INTRODUCTION
I've been with Asgardia for nearly an entire year. I started first with seeing the introduction on social media. Now, this advertisement could NOT have come at a better time you see; it was right before the 2016 election in the United States, and I'd reached my limit with faith in humanity. Our choices were a business guru or a known criminal, and neither I felt had what our country needed to overcome the issues we were facing.
THE FIRST MONTH
I was excited about Asgardia; decidedly, I wanted to contribute. I HAD to make a difference. I was tired of feeling helpless among the chaos of cultural unrest that plagues my country still; and a nation devoted wholly to science and space had my destiny written all over it.
So first I emailed citizens@asgardia.space in an effort to find a fit; of course, with hundreds of thousands of emails streaming in, mine was not the first to get looked at. I was convinced however, that there was something I was good at - and that was inspiring people. So I started Voices of Asgardia.
THE RADIO STATION AND WONDERFUL PEOPLE
Finding help wasn't difficult - there were many people as inspired to be part of it as I was - and soon I picked up my two most trusted compatriots, who have been with me since working at the radio station. Ideas flowed like water, and overall the entire community actively and positively debated various topics.
Things were going really good, until elitists started moving in.
THE ELITES
I can at this point only speak from my experience.
The first elitist I ran into was actually a contact from a professional associate of mine; he offered to mentor me and take me under his wing. Prior to this experience, I had zero knowledge of business; but under his guidance and the guidance of other professionals, I was taught how a business works, set up the plan for it, and submitted it to Asgardia NGO for funding. We spent many hours and countless business meetings going over various portions of the 100 year plan; the idea was to set up a floating space them park called "Asgardia" in an old supertanker. We could run it the same way as Disney runs their theme park, and it would generate revenue for Asgardia.
The plan was delayed, until Asgardia could build an approved business schematic; in the meantime, I have and continue to pay for VOA out of my own pocket.
This "delay" in business dealings struck a sour nerve with my associate, mentioned before. He didn't seem happy that the hours worth of work we'd put into a couple of different business plans could be so easily shelved, and he began to push harder on his ideas; this resulted however in a stern "no" from Asgardia. Clearly upset at the waste of time, he swore off Asgardia and marched out to do his own thing. To my knowledge, he is still working diligently on his dreams.
Another elitist who popped up was a man named Scott Trombley. Scott Trombley was a liquor enforcement officer from the United States. He began a side project, which he named Project Jericho to raise money for the purchase of an island off the coast of Chile, which would be used as a terrestrial land base for Asgardia.
Again, Asgardia said no. Infuriated (or, whatever his reaction was) Trombley left Asgardia, slammed down a trademark on Asgardia and various other related things in the United States, and effectively tried to hijack the project out from under Dr. Ashurbeyli. With the quick response of the volunteer network (of which I was a part of at the time), we shut down his marauding on the facebook pages. So he started his own facebook pages (most are marked with a parenthesis, like Asgardia General (official)). AGH, or Asgardia Global Holdings was the company started to compete with Asgardia NGO (which did not become an NGO for another few months).
Then there was the guy who wanted to start Asgardia TV. Now I'll be honest, I have no idea who the guy was or what his professional background actually was; but he claimed to have the experience and know-how to start an actual TV station. As the volunteer communications coordinator at that time, I was asked to help him in setting everything up - only, he didn't want anything to do with me. Through a private message, he told me to "stick your nose back in your radio where it belongs."
I'm not a hard guy to get along with - but as the liaison for his program, that probably wasn't the best thing to say to me. Either way, I washed my hands of it and told Asgardia they'd have to work directly with him. To my knowledge, Asgardia TV went dark nearly six months ago and nothing has developed since. When I tried to follow up with the guy, he told me he was "waiting for Asgardia to fund it" whereas Asgardia told me they were waiting for his revisions to a business plan.
Lesson learned here: Don't shit where you sleep.
THE AGE OF TROLLS
After the "elites" figured out that they weren't going to get rich off Asgardia, many of them fled. By fled, I mean they probably put their attention back in to what they considered to be "worthy" causes.
I still remember when the trolls started in; first, there was a guy who would literally shit his pants every time he was censored on Facebook or the forums. MetaBorg, I think was his handle. Anyways, this guy had an entitlement complex like you wouldn't believe. He tried to tell us that he was a masterful hacker and even went so far as to threaten Asgardia when they banned him for his inappropriate commentary. Whether or not any of his "hacking" attempts were successful or not remains unknown.
You know, the forum rules are pretty simple. Don't be an asshole, and you won't get the shaft.
