Editorial: The NDA, The Triumphant Months & My Revelations

The last couple of months have been quite tumultuous for me. You all know what Im talking about 😉 . I’ve wanted to talk to you all for quite some time now. But it has not been politically possible for me to do so until this moment – where I can now give you my complete and unadulterated version of events, without fear of retribution or punishment aside from the wrath of the CPAC viewer.

Note: The following post is an editorial and contains my personal opinion. It does not represent the views of CPAC as a whole. It will undoubtedly cause much offence to many people who do not want me to publish this and I sincerely hope it does do so.

Cast your mind back to November 2013. Maybe you still remember this? I sure as hell do.

ACP Soldiers liked that moment

I liked that moment.

I can safely say that those last few minutes of the Nacho-ACP war – before the guns all fell silent – were some of the most bittersweet that I have ever encountered in my long time in this community. The 3rd of November can rightly be described as my epoch. ACP had just won a long, hard gruelling campaign against a foe which had lately been far superior to us in men and tactics. A foe who had completely and utterly humiliated ACP in the Summer of 2012 and the earlier months of 2013. The much criticised Treaty of Fjord felt like justice, the Nachos were being punished for what they had done to ACP only a year earlier. That’s how I felt at the time anyway.

Hindsight – so they say – is one of the most useful tools that we as human beings have. The ability to look back at events and experiences, and critically evaluate them with the benefit of better understanding.

I quickly realised that I had done something dreadfully wrong that day. In all the pomp and glory of victory, I still had the power to be merciful to the Nachos. I was in control, and I could have used that control to show that we were better than them, and that we wouldn’t repeat history. But to tell you the truth ladies and gentlemen – it’s easier to play hardball. People come to expect it of you, and its bloody difficult to forgive and forget when you have to sate the bloodlust of an angry mob. It was difficult for me, and for those who judge me for it – I ask you to put yourself in the situation I was in. Would you have really passed up that opportunity for revenge? Events took their course and soon after that treaty, my good friend Weatherboy and I had a heated argument. He told me that I had just created the circumstances for yet another war, and therefore yet another Treaty of some description – thus continuing the “cycle of hate” as he described it. He was right.

“Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness” – Martin Luther King

I’d like to draw your attention to the biggest foreign policy experiment of 2013 – the New Dawn Alliance. It’s something that I was both applauded and criticised for taking part in. It also caused me to undertake one of the greatest personal gambles that I ever attempted. Once again – cast your mind back to ACP before I became Leader – a divided army, a weak ownership and a complete breakdown in order and discipline. With no one recruiting and very poorly attended events. We didn’t have many friends at that time, and I wanted to change that. I tried allying with AR – but they had a sort of personal vendetta out on Capncook when he was Leader and showed no signs of softening up. The Dark Warriors were in competition with us for Number 1 most of the time – so they weren’t a viable option either. It also seemed as if CPAC was out to get me, they published a post claiming that ACP had edited pictures [which has been proven to be true, although in a slightly different context than it was presented at that time] and I reacted very badly to this. It was a grave error of judgement on my part, and I should’ve known better – as a CPAC V.P in 2011-12 – CPA Central was just doing the job it was always supposed to do – reporting the news. All these different catalysts led to the NDA in some way or another.

I made the best alliance that I could. I cut a deal with the devil, and he welcomed me with open arms. Elmikey’s price was very simple. RPF would be ACPs friend if we supported him in his ideological crusade to “purify” Club Penguin Armies and of course, the ridiculous claims about CPAC being “Nacho biased”. To rid us of “cussing” and any form of intelligent, sophisticated interaction between each other. All in the name of “restoring Club Penguin warfare” mind you. A clever ruse. I don’t think its dramatic to compare it to the “newspeak” of George Orwell’s 1984. The systematic process of controlling everyone to the extent that you control what they say and think.

Even within the NDA, there were many divisions. Snaily and Elmikey ideologically hated CPAC and everything about the new style of warfare. Mustapha [DCP] and I just jumped onto the bandwagon. It’s rather ironic that the name “NDA” was devised by Luc, who was actually working undercover against the NDA the whole time. Elmikey and I would often disagree on policy – he wanted a radical policy of bringing the game back to being on CP 24/7. I just wanted ACP to be on top again, to be a force to be reckoned with.

To my friends, it all seemed completely bewildering that I could actually go along with any of this. After all, I was never one for the rules. I’d always been a bit of a rebel and I loved the satiric nonsense that websites like TSN came up with [even if they were pocking fun at me half the time]. It was hard to keep up the pretense. I fell out with many good friends that I’d known for years, even my oldest friend and I didn’t talk to each other for months. All for something that I had no belief in whatsoever. You might be thinking, why the hell did you do it then you idiot?

If it wasnt obvious enough already or you didn’t already pick up on it – I never believed in the NDA. Elmikey and Snaily did – they were ideologically against everything that the community had been doing for years. As for me? I was playing politics to try and get the best possible deal for ACP. I tried very hard to keep my personal emotions out of things. In this I think I was successful. I have always enjoyed the study of history, and modelling myself on the example of Otto von Bismarck. The Prussian statesman who unified Germany in 1871 – one of my personal heroes – I played the game of “Realpolitik”. The game worked, but it came at a price. The loss of friendship and the isolation of being in command.

realpolitik

noun

1. a system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations.

This is not “Apologia Pro Cassius Brutus” and I don’t make this post to gain any sort of absolution for my actions. For a start, I don’t believe I need it, and I don’t think anyone else has the right to give it to me. I don’t apologise for making ACP a bigger, and more powerful army. I wish I had done some things differently, and I wish I hadn’t been forced into playing “Realpolitik”. Maybe if I had been more honest and truer to my own values and morals, people would look back more kindly on me. Posterity will judge me for what I did. I hope not too harshly. But that’s for other people to decide. Not me.

Was it all worth it in the end then? Well I certainly made my mark on history. But after going through 3 months of being totally devoted to ACP – you all know what happened next. 😉 I never wanted it to end that way. It did. I realised that I was just too tired of it all. It’s a cutthroat role to be the Leader. You have to be able to cope with the personal loss and alienation that comes with being the decision-maker. I did what I had to do. I’d like to say no regrets, but there was certainly a lot of those.

It was a hell of a ride though, one I will never forget. 

Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. – Robert F. Kennedy

[☧] Max [☧] 

CPA Central Vice President