Today I was flicking through the channels on television, looking for something interesting to watch, when I crossed the path of an XWF! match. Having never seen one on television or in person (that may seem hard to believe, but I'm the Team Tomorrow: Asia/Pacific resident hermit - I rarely leave my quarters and go out even less) so I decided to watch it.

I must tell you, it was one of the worst decisions of my life.

How the hell can people get off on the carnage that fills the squared circle? How can the pay be worth it when you know that you're putting your backside on the line for people's entertainment?

It makes me think of nothing more cruel and depraved than the Roman gladiatorial games. Risking your life to protect people is one thing, but doing it for money and entertainment is quite another.

I downed half a bottle of whisky after the show had ended, the sight had affected me so much. I'm a pacifist, and watching that sickened me.

I've said I won't make judgement calls, but this is one I can't help but do:

What the fuck is wrong with you people?

How can you enjoy the sight of that carnage?

I'm half-drunk and don't give a shit if I've offended anyone with this statement. My bosses at Utopia can kiss my arse if they're pissed off with what I've posted here.

For the Goddess' sake, everyone, pull yourselves together and stop this bullshit!

Codex

Regan, calm down a moment and think about it.

If this is really that much of a surprise to you, where have you been ....
Sorry, just got your bio.

You know that violence can be used in a controlling manner, and how effective it can be.

People want to feel they have some of the power and control, thus bloodsports. Spectators exhibit power and control through a proxy. For the proxy, it is the adulation of the crowd; the spectators' attention riveted to them.

Intelligence is no panacea for emotion, Regan. We are emotional creatures. We love, hate, fear, and hope. You have seen some of the dark side of that, but don't forget that this also allows us the joy of the written word. The spark ignited by poetry, or the tears brought on by a tragic epic.
One does not exist without the other.

As for the manifestation called the XWF, I can but shrug. It isn't something I have ever been apart of. Maybe Brother X can explain the appeal for a nova to participate.

I've done it. Spared against other novas in public for money (with somewhat modified rules).

Part of the attraction is testing yourself in a relatively safe enviroment. Part of it is money (although that was very secondary for me). Part of it is the thrill of the crowd, the rush of the fight.

There is an attraction, a real primal one. Having said all that, I don't really understand what the crowds get out of it (but I never watched sports as a baseline either).

Our society is in the middle of unprecidented changes. You have to expect a little strangeness like this.

I view the XWF as more than likely a dead end ... but as for why its popular with the masses, well it's violent, spectacular, and lets the average joe get as close to nova combat as he will ever have a shot at.

What I worry about is the Human fans getting exposed to ambient quantum energy. That much juice being thrown about must be triggering nodesparks...
I can understand why the XWF exists. It's because of the need to excel. You see, thre are no real "Nova Sports" out there. So, some Novas get together to show off some martial skills.
I used to hate on the XWF, but now, looking at some of the folk there, I've actually begun to admire their spirit. They don't go at eachother's throats. The other guy has to make a living too, right?

If you're wondering what's caused me to change my mind? Well... Let's just say I've seen their fellowship first hand.

<delete>

I don't really have a problem with the nova on nova fights. It's the mitoids that bother me & the very few vicious fighters.

But as for other nova sports, what about the nova only events at the Olympics?

I apologise for my outburst. I was a little on the drunk side.

Codex

No problem. We all get sidetracked when inebriated. Trust me on that one.

As for the Nova events at the olympics, those are in my opinion PURE patronizing of a Nova's full skill...

It may be just me, but in the XWF Novas are allowed a bit more freedom to use their abilities.

There is just so much more that a Nova can do that is almost completely restricted by Human standards...

It is interesting to note that the gladiatorial combats of the Roman Empire became increasingly bloody as that culture became older and more decadent. There's probably a comparison with and warning for, contemporary society.

You think the XWF stuff's nasty? I've seen some vicious bare-knuckle fights in the East End that'd scare you sober! This was baseline on baseline, totally illegal of course.

At least those shoot-fighters have professional medical teams on standby. Plus they've got forcefields and stone skins and healing factors and what have you.

Stuff that makes me sick to my stomach is the battlefield Elite stuff N! broadcasts again and again. That Tottentanz vrs Slag footage for one. Used to call that messed up "entertainment" snuff back before the Galatea lit up the skies.

Hell, I don't see nothing wrong with any of it.

Fighters are fightin' because they want to.
Fans are there because they want to be.


Ain't no one getting forced to do shit. If they were, that'd be wrong. But they ain't, so quit yer bitchin. Yeah it's violent, but so are bullfights, football, boxing and some of that 'fake' wrestling they do in Japan. We're violent animals. Better that than going to war every third tuesday.

I hear what you're saying Lemmy.

Mind you, some of the boundaries between what is voluntary and what is not disapper when you wave a large bundle of cash/fame/adoration under someone's nose. It's easy for us to say that they have a choice maybe for some of them it wasn't that simple.

As for the fans, well there'll always be fans, no matter what the subject matter, neh?

A moment for those poor baseline jobbers who have passed beyond the final circle. All for those few seconds of adoration or villany.

