I have been an Asgardian from the beginning. Before the Constitution, before the new calendar, before everything, back when Asgardia was just a dream. I will remain an Asgardian until my dying breath and maybe even beyond that. However, there are problems in the Asgardia now, the biggest being ...
I have been an Asgardian from the beginning. Before the Constitution, before the new calendar, before everything, back when Asgardia was just a dream. I will remain an Asgardian until my dying breath and maybe even beyond that. However, there are problems in the Asgardia now, the biggest being just one thing.
We are new.
Rome wasn't built in a day. Countries didn't become what they are now in a day. They became countries after decades, centuries, millennia, of war and politics. I'm not saying for Asgardia to be a country we need to go to war. We have a country with no land. A state based primarily online. We need a physical place where Asgardians can come together and see that we are real. Online communities will always have a disconnect. Yes, you can make life-long friends online, but you will always wonder if the other person is real, or a mere façade.
We are engaging in politics of "What ifs." "What if the Constitution is too weak?" "What if the Constitution is too strong?" "What if Asgardia is over before it began?" What ifs are the scariest questions of them all, because, what. If.
Another problem is the politics of where we grew up. People want democracy, socialism, capitalism, etc., because that is what they know. I, myself, am not privy to these kinds of debates. I want laws that remind me of America, my home-country, and legislation that subvert what I think are wrong. I want freedom of speech, and I also guns to be either eradicated or heavily controlled. I want cheap, or free health care so I wouldn't have to worry about my health. I want this new nation to all to come together sit in a circle and sing Kumbaya. However, none of that is possible. Our views are too different, too disconnected. Being isolated from each other allows us only to want this country to be for ourselves and only ourselves. To reiterate my previous point, we need to know that other Asgardians are real.
Finally, my biggest fear, about this new country, that may or may not be an isolated thought. Jonestown. For those of you who don't know what Jonestown is let me give you a quick historical recap.
In 1955, Jim Jones created The People's Temple, a church based on Christianity. Jim Jones recruited people to his temple and formed a tiny village in Northern California that was primarily socialist. All of the church's members became overworked. They worked an everyday job, Jim Jones took their wages, then those people had to travel to recruit more people to their church. In 1973, Jim Jones led an agricultural mission to Guyana. There, 500 flew to establish their new home, The People's Temple Agricultural Project, or as it is known now, Jonestown. There, people seemingly lived happy lives. Everyone was equal; everyone ate well they all worked, they had anything they could want. In 1978 Congressman Leo Ryan traveled to Jonestown with 18 people, after rising concerns about the true nature of Jonestown. Everything seemed right during his visit, but towards the end of his visit several people defected and wished to go back home. So many in fact, that Congressman Ryan had to call in another plane. Jim Jones, feeling threatened called for the murder of Congressman Ryan. He and 3 other people died in the ambush. During the ambush, Jim Jones called his own congregation to their community pavilion and had them all drink Kool-Aid mixed with valium, chloral hydrate, cyanide, and Phenergan. To assure that everyone complied, he had close followers surround the pavilion with guns and ordered to shoot anybody that didn't drink the Kool-Aid. 909 people died in Jonestown, including 304 minors. Only 33 people survived. Survivors tell of members grabbing babies and children, forcing the poison down their throats, and then killing themselves.
My biggest fear is that Asgardia will become another Jonestown. A place where we all feel equal and happy, only for that happiness to be an illusion of control inflicted to us by people in power. I can only pray that Asgardia actually becomes the country we all wish it to be.