forged_anew | 38 - [video] Item Rain~

[Here, guys, have a Zuko in his shiny new Fire Nation cloak and looking fairly pleased about it. Behind him, spread out over the couch, is his armor, and Momo is perched on the back of the couch next to it, huge ears twitching curiously as he prods at a point with one paw.

Zuko smooths the cloak over his chest, just watching Momo for a moment before he seems to remember he was going to say something and turns back to the camera, frowning slightly]

I don't know what the scientists are trying to pull, but I'm getting kind of suspicious of all the useful things I've been getting... first the pepper tree, now this and even some spices from home along with the clothes.

Then again, it seems a bunch of people got things they didn't want or need. I don't see the pattern... Could it be a mistake? Or are they just giving us random things from home? Why doesn't this place ever make any sense?

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: Horton 114

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

starspangledhero

England's... well, he's England! Kinda like my big brother, I guess. I was his colony for a while before I declared independence and then I went and saved his ass in the World Wars and now we're friends again!

A miserable pile of secrets.

Longer explanation: basically, a person or country that's against the wonderful capitalist regime where the government doesn't completely control business and rule over peoples' lives. Russia and China are communists and they're trying to spread their failure of a socioeconomic plan to smaller, weaker countries by corrupting their governments and invading them. My new boss says I have to start buddying up to China though, and at least he's not a complete psychopath like Russia.

From:

forged_anew

...you lived in this guy's colony and declared independence and--what? Is he a king or something?

Capitalism?

From:

starspangledhero

'Course not! He's a country, like me! I was his colony for a little over a century and France and Holland and Spain had some influence on me too but mostly it was England raising me. Well, when he wasn't back at his own home in Europe.

Only the greatest socioeconomic plan ever! It means business is privately owned and the production, distribution, and trade of wealth is controlled by individuals or corporations, not the government. It means everyone has an opportunity to make something of themselves with a lot of hard work and a little luck!

From:

forged_anew

A country. You are a country.

[...]

That doesn't even make any sense.

And how are people supposed to distribute and produce things without the government? What about national currency and foreign imports and things like that?

From:

starspangledhero

Yup! The best country, the United States of America!

Neither does communism, but it exists.

Freedom of markets! The markets set the prices, and the prices are controlled by supply and demand as opposed to the government controlling how much is produced, what prices goods and services should be set at, how much people can buy, that sort of thing. The government only puts taxes on foreign imports to encourage people to buy domestic products. Private companies can import and export what they need. Under a communist regime, the government carefully controls these things to suit themselves. Then they go oppress their people, get drunk, and fail at life.

From:

forged_anew

[...wait a sec. Isn't that where Nathan's from? B| Zuko doesn't like Nathan very much.]

The best country? Sounds pretty stuck-up to me. Last time a country in my world claimed to be the best, there was a war for a hundred years and an entire nation got wiped out. And I still don't get why you keep saying you are the country.

[...]

That sounds entirely too complicated.

From:

starspangledhero

It's not stuck-up if it's true! I'm pretty sure the Hundred Years' War was way before my time, but it doesn't really matter because that's before I was a country. That whole wiping-out-other-nations-thing is more up Russia and Germany's ally.

I'm a personification or whatever. I represent my peoples' culture, history, and land!

Yeah I pretty much leave economics up to my bosses and my people. It's only failed me once, and I got better!

From:

forged_anew

This war wasn't in your world. And I'm not even going to bother asking what Germany is. Kai's from Russia, I think.

Like an emperor?

If you govern them, how-- You aren't making any sense, you know that?

From:

starspangledhero

Germany's another country. He stared both World Wars. He's still a jerk, but I made him a little awesomer! And you gotta make sure your little Russian friend isn't a communist. Otherwise they might be an informant.

No, an emperor is a boss. I'm a country. I'm... it's like I'm all my citizens' ideas and attitudes wrapped up into one body.

I don't govern them! I gotta listen to my boss, he's the one who governs! Not alone though, I've got a checks and balances system that's really complicated and basically means no one person has too much power.

From:

forged_anew

People aren't countries. I know about a leader representing his country and essentially embodying it, but apparently ~~you're crazy~~ that's not what you mean.

Do these checks and balances have anything to do with something called...uh. A senate?

From:

starspangledhero

Of course they're not! Countries are countries. I keep forgetting what the exact phrase is called. Anthro-someting personication, or something like that.

