#kinda see why infighting occurred

[review-anon]

So the other Blowback crew are on the Voidship? In that case, aside from Kana and whoever I missed, how are they doing?

*Kana is now at the Blowback dorms* Whew....what a day, I'm exhausted.

Hello Kana, how was your day?

Hi Kanjiro....today was a very long day...though you probably knew that.

It was those Voids wasn't it? They tried to ruin Christmas and you had to deal with them and Review Anon.

Honestly those guys piss me off so much. Okay sure they hate Christmas, big fucking deal.

But that doesn't give them the excuse to try and get everyone killed because of it.

Indeed...its very troublesome indeed, some of us had to hide because of it.

I know Sannoji was killed but you shouldn't have stopped with him, you should have killed them all.

They are never gonna learn and so its best to remove them from the ship.

Shozo we talked about this. Just because some of us were created by LINUJ doesn't give us the excuse to pretend that character development doesn't exist.

Besides, since our universe fell apart since our creators couldn't get along, and that LINUJ's views are very controversal, I'm not saying names but what does that tell you?

Whatever, I'm going back to my room.

Please ignore him Kana, he's just being a grump like usual.

Either way, we should have a fantastic Christmas tomorrow guys!

Kazuki: Yeah we should.

[aestaseuria]

I've been thinking recently about the Sith Wars and specifically how it must have impacted Mando'ade-Jedi relationships for centuries onward. Buckle in, cause this is going to be a long one. We hear a lot in canon how the Mandalorians are historically the Jedi's enemies, often siding with the Sith in conflicts.

And yet, we have Jedi Master and Mand'alor Tarre Vizsla, who is seen as held in high regard by both the Jedi and the Mando'ade. He is Mando'ad by blood and Jedi by Creed before he became the Mand'alor. We also know that something happened to cause the Darksaber, Tarre's lightsaber, to become the symbol of the Mand'alor. Thus we know that in some form or another, the Mando'ade of the day (or at least some of them) did not see the Jedi as the child-stealing, emotionless sect that so many thought as them as by at least the time of the Acolyte. So then why would they be considered generational/historical enemies by the time Jaster Mereel became Mand'alor? Why would they be considered historic allies of the Sith if the Sith were gone from not too long after little Tarre was given to the Order to decades after Jaster died?

In real life, feuds like those don't just appear out of no where. Like, the enemyship of Israel and Palestine didn't poof into existence from thin air, it came from centuries of consistent conflict between the two peoples. To figure out what caused such hostility between the Mando'ade and Jedi that it would survive nearly 1000 years past the end of the Sith Wars, we must then look at the context in which each culture exists and how that shapes their views on each other.

First and most obvious, we have the Dral'han, the Mandalorian Excision. The Jedi were ordered by the Senate to commit orbital bombardment on Manda'yaim, the Mandalorians' home planet. This occurred in 738 BBY, 272 years after the Ruusan Reformation and 312 years after Tarre Vizsla joined the Jedi. But again, this is AFTER the end of the Sith Wars by several centuries. And this isn't ever really brought up when discussion the animosity between the two cultures.

What gets brought up is nearly always that the Mandalorians are the historical allies of the Sith. Which doesn't make sense! If the Sith and Mando'ade were allies, the Force-Sensitive younglings given up for training would never have gone to the Jedi like Master Vizsla was. They would all be given up to the Sith! But let's relax and backtrack even farther. Given that there is a "historical' allyship between the Mando'ade and the Sith, they must have fought on the same side of the Sith Wars for a while. But Master Vizsla having been a Master of the Order by the end of the Sith Wars and then going on to become Mand'alor means that at some point in there, that changed.

My best guess is that before Master Vizsla came in, there was no real leader of all the Mandalorian clans. Instead, like how the Sith had no real leadership, they all just kinda hung around various Sith and allied with them specifically. But the Sith had infighting. So much infighting. To the point that it is often listed as the true cause of the end of the Sith. Thus, it would not at all surprise me to find that the Sith were using the Mando'ade in their plots against each other like Pong Krell with the 212th and 501st.