Nothing like walking over the mass graves in some "distant" hell-hole to make you appreciate how little anyone appreciates life. I just wish it was a tad more distant than Madison Square Garden.

Yes, people chose to be in the XWF. They also chose to pump Mite, strap bombs to their chests, and walk onto crammed subways with cannisters of Sarin gas.
Your point is?

Ask Slag whether or not he volunteered to be spitted on a pair of spears by some masked psychopath. Bit tough to do really. Don't think he would appreciate his death being war-porn for a bunch of over-exited wrestle-fans.

Now you're simply being obtuse. How about we address the glaringly obvious for those who seem to need help? One is a choice to endanger one's self while the others are decisions to endanger others without their consent.

People going to insane lengths to make the world notice them, and their cause, James? Mite-users end up dead, and they often ruin the lives of those close to them, or are you not familiar with Mitiod rampages?
The Mitiods are doing more than just endangering themselves.
The suicide attackers are not seeking to die in anonymity.

No, I did not ignore your reference to Mite users. The first group, the XWF Novas, are engaging in an activity harmful to themselves of their own free will. The other three are engaging in activities harmful to others, the Mite users included.

I am speaking solely of Novas here Jager. Those baselines who are attempting to compete with Novas are not only deranged, but are in fact dangerous to their society as a whole. They should be stopped, by human society, for that is who they are a danger to. They are not a concern of mine.

Seeing as you are a recluse, I can see were you are coming from. I believe that five or six rampaging mitiods might seem a bit more of an immediate nova concern to one of us who lives in the real world, isn't armored out the ass, dodges autofire for kicks, but is unaided in their immediate vicinity.

I recall a case from nearly a year ago were some mitiods jumped a nova courier, kept him pinned down in some dungeon, and canabalized the poor SOB. Do you believe he considered it no concern of his (to paraphrase)?

That's okay, though. Don't you worry about it.

This courier was 'jumped' and eaten by HUMAN BEINGS engaging in a sad, pathetic religious excercise. They were abusing their bodies with drugs. Just as I wish for Novas to be able to police themselves, so also do I hope that human beings would make every effort to stop those of their own species who have gone renegade. Now, this young Nova should have defended himself. I am afraid I am not privy to every single detail in this specific case, as I am sure you are, so I am unable to discern whether or not this Nova was lax or simply unlucky. Whatever the case, this is more akin to a hiker walking out in the wilderness. If he is attacked by a puma, are pumas a 'problem' that humans need to address? Or did the hiker simply take his chances by entering the world of animals who might find him frightening or threatening?


This one anecdotal case, as emotional as it is, is not enough for me to believe that Novas have to take a hand in a human problem that needs to be addressed by human beings. How very impressive of you to have brought up an unusual but horrific case to try to make a broader point.

It's alright Jager, you have this unstoppable need to meddle. I understand this of you and accept it. I even find it endearing at times.

-meddle, meddle, meddle-

What? Huh? I this thing on?

ME Meddle!!! Me thinks not, old spoon. I have nothing but the best intenttions.

Actually, since any quality pistol round can still drop a mitiod, it's still just a human problem.
Now, if man-eating pumas began investing in high-tech weaponry, became social creatures, and shared their political and philisophical beliefs ... yea, I would be concerned.

Not all that harmful. Certainly not compared to being an elite, or a member of T2M, or ::cough:: meddling in politics.

The vast number of "Nova on Nova" matches are actually "Nova on Mite Headed Idiot" matches. Even the Nova vs. Nova matches aren't that bad. The XWF doesn't want to see it's nova members killed and takes a lot of care to avoid it.

Ssshhhh .... Doctor Troll. For some, Free Will only matters if it is expressed in a way they accept.

Buying into the established, baseline System is considered backward thinking. Picking on the XWF is relatively safe. Picking on DeVries for doing the exact same thing, with a far higher nova causalty rate, doesn't seem to be in vogue, though. I wonder why?

Well, as Sphere reminds us, we see the death of Slag on some show or another at least once a week. Maybe killing a Utopian or three makes up for a great many sins.

Spoken as though every one who participates in the XWF and works for DeVries has made a full, educated, and unbiased decision on their erupted options, knows exactly what they are doing, and isn't motivated primarily by monetary gain.

Obviously, this isn't true for everyone in the employ of those organizations, and the reverse argument also holds true.

We do what we must to open eyes to other possibilities. Not everyone is aware of their options when they make their choices.

We aren't any different from you for making our reasons for disliking the XWF public.

Ashnod,not many people can see the future. Can you? Can you blame people for not being prefect?

Codex, you say WFX is wrong. I agree, it is wrong,but it is not any more wrong than what came before it,and what is hapening around it.Mite should be removed from the world, but the Mite users in WFX are tame compared to the ones I deal see.

I prefer to think of it has being paid to explore various aspects of my potential. The XWF does lack something on the dignity scale, but only a little more so than Professional football.

Hey, I had fun, I earned some bucks, and no one got hurt. Measured by those three things it was one of the best gigs I've had.

Intriguing.

In two replies to my posts, you've twice asked whether or not I can see the future. In your previous posting, you claimed that you possessed that manner of sight.

