Originally by: Delilah Wild

---

Aristotle, the old earth philosopher, once said that men were not adults until they reached the age of 40. Most of the pirate authored posts on this forum demonstrate his insight. I suspect many of the women of EVE, as well as in these boyz real lives, would agree.

There is, however, a method to their adolescent madness. They focus on ship kills as a means of asserting an 'objective standard' for their prowess. And they do so in order to cow high sec industrialists into shying away from overt resistance -- to pay the ransom, to pay the protection racket bribes, to hire pirates to protect your fleets, who will turn around and gank you the next day. (I mean no disrespect to true mercenaries)

Yet the killboards only feature a limited set of statistics, and fail to relate these numbers to the political goals pursued by the Friends. For example, I've lost many frigates to Whispi, but have participated in the destruction of her ships several times over at a cost of hundreds of millions more to her than I. I lost two small ships in Sharuveil last night, but the one pirate I did kill lost more isk than the losses of our 3 person squad.

What I am illustrating here is a fundamental point of asymmetric struggle. Industrialists don't have to win toe-to-toe in a particular skirmish or battle. Rather you slowly whittle down the adversaries material base and fighting morale. While you do so, you gain in skill, strength and experience. Moreover, the very act of resistance makes a political statement about one's values and commitments.

In the case of the Friends, it is to the greater well-being of the people of EVE, as expressed through our struggle against the multiple forms of victimization associated with piracy. And this includes industrialists. Moreover, it is these political values, expressed in words and actions, that are the ultimate source of power in our struggle. For it is these values that will bring together a larger community to defend ourselves and our neighbours.

We need not be reactive, we can be proactive. Contact me in game and lets talk about how we can be of help to one another.

Delilah

---