And on top of that, the Mando'ade know war. Their language is kinda built around it. Like, the phrase "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"? They have a word for that. "Narudar," meaning a temporary allyship to defeat a common enemy. Both sides in this are very aware that the allyship is temporary, but can trust each other to not stab them in the back until the third party is dealt with. The Jedi of this time also know war, but as Force-sensitives (which by default have a larger blast radius if something goes wrong), they don't have this concept. For Force-sensitives in the Sith War, if someone becomes their enemy, there is no trust. They could not trust one Sith to help them, even to defeat another Sith. To them, any of their enemies coming to them proposing a temporary alliance to defeat someone else could never be anything but a trap. For the enemy to be one they know to be allied with the Sith? There could never be the prerequisite trust for narudar to work. They would turn the Mando'ade away.

Something else to remember is that the whole 1 padawan per Master, no-attachment, no public offices for Jedi, and no military offices for Jedi rules only came along with the Ruusan Reformation, which hadn't come into play yet. The Jedi had their own ways of dealing with things, their own definitions of words, their own associations with concepts. None of those would match the Mando'ade OR the Jedi Order we see in the Prequels or TCW. This is so far before that as to be nearly unrecognizable.

So in thinking of all this, and trying to put together a semblance of timeline for a fanfic idea, I began writing my thoughts and came up with the following:

1033 BBY: The Mondo’ad clans were following various Sith as allies against the Jedi and the Army of Light. They have grievances against the Jedi Order, and the Sith swore to help them resolve it, and to work as allies, partners, in this fight and those following. In actuality, the grievances the Mando’ade hold are half-rooted in misunderstandings. The Sith betrayed the Mando’ade (ala Pong Krell). They pulled out of the war. The lies and losses were enough to cultivate hate for the Sith in the hearts of Mando’ade regardless of clan. They begin their hunt. 

Do not mistake me, the Jedi were no friends of theirs, but narudar was possible. At first, the Jedi refused. Too long had they seen Mandalorians at the side of the Sith to trust easily. The Jedi do not have a concept of narudar. They knew the Light, and the Dark, and the difficult path that must be taken to come back, or die. 

(It is a difficult question to ask: when is a genocide justified. The Jedi did not ask it this day, nor any prior. Nor, I’m afraid, was it asked any day after. These were their Enemies, after all, and it is among the oldest laws of instinct that you did not suffer your Enemies to live. Regardless, the Jedi and Sith fought, and died, and fought, and the conflict seemed unending. Don’t think about how their cultures are fundamentally entwined. Don’t think about how at each turn they seemed destined to lock horns. Don’t think about how the Jedi preach emotional control in what likely started as an attempt to deprive the Sith of one more weapon. Don’t think about how the Sith Code preaches Freedom as its core goal. Don’t think of how the Force needs balance like a human needs air. Don’t think about what the galaxy looked like when the Sith weren’t there to provide the needed darkness. Don’t think about how the very first Sith was likely once a Je’daii. Don’t think of the depths of despair and hatred the captive, enslaved Force-sensitive that would become the Sith was subjected to. Don’t think of them coming home to the other Je’daii and being reviled as corruption, wrong, disgust. Don’t think of their family looking at them, afraid, before raising their weapons to kill them. Don’t think of how this millennia-long conflict likely started from an act of fear. Don’t think about how the Je’daii would regret, and strive to never act in this fear again. Don’t think, child. This is us, and this is them, and we do not think of how we are family, love. We are Enemies, they have killed us, and we kill them ‘lest they do it again. Do not think, child. Fight.) 

Regardless, to the Jedi of the day, no doubt the Mandalorians seemed Dark. They could not know different, no… Beskar muffles the force. They turned the Mando’ade away. This does not stop them from fighting — only stopped them from fighting together. Mando’ade-born and newly knighted Tarre Vizsla did not refuse those of his brethren that wished to fight with him. He gained allies this way, and formed many bonds of friendship. Remember, the Jedi of that day were not yet under the Ruusaan Reformation. This was not forbidden, only cautioned against. It is not the attachment that caused the Fall, but the fear of losing it. Emotion, yet peace. This was war. Let the bonds steady you. 

The friends he made here would be instrumental later, when Tarre Vizsla sought to unite his people as his visions bid. On that front, and some nearby, they fought together.

1032 BBY: The Sith Wars end, the Republic is formed, the Army of Light disbanded, and the Ruusan Reformation instituted. The Sith are thought to be by and large gone.

1031 BBY: Master Tarre Vizsla leaves the Jedi to go to Mandalore. The Force has told him his place from here on out is not among the Order, nut rather leading his birth people. He goes to unite the clans, as he had seen in his visions.

