Originally by: Aria Jenneth

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Oh, now this is cute. You hacked my personal diary to find material, hoping to discredit me?

Well, since you've gone this far, allow me to observe that there's really nothing here I haven't already said myself, and in public. Furthermore, the entry was made just before I saw Nooey's first post, the one The Cosmopolite responded so helpfully to, and, begging your pardon, I was a little frustrated. You. Had. Given. Me. No. Good. Response. At. All.

It looked like you had no plans to, either.

So, let me be plain: at the time of writing this post, the Fraction had given me nothing to mitigate my general poor impressions, and I wrote accordingly, believing that my effort at dialogue had failed. In that event, the essay this applied to would indeed have become a weapon-- a tool to be employed to break public support for a band of blustering, intellectually bankrupt bullies. I had started to think this assessment was mistanken, but this....

As I wrote a few hours ago, in another journal entry which you either don't have or have neglected to publish, the essay I wrote is a trap for fools-- or an opportunity for those not so foolish. Any argument put forth, and unopposed, operates like this: if you allow it to stand, you admit its validity, and it becomes a powerful weapon. If you argue with it in a way that actually weakens it, it becomes a poor weapon, but a good method of dialogue and contact.

It is my stated aim to either allow you to prove yourselves, or break you-- and as of the time of this writing, you not only had not proven yourselves, but it appeared unlikely that you ever would. The Cosmopolite's subsequent response did much to salve these objections, though I should add that Ms. Jasmine Constantine does indeed seem to harbor certain memes dating to the very dawn of civilization, notably the notion that trial by combat actually solves anything.

So: congratulations, you've got yourself a weapon to prove what I've already bloody well revealed, violated my personal privacy, and murdered an Omerta guard into the bargain. How very cloak and dagger of you, how very heroic.

If I had a little brother, I imagine he might have gotten up to the same sort of mischief at some point, only he'd have done the spying himself and wouldn't have left a mess.

I really, truly, cannot believe you. Of all the appalling gall, this is simply beyond forgiving, and I -really- hope that the SF leadership doesn't condone this. I would appreciate a few words from the rest of Star Fraction as to whether this is activity they stand behind, or whether stealing a woman's diary, with all the thoughts out of context and musings jotted down there without restraint and tainted by mood and moment, and then publishing useful passages of it in a public forum, is a invalid debating tactic.

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