Kinda. The senate's in the Legislative branch of my government. The Executive branch is my boss, the President, and the Judicial is the Supreme Court. This separation of powers ensures that I won't end up with a dictatorship or a total monarchy!

From:

forged_anew

So you're an actor personifying a country?

[this still makes no sense, man 8| But he told himself he was gonna try to learn about other world's politics because it might be useful so he's tryyyying to bear with you...]

Yeah, Nathan was saying his country didn't have a monarchy... So it's separated into three different parts, like a council?

From:

starspangledhero

No. Just. A country.

[THE MORE CAPITALISTS ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, THE BETTER. America wants a Nobel Prize for turning the Fire Nation capitalist. Also, join NATO :|b]

Yup! Congress makes the laws, the Supreme Court upholds the laws, and the President executes the laws. Of course, each branch does other things too, but the purpose of them all is so that normal citizens can be fairly represented and no one branch can get so much power that the liberties of my people are threatened.

From:

forged_anew

That's not--

[ARGH. Giving up now. Forget it, you loony. Pretend you're a country if you want B| ]

I guess that sounds like a decent system. What about the military?

From:

starspangledhero

[You're the loony. wtf is a Fire Nation :|]

Congress is the one that can declare war, but the President is commander-in-chief of armed forces.

From:

forged_anew

Congress is part of the council, right? And the president is like your king, but with more limited power?

From:

starspangledhero

I... guess you could say that. Congress contains the Senate, where each state is represented by two senators regardless of population, and the House of Representatives, where representation depends on population. So, let's take two of my states, Texas and Hawaii: Texas has way more people living in it, so it has more people to represent it in the House of Representatives. But because it'd be unfair for Hawaii to not get a voice just because there's not as many people, they get just as many representatives in the Senate as Texas.

Hey, Prince! You gonna make your kingdom a democracy?!

From:

forged_anew

[yes, he's paying attention and he's a pretty smart guy but--wtf r texas? wat r hawaii? WAT. Long pause as he tries to sort through all the weird.]

...I'm not a prince anymore. I'm Firelord now. And...

[...]

Um. No. Probably not ~~because it what you said barely made sense~~. But I wanted to learn about other forms of government.

From:

starspangledhero

What's a Firelord?

You should! Democracy is the best! Believe me, I know. I was under England's rule for more than a century and it was alright for a while but then his monarchy started making ridiculous demands and imposing all sorts of laws on me when England barely came to see me anymore so I started a revolution and kicked his ass out of my house and I've never been happier!

From:

forged_anew

The Firelord is the leader of my country, the Fire Nation. It's kind of like being an emperor.

...sounds like different circumstances to me. I have no intention of imposing 'ridiculous' demands and laws on my people ~~and I'm barely keeping back revolts as it is. A revolution would be a bad thing~~.

From:

starspangledhero

Then you should just call yourself emperor. Firelord sounds stupid and European. What kind of name for a country is Fire Nation, anyway?

Yeah? What about your colonies? Every thought about their feelings? Cuz they're the ones that're gonna suffer the most if your country ever gets war debts! [Biased? America? Never.] Trust me, you're gonna breed an idiot at some point. Democracy's the best way to go!

From:

forged_anew

It's not stupid, and I don't even know what "European" means.

[...]

I've freed all of the Fire Nation colonies in the other countries, and besides, what do you know about the politics of my world? You don't even know anything about the Four Nations or the war or anything, so don't you tell me what to do with my country.

From:

starspangledhero

Yeah it is. It means you're uncool. Unless you're from Denmark. But you're not.

Because, as the hero of the world and winner of both World Wars, I'm a super power! You think you've got trouble with four nations? There were like... at least four in the Central Powers alone! And there were five in the Axis of Evil if you count Prussia and South Italy! I can tell you what to do with your country because a) I'm the hero, b) I'm experienced in the ways of both international conflicts and internal ones, c) I've won both, and d) I'm the hegemon!

From:

forged_anew

...I'm not going to bother asking what you're talking about, and actually, I don't care what you think is 'cool' or not because you don't know me or my country. And you sound like you're more than a few screws loose in the head anyway.

From:

starspangledhero

I'm talking about being the number one country in the world! Don't just take my word for it, go ahead and ask England how I saved his ass in World War II.

And I don't have any screws loose! I'm really good with hardware tools!