1022 BBY: Tarre becomes Mand'alor.

[canaryatlaw]

alright, so today was ok. for some reason I couldn’t make myself get out of bed for church which I know is bad but I just couldn’t and oh well there’s nothing I can do about it now. I woke up at like 12:30ish and messaged Jess to see how dead she was (the answer was super dead) but still up for getting brunch so we went to the regular place which was good. Went back home after because I was supposed to get “coffee” with a guy at 3 so I got ready for that, did my makeup and everything then met up with him at this little bakery/coffee shop on main street that I’d never actually been to, I was still pretty full from brunch so I just got some hot apple cider that was very good. so we sat and talked there for a while, just normal stuff, he’s gonna be at the con next weekend so I’ll probably see him there, though the con is massive and there will be a million people there lol we’ll see how it goes. Once we finished since it was pretty nice out we decided to go for a walk, so we went down a few blocks and then crossed the street and went back up, then back down to where I actually live (I let him “walk me home” but not to my actual house, just the block because you never know when might be guys are sketchy about knowing where you live). And yeah, we kinda just left off planning on seeing each other at the con next weekend, so that was good. I got home and did some podcast listening and reading Batwoman comics since we’re gonna try to record an episode tomorrow for a while before Supergirl was on. I still haven’t watched the episodes from the last two weeks since I just haven’t gotten around to it, but given the special people who were coming in this episode I decided to watch it anyway. I was a bit confused as to just how we got to where we were but I did alright managing it all. The first person I wanted to see was of course Lex Luthor, a character I have rather strong feelings about (mostly thanks to Michael Rosenbaum’s stunning and humanizing portrayal of him on Smallville) and it just so happened that he was being played by Jon Cryer, which I’m sure is of no significance to just about anybody else, but he actually happens to be involved In one of my favorite podcasts so I’ve been very used to listening to his voice over the past few years, so I tried my best to vouch for him when people were questioning his casting and praying he would live up to it (though I have to say, I’m 100% convinced that this casting happened because they were like “we like legacy casting, who’s been involved in something Superman related and is now bald? Jon Cryer, perfect let’s cast him” and that’s exactly how that occurred). It was a very different Lex we’re used to seeing for sure, I can’t really remember a portrayal of Lex that is after he has been imprisoned for years and is actually dying at this point, so it was a very different portrayal of an older man who’s gone through a lot more than some of his younger incarnations. Overall I liked it, definitely true to the character and picking up on some of the bitterness that we’ve seen in a younger version except now magnified significantly due to everything that’s happened to him. I did very much enjoy the touching moment between him and Lena when he told her about his interactions with her mother, it reminded me of a much more humanized version of him very much like that we had on Smallville (I really love Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex okay?). And then of course there was the end where it was revealed he’s still a massive douche (no surprise there) and then he just pulls a whole escape plan that I mean honestly they should’ve been better prepared for so I mean honestly that’s on the security that was supposed to be guarding him. So it’ll be interesting to see where his plot line goes from here. The second person I wanted to see was the addition of Jimmy’s sister, especially with the news in the past week that she had been promoted to a season regular for the next season. This was of course the character that was supposedly going to become a love interest for Alex, so of course i wanted to see how that went. It was pretty mellow, it’s an introduction of course so I wasn’t expecting anything crazy, but I thought it was a good establishment of a friendship/relationship where they had to endure some traumatizing events together and forged a fairly strong bond through that. So i thought that was good. I know I have friends who very much still ship Sanvers, but at this point I think the healthy thing to do is acknowledge that it’s gone, even though I know how painful that can be (believe me, I spent two seasons of Legends anxious for Leonard to come back and get fulfillment on my strong Captain Canary feelings, but at the end I had to accept it wasn't happening, and that sucked but it was for the best). And I mean, Alex is a great character and I think we should want her to be happy. So that’s my feelings on the matter anyway. Overall I thought it was a pretty strong episode, especially compared to the others this season that I’ve found rather mediocre and sometimes disappointing. From there I went back to watching Reign, getting into their second season now, and the main conflict has been infighting between Protestants and Catholics and how much violence there has been because of it. And I’m just sitting here in my 21st century Christianity thinking about this and just how insane it was that people were literally hunted and down and killed because they wanted to worship God in a way that wasn’t controlled by the Catholic church?? Like were they really that desperate for power?? (I mean I know the answer to that is yes, but still.) It’s just so hard for me to wrap my mind around. I know it was a very different world obviously but like....why would you give a fuck about how someone else chooses to worship God, if they’d like to run their own church services instead of attending one with organized religion and government? Why would this be such a ridiculously huge deal that you’d literally go around killing your neighbors because they didn’t want to go to the same church as you and challenge some of the beliefs of the Catholic church? Maybe I’m somewhat biased as someone raised as a Protestant, and in the religion I was raised in there was definitely somewhat of an anti-Catholic vibe (some even going so far as to suggest they’re not actually Christians) but I’ve since come to fully appreciate my Catholic brothers and sisters and hold absolutely nothing against them for believing somewhat different than me. I think it’s incredibly narcissistic to believe that you are right on every single tiny matter of doctrine or tradition or what else over the hundred and hundreds of positions that have to be taken over these things, are you really saying you have it right and literally every other person has it wrong? that doesn't sound very Christ-like to me, and I believe that we should extend grace in these matters (especially as Christians) and not allow superficial differences to divide us. I’m ranting now and have gone completely off subject I know, so I’ll end that little diatribe there. But yeah, I’m really enjoying the show so far. And yeah, I watched that for the rest of the night before starting to get ready for bed and now I am here. I don’t have like, much of anything to do this week currently, I’ll probably make a short grocery run tomorrow mostly because we’re almost out of toilet paper and obviously running out of that would be a problem. So we’ll see what happens. It’s just turned 2 am now and I am tired so I think I will be retiring to bed now. Goodnight dears. Be well.