Are you saying that you cannot tell, with your much-proclaimed ability, whether or not I act upon similiar knowledge?

It must be killing you not to know. You must be hoping I drop some hint one way or the other, and then will proceed attacking me depending on how I respond.

I hope it's that, because as an outright attack, it doesn't hold any merit.

Saying that...

Do I blame someone for not being perfect? Of course not. Sentient species make mistakes and learn from them. It is the nature of intelligence to do this. This is a practical and rational way of adapting to faux pas.

On the other hand...one doesn't approach a situation they believe to be a good one and think, "If this doesn't work out, at least I will have learned my lesson."

I am not a parent to Novas joining the XWF. I am not under obligation to simply let them make their own mistakes then be there to give them a comfortable shoulder if they find the experience not to their liking. I disagree with everything the XWF represents and my conscience feels no guilt in working against it.

For everyone trying to talk down the danger, understand this: the XWF doesn't forbid its participants from killing each other in the ring. It is discouraged, yes. It operates under the princicples of "accidents do happen" or "when dealing with Nova powers, everything cannot be controlled." Fights in the XWF are not necessarily staged. Many of them are as real and violent as any other combat sport, and a few still as violent as any combat. There have been Nova deaths in the XWF. Deaths meaning plural. The organization continues to function. It merely requires that the Novas who compete sign a waiver that they acknowledge the danger and will not hold the XWF responsible.

Many Novas think that this is just a liability formality, and that such "accidents" either do nor happen any longer or will not happen to them. I feel no guilt, none, endeavoring to prevent Novas from having such "mistakes" happen to them.

It that last part I have problems with. Not the guilt part, but the unwelcomed parenting part.

Its the You're to stupid/blind/young/whatever to take care of yourself and make your own decisions, so I will make them for you thing that smacks of Utopian thinking to me.
After all, at what point and time does it become okay for adults to make their own dumb-ass mistakes. I am no fan of the XWF, either, yet it is their lives to screw up, if they so chose.

By the way, are you making any effort to bring in Epoch for the butchery of Vile Bill?
How about taking it to the killer of poor Slag?

Personally, I am waiting for you to take ole Anna DeVries to the mat for all of the novas she has led down that primrose path to fame, wealth, glory, and death.

It is easier to take it to the XWF. They have fewer novas, are far less dangerous if they get angry with you, and ... oh yes, they really are a bunch of pathetic bloodsuckers. Sorry Flair, but its true.

Okay, so no one prosecutes XWF novas for the killings they commits. There has never been a serious investigation into the vast quantities of mite, among other things, they are shipping in, and no one (with power) seems to care about the hundreds of baselines who lives are getting destroyed by coercing them into using mite.
But, should we really be picking on them for those few indescresions?

95% of all Elites murders never go to court.
No one has successful prosecuted DeVries for War Crimes.
Hell, they never caught the killers of the Houston Tornado.

Boys and Girls, its a dangerous world out there. Now you can't say you were never warned.

Thank you Ashnod for working against my free will.

Glad to see that the Teragen promise of freedom of choice only includes the activities and aspirations that your organization approves of.

I for one wouldn't care to belong to a group that is so ... limiting.

Nor would I care to have my choices dictated by them.

Hey Meidian dude, she ain't taking shit away. She's just trying to convince our trifling asses.

Hey, Ashie baby, you've done convinced me, you hot mama you. I'll never ever step in an XWF ring. And it's got nothing to do with the fact that I'd get rendered down to my base components before the anouncer could get through my name. Nope, not at all. It's all you sexy.


Jager, you are one sanctomonius son of a bitch aintcha? You just keep watching out for us though, I appreciate having an old man like you keeping an eye out for me. Makes me feel all safe. You remind me of my grandpa. When he was sober. Well, not completely sober.

AND HOW!!!!

Besides, how much fun would I be if I was totally sober, sonny?

Meaning it is a contact sport. Or maybe that is a "combat" sport. But really, if a nova thinks he is up to it, that's his choice and should be his judgement.
It was just a formality, and it can't happen to me. :p

Meridian,

I speak for myself on this affair. My hatred of the XWF is personal, not representative of the Teragen as a group. Glad to see you're assuming I speak for the whole of the movement one-hundred percent of the time, though. It appears I'll have to have disclaimers when speaking for only myself.

Meridian and Jager,

Sure. I can offer advice and let my opinions be known as much as anyone else. I don't recall going out of my way to punish those who follow that path.

I haven't taken anything away from anyone. I've spoken my mind, I took a very public stand on the matter, but that is all.

How I've suddenly been turned into an Orwellian figurehead, I'm not so certain.

Ashnod, if the Chief Executive of St. Croix threatens my life, I can figure I may not get a refill at the bar.
If the Chief Executive of the United States threatens my life, I start re-examining all those little third world safehouses I haven't used recently.

Two different people saying the exact same thing, but I can be forgiven for putting more weight on one than the other, can't I?

Jager,

I don't know, has your free will been threatened by me recently? Have I told you I'd watching to see what you do in case I disapprove?

Jager, meddling and now paranoia? It's hard to envision you as the puppetmaster you've shown us to be i