Cogs,
You claim to be searching some sort of middle ground, and yet you present us with such a biased and deliberately inflammatory portrayal of life in Newland City, I do wonder if you are even aware of it. Or are phrases like “Omni oppression” so ingrained in your vocabulary you don’t even realise some reader might take exception to it?
The fact is the bad old days for Newland were a long time ago, when there was neither sufficient suppression gas nor guards to keep the peace and both Omni and Clanners butchered the local merchants routinely. While I would not consider the present state of affairs ideal, commerce in Newland is by no means in decline and the streets are safe for the locals. The day Newlanders will feel secure enough to do away with the Mercs, they will. It will be their decision though, theirs alone.
As for the information you requested is here http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...0&pagenumber=1[/url You may have to skim through a couple of pages before getting to the logs. In a nutshell, it just shows that in the months preceding the mercs arrival in NLC, neutral mining facilities were 3 times more likely to be attacked by Clan than Omni forces. I’m surprised you felt it necessary to query this. I thought it was common knowledge.
Soyuz is correct, the reason Clans have historically been more aggressive towards Neutrals is more a result of the geography of the region than ideology. But that just goes to confirm what I have been saying all along: ideological difference aside, in deeds Clans and Omni-Tek are acting in a virtually indistinguishable way. Taken as a whole, in terms of obsession with material wealth and consumerism, in their readiness to resort to violence and aggression, in their disdain for Neutrals, in their lack of internal cohesion, in their unquestioning pursuit of notum mining and disregard for the environment there really is no difference these days between the sides.
And yet most Clanners I talk to still have an unshakeable believe that the Clans represent some sort of greater good and that they are moved by something altogether nobler than simple self-interest. But how or where does this moral calling manifest itself? Clearly not in Clan dealings with Neutrals.
The fact is, once you cast aside the propaganda, all you are left with on Rubi-Ka today is two local superpowers throwing their weight around and looking after their own interests, as superpower in the past have always done, and a Neutral faction caught in the middle. You can cry “Freedom to the people” and “Down with the corporate drone” all you like, this is the true balance of power, this is the level at which real politics works.
I have no illusions about OT motives and methods, and I get no joy pointing out the failings of the clans. But as long as Clanners will persist in portraying OT as a comic book villains and the Clans a romantic rebels, I will be here to remind people of the stark facts. The moral high ground is not something you inherit; it is something you earn each and every day by way of deeds, not words.
Savoy
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