[junker-town]

Phil Kessel trade rumors seem baseless, which makes them pointless for now

Beliefs are opinions until they have sources.

This is how it starts.

Without Phil Kessel, the Penguins probably don’t win back-to-back Stanley Cups. Less than two months after that incredible feat, Pittsburgh columnists are floating the idea of a Kessel trade.

Dear, dear readers: don’t fall for this.

The most recent, and most egregious, was this column from Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette titled “Don't be surprised if the Penguins trade Phil Kessel.” A fascinating premise, no? Cook used Penguins assistant coach Rick Tocchet’s departure for Arizona as a springboard for a “this is the end for Kessel” theory.

The problem? None of it was sourced, and therefore much of it is reckless. With all due respect to Cook and the Post-Gazette, this deserves the Fire Joe Morgan treatment.

Shall we? We’ll start a few paragraphs into it.

I believe Phil Kessel will be traded. It might not happen this week or this month or even this offseason. But I believe it will happen sooner rather than later.

I know “fake news” is all the rage right now, but I think most people would agree that “sources” is more trustworthy than “I believe” when it comes to reporting.

It was clear in June, by the end of the Penguins’ second consecutive Stanley Cup run, that the organization wasn’t thrilled with Kessel.

Oh, wow. That would certainly be something! What makes that clear?

He scored 23 goals in 82 games during the regular season, not nearly enough for a player with his marvelous shooting skills. He had a huge goal — one of the most significant of the postseason — to beat Ottawa, 1-0, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final but scored just two more goals in the final 11 playoff games. Even though he had 23 points in the 25 postseason games, it was hard to find anyone in organization to say he was playing well.

Cook has no quotes from “anyone in the organization” to back that up. Even an anonymous quote from a front office source saying “I don’t think he was playing well” would’ve sufficed.

I wrote this in a column on the internet, so I am to be believed. Share this with many people. Spread my narrative.

We have yet to find anything here that is not solely Cook’s opinion.

My belief is Evgeni Malkin wasn’t thrilled to play on the same line with Kessel. And Sidney Crosby? Sullivan acknowledged Crosby and Kessel have no chemistry together. None.

There’s that “belief” again. It irks me when columnists write about how a player feels about a teammate without direct quotes or evidence. Are we supposed to believe that Cook FaceTimes Malkin after games?

And if so, why are these not available for public consumption? They would be great!

As for that last point, here’s some actual quotes from Sullivan after Crosby and Kessel started clicking in February 2016. From Cook’s own paper, no less!

“It was more, I think, my gut feeling that maybe this might work,” coach Mike Sullivan said Friday after practice at Consol Energy Center. “Sometimes, when players don’t play together for a while and you put them together there’s a spark. Our hope was that that would occur.

“Phil, obviously, is a goal-scorer. He can really shoot the puck. I think regardless who Sid plays with, he is a guy who is going to make everybody around him better. That’s the nature of his game. So, we felt that the time was probably right, given the fact that we struggled to generate goal-scoring a few games in a row. Maybe if we tweaked it a little bit, we might get a spark?”

