as our identity for the Taijitu Militia.

I agree with this sentiment. The ideals of sovereigntism - liberating communities from invading and imperialist powers - seems the most sensible option given the alignment of the Glorious Revolution.

[Funkadelia]

Also at least one member of the Taijitu Militia is active nearly every day during update(s). It's something I take great pride in. The last thing we should be asking ourselves is "why don't we do more?"

[Of The US]

After some discussion and controversy earlier tonight, it is apparent that we need to adapt an ideology for the Taijitu Militia to follow. We had intentionally left this unlegislated, because we simply did not feel like it had to be, but apparently some people found that confusing.

I suggest that we adopt regional sovereignty as our identity for the Taijitu Militia.

I support this as well.

given there is support for that view then I support it as well

Also at least one member of the Taijitu Militia is active nearly every day during update(s). It's something I take great pride in. The last thing we should be asking ourselves is "why don't we do more?"

What I meant by that wasn't why aren't we doing anything its why don't we have more people on and be a bigger part of things

[Myroria]

The Taijitu Militia is known across NationStates for its activity, professionalism, and commitment. Simply realistically, we will not have as many updaters as TITO or a game-created region. But the updaters we do have are extremely active compared to other regions', and we are well known in defender circles and elsewhere. I think we are doing all we can with the resources we have and I only expect that to increase as our population increases.

[St Oz]

Let's remain neutral so we stay out of the NS-Gameplayer bullshit

[Delfos]

Let's remain neutral so we stay out of the NS-Gameplayer bullshit

[Khem]

Let's remain neutral so we stay out of the NS-Gameplayer bullshit

[Eluvatar]

The notion of raiders and defenders being generally equally "GP Bullshit" has always bothered me.

I don't mind if we don't formally adopt an ideology, the status quo is fine by me, but I do mind this zeitgeist.

GP Bullshit, as I see it, consists of people elevating their egos over others and plotting, scheming, and defaming to that end.

This sort of self-aggrandizement, I think, is far more prevalent among imperialist and other invader regions.

While there definitely are asshole defenders out there, and defenders who love their ego a bit too much, in general that's not what defending is about, and it shows.

At the end of the day, to me defending isn't "GP Bullshit", it's combating "GP Bullshit".

[Cormac]

Let's remain neutral so we stay out of the NS-Gameplayer bullshit

The problem with this, I think, is what OT has already described: We're neutral in name only. The Taijitu Citizens' Militia is already in essence a defensive military, in that it is only engaging in defensive operations. This is the preference of the vast majority of TaiMil's soldiers, and if an attempt to impose neutrality in the form of balancing invading and defending were made, most of TaiMil's soldiers would no longer be in TaiMil which would mean it would fall inactive. If an attempt to impose neutrality by restricting TaiMil to only supporting and defending the home regions of treaty allies and doing nothing else were made, inactivity would be the result of that too.

I'll grant that this may not be a problem for those who are not in TaiMil and have little or no interest in gameplay, but for those of us who are and do, it would be very disappointing. I will also point out that despite TaiMil having a de facto defensive alignment, we are still avoiding the gameplay bullshit you're worried about. People, like myself, are joining TaiMil precisely because it provides the opportunity to defend without the gameplay bullshit. Taijitu's repudiation of gameplay bullshit is part of its culture that isn't going to easily change, and isn't dependent on remaining neutral, because TaiMil already isn't neutral.

So, our options are basically as follows:

• Call TaiMil what it already is -- a sovereigntist military that engages in defensive operations -- and define that.
• Seek to impose true neutrality on TaiMil by forcing artificial balance that few, if any, in TaiMil actually want, in the form of both invading and defending or neither, and cause TaiMil to fall inactive.
• Do nothing, continue referring to our military alignment as neutral, continue letting TaiMil engage exclusively in defensive operations despite a neutral alignment, and continue enabling confusion about what TaiMil actually is. This confusion, rather than engaging in defensive operations, has been the only source of controversy.

I don't think we should be afraid to pursue the first option. TaiMil is already engaging exclusively in defensive operations and that hasn't caused any controversy or gameplay bullshit; making it official shouldn't either.

[Khem]

It's all Gameplay-Bullshit. All of it, Defending, Raiding, Imperialism, Sovereigntism and military operations in general. I tend to try to avoid even acknowledging this part of NS and being part of a community as it bores me to no end. I'm pretty sure if there are tailor-made hells mine would be a constant cacophony of R/D talk. So of course my opinion is just scrap the whole affair, but then the TaiMil was never going to be directed by the whims of one who opposes its existence. So just adopt a policy that works for y'all, be open about what exactly that is and keep having fun.

[St Oz]

Yes, let's come up with our own "alignment"

Alignment was made by some bored GPer with an ego (cough cough Unibot), someone went so far as to make a chart of "NS celebrities"

Well I looked at that chart, I didn't know 90% of those fools. Just goes to show that even labeling an alignment is just as much bullshit.

So here's my alignment criteria.

It's got 7 dimensions planned out here:
1. Egotism vs. Community
2. Amount of activity on IRC
3. Automatons vs. Creative People
4. Sensitivity to humor and casual insults
5. Revolutionary Fervor
6. Alcohol, Caffeine, THC, Lysergsäure-diethylamid, and Gluten aggregate score
7. Quality of Map/Worldbuilding


Obviously this score means our region scores very high and all others blow.

I mean this model shows that our region caters to a unique set of people.