Then - haha - I can't remember the guy, but it started innocently enough with posts about magnetism. The poster did not have a solid understanding of magnetism, and somehow came across this cultist physicist's skewed point of view about what magnetism is - and when we tried to correct him, he screamed "I'm a victim of online bullying" and didn't understand why we couldn't just agree to disagree.
When you're wrong, you're just wrong. You can't compromise the truth for the sake of feelings.
There were many others after that - athiests, for one rings a bell. I was in charge of moderating the first religion forum - that lasted a week. I just don't have patience for abrasive personalities looking for a fight, and the religion forum was an excellent place to level your weapon and start shooting.
Eventually I gave up forum moderation altogether - we turned it over to people who were trained to do it properly, and that took a load off my shoulders.
THE HONG KONG PRESS CONFERENCE
From February to June of year 1, Asgardia was mostly quiet - which raised the uneasiness of the community. I don't know if it was boredom or just a golden opportunity for trolls - but Pseudoscience posts started popping up everywhere. Between that and Metaphysics I shyed my way out of the forums - and really, haven't been back since.
People kept asking us - what's next for Asgardia? As a volunteer for Civic Asgardia under the sanctioned leadership of Mrs. Rebekah Berg, and the community's communication coordinator, I spent much of my time trying to set up the ANN - the Asgardia News Network. Having no journalism background proved to be the biggest challenge - and about the time we were ready to put a department together, I moved across country to a place with no internet. This ended up being the end of my ability to aid Civic Asgardia, and thus after a few months of being unable to attend meetings, resigned my position to be an average citizen.
I did end up being able to view the Hong Kong press conference live though - and what it showed me was the absolute solidification that Dr. Ashurbeyli had plans already for our kingdom, and intended to see them through to the end before he turned it over to others for their leadership. Personally, I think a 5 year term limit isn't enough for the leader of Asgardia, but - it's his plan.
THE CONSTITUTION FIASCO
Though I wasn't directly involved with it, I know there were multiple panels who worked very hard to produce a number of different approaches to the constitution - all of which were rejected, to my knowledge. The constitution, once it became available, raised a few eyebrows about the constitutional monarchy.
But I wasn't ready to give up on it yet. Many of my American colleagues had already written Asgardia off as a pipe dream, but I just couldn't let it go. Why? Because I felt I saw what others failed to see - and that is, this is the most non-traditional approach to creating a country ever devised - and what the world needs now is something different.
I voted in favor the constitution - not because I agreed with it, but because I knew it was the next necessary step to reaching our goal.
What happened next flabbergasted me and shook my faith in Asgardia. Stories started coming up about changes to the constitution - in the middle of the voting period! I didn't believe it at first, until I started researching them - and then, yes, indeed changes had been made - specifically to articles 42 and 43 of the constitution.
Now realistically, the wording was changed to facilitate the passing of the constitution, and while I don't agree it was a good thing I do agree that it did less harm than most attribute to it. I understand the reasons behind the changes - they needed that constitution to pass to move on to the next step - and it can always be changed or amended later.
BEYOND
Throughout the months of August, September and all the way to the Founding Day - I watched the flag, symbol, motto, and other things get chosen as they were promised to us from Day 1. Realistically, most of the promises that were made to us as citizens have been accomplished - but one thing most people DON'T really recognize is the amount of change that has occurred with the original vision.
In November-December last year, we were telling people that we were NOT going to space - that Asgardia was meant to exist on Earth - only for Mrs. De Winne to confirm to me later that they did eventually plan to reach for the stars and build a space-bound community. The original vision has changed dramatically, dropping dead-ends and picking up new ideas - but the mission remains the same. We need to protect Earth from space - and there are many, many, many things out there that could wipe our entire planet out of existence.
CHANGE IS GOOD - EMBRACE IT
Over the course of the next year, more changes will happen - but as a progressive society I urge you to relax your expectations and enjoy the ride. We're doing something that's never been done before - and if we do it right, we could be the first in a string of virtual communities fighting for independence from overbearing ideologies that our own countries impose on us (and yes, that includes the "freest nation on the Earth", the United States). I'm done being told what I should wear, what I should expect, and that my ideas are wrong, misplaced or a waste of time.
The best part of Asgardia is it LITERALLY is the new America - a place where you can bring your ideas, develop them, meet people who can help you reach your goals, and in turn you can help them reach theirs. For those who've watched their ideas fall by the wayside, you gave up too early, or your ideas didn't align with our mission - but you took the time to present them and I honor you for that.
Engage your communities, start the ideas flowing - and once the Solar is up and running, put your plans into motion. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast, as we used to say. Everything in Asgardia can flow smoothly - but it can't be rushed or it won't be made properly.