Maybe that magic dissipated this season. I’ll grant you that. But Cook saying Sullivan believes the two have no chemistry (NONE!!!!) is intellectually dishonest.

It’s no secret that Kessel often drives Sullivan crazy.

If it’s no secret, where’s the public evidence to back that up? When you’re covering a player or coach, you can’t just toss out what they think of one another into the public sphere without proof. If you’re going to abandon good journalistic faith to serve a narrative, though, at least try to hide it by saying “I’ve heard” or “those close to the team say.”

I’m just trying to help you, Ron.

I’m guessing he has produced the same reaction all the way up the company ladder, from Jim Rutherford to Mario Lemieux.

YOU’RE GUESSING? THEN DON’T PUT IT IN YOUR COLUMN, RON.

It’s no secret that Kessel hates puppies. In fact, I’m guessing Kessel hates all kinds of babies. Human babies. Kittens. Bear cubs. Tadpoles. I wrote this in a column on the internet, so I am to be believed. Share this with many people. Spread my narrative. Vindicate my opinions and sense of self-importance in this market.

Cook goes on to talk about how Rick Tocchet was quite close to Kessel, and how important he was to Kessel’s success in Pittsburgh. And here, he does use quotes. Convenient how he uses actual reporting when it serves his narrative.

And, to be fair, there’s a decent argument in here. If Kessel struggles, it’ll be worth asking him if he misses Tocchet. Then we can hear his answer and let that speak for itself.

Instead, we’re going to judge this whole situation months ahead of actually having results to judge. Cook ends Sullivan’s quote with a note about Kessel and Tocchet as proof he’s onto something here.

“In particular, he has a real good relationship with Phil. They spend a lot of time together.”

Tocchet didn’t just help keep Kessel’s head in the game. He served as a buffer between Kessel and Sullivan.

Don’t underestimate the importance of that role.

I won’t, and neither should fans. But let’s not overestimate it, either. Not without some concrete evidence that Tocchet was the only thing keeping Sullivan and Kessel from butting heads. I see none of that here.

The last part of Cook’s column is actually important. Kessel might be moved because of his contract. That’s a legitimate reason to think about this scenario. It has facts behind it. He makes $6.8 million a season. Malkin and Crosby already take up a ton of cap space, and soon the Penguins will need to sign Matt Murray. GM Jim Rutherford has never been one to hold onto players when he can move them to improve the present and future (see: the James Neal trade).

It is more than likely Kessel doesn’t live out his contract in Pittsburgh (it ends in 2021-22, after all). The only concrete reason to think that, though, is financial roster practicality. Not the personal relationships between Kessel and his team.

That’s nothing but speculation resting on the flimsiest of bases.

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Good luck to the Penguins trying to move him.

Good luck to the team continuing to have to deal with him without Tocchet.

I think they’ll be fine on both counts, Ron.

Columnists are different than beat reporters. Beat reporters usually stick to the facts they’ve corroborated with sources. Columnists offer opinions. Sometimes the two professions cross paths, but not often.

I don’t know Cook personally. I’ve never heard of him before now. He might be a nice man who just wrote a bad column. But he writes for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a reputable newspaper that also employs the likes of Sean Gentille and other reporters who do good work with sources and fact-based analysis. Stuff like this does those people a disservice.

It is, unfortunately, all-too common in the sports world. A quick Google search for “Phil Kessel Toronto media” will show how this exact scenario played out before he was run out of the Leafs’ organization. Or just look at the numerous articles that assassinated Tyler Seguin’s character before the Bruins traded him to Dallas.

The personality sniping as P.K. Subban’s run in Montreal came to an end were arguably worse. “Reports” said Max Pacioretty was basically conspiring against him and a radio host in Montreal cited locker room conversations that were relayed to him as proof Subban was a bad teammate. Just floated out there.

In each of those three examples, you’d find pockets of fandom that stood behind the team’s decision to move on. Many of them fall back on these “reports” about personality, teammate infighting or general drama.

Columnists, beat writers, radio hosts — their voices are wielded as truth by much of their audiences, regardless of the actual reporting behind their words. It takes one column like this from Cook to plant the seed of negative public opinion against Kessel. Whether he intends that or not (and I don’t think he does) is beside the point.

So I (hopelessly) wish these people would wield their words more carefully. Or at least frame their opinions as such instead of shrouding them in phrases like “believe” or “guessing” that kinda-sorta imply you might know something your readers don’t. And if you do, then say so.

Have a little respect for the people you cover and the audience who places their trust in you.