Civil Discourse

Global Sim is a deeply intellectual community. As such, we enjoy perusing upon topics that require a great deal of intellect. This often leads to civil debates where members of the server debate each other, expanding minds and learning new things. These debates generally happen in #civil-discourse, though they do occasionally happen elsewhere.

Jk all the best debates are the ones where people's egos and strong opinions result in a debate falling into a shit-flinging match. It should be strongly noted that these debates are not like the ones that occured during the The Yaoi Wars, rather, these debates are more about personal opinions outside of server matters.

Note: Following the Cheggstaffel Incident, several debates are now gone forever.

Holodomor
The Holodomor debate was a one-off incident that happened in GS6 when various members argued about whether the Holodomor was a genocide. Before long, the argument had devolved into whether the Soviet Union was fascist, a belief only held by Arion. He was banned from debating after flaming and namecalling other members during the debate, all the while arguing that he held the right to as he believed that debates were more fun with insults.

Police brutality
These debates took place in mid-2020 in the aftermath of George Floyd's death and several other widely known deaths at the hands of police officers in the US. Conq got considerable flack after suggesting that a man named Rayshard Brooks, who snatched a taser from an officer and tried to tase him, deserved to be shot. He got further flack by calling the same man "street scum", which some interpretated as racism. This argument contributed to Conq's ban.

Socialism vs capitalism
These debates are rare because everybody is left wing anyway, but a notable "debate" occured in GS6 when Koe used an alt to start up a fake debate between himself and other server members while he was banned. He argued from the perspective of a 12 year old ben shapiro fan, using prageru as a source and generally just intending to annoy people in revenge for banning him. He left the server after spamming poo emojis and "LIBTUUUURD".

Australian military
Debates about the Australian military are notorious due to the clashing nature of Koe's hyper-nationalistic views regarding Australia, and the rest of the server. These debates generally took place between Koe and Quartz.

Nuclear submarines
This debate took place in mid-2020 within GS7 when Koe argued with Quartz about Australia needing nuclear submarines. Much of Koe's arguments surrounded Australia's prestige and a need to militarily dominate the south east pacific. Quartz argued that Australia has no need for them and didn't have the necessary infrastructure, which Koe claimed was only because Australia didn't have nuclear submarines to begin with to warrant such things. This debate ended with Quartz getting pissed off and leaving. Koe considers himself to have won the debate as AUKUS was signed over a year later.

Military great power
This debate began in GS8 when Koe argued that Australia needed a 45,000 ton aircraft carrier, "a dozen or so" more destroyers and nuclear weapons. Quartz mainly argued that Australia didn't need these because it is "not a world power" while Koe argued that the only reason it wasn't is because Australia does not have a 45,000 ton aircraft carrier, "a dozen or so" more destroyers and nuclear weapons. Quartz then argued that Australia was too small to have a military-industrial complex, which Koe argued was untrue as Sweden develops its own fighter aircraft and much of its navy. He also argued that Australia already had much of the skills and expertise needed, considering the development of the Loyal Wingman, Australia's contributions to scramjet propulsion, and the boomerang. The debate eventually ended when like all previous debates regarding the Australian military, Quartz got pissed off and left.

AUKUS
The AUKUS debates took place between Koe and Quartz in the friend server, following the fallout of AUKUS over the course of several weeks. The main argument was between Koe and Quartz regarding the quality of the conventionally powered Attack-class submarines that France was originally designing for Australia compared to the likely candidates of the Virginia-class or Astute-class submarines for the RAN. They also debated the nature of Australia's cancellation of the original deal. This debate generally ended after one of the two got too pissed to argue anymore, until the two agreed to never debate this topic again to avoid further drama.

All logs of this debate are now lost following the Cheggstaffel Incident.

Maggi
The Maggi debate was possibly worst and most meaningless debate in server history. This was an argument over what the Swiss food company "Maggi" is known for, with the Europeans arguing it was known for its bouillon and seasonings while the orientals (the gooks, if you will) argued it was mostly known for its instant noodles. It didn't last that long comparatively but was the scene of extremely bad shitflinging, ad homs and both sides agreed that it was purely for their ego.

All logs of this debate are now lost following the Cheggstaffel Incident.

China
The China debates usually happened whenever China was criticised around Conq. It generally revolved around Conq supporting China to the death and everyone else saying why none of what he said excused China or the fact that he uncritically took Chinese propaganda and rhetoric at face value. They usually ended up with less shitflinging than other debates though, so thats a plus.

Political system
Usually went like this:

Anyone with half a brain: China is an authoritarian state which sidelines human rights when it benefits it. It is unsocialist, undemocratic and indefensible from that perspective. At best, it does not consider protection of human rights a priority in decision making and at worst it actively violates the human rights of its citizens.

Conq: western propaganda, western, west, US army bases, south china sea, CIA ploy, western ploy, US warships, backed by US, terrorism, national security, US military, Taiwan, NATO, western aggression, self defence, socialism with chinese characteristics, socialism, state ownership of property, suicide nets are a thing of the past, constitution, constitutional, constitutionally guaranteed, exaggerations, western bias etc.

Uyghurs
Usually went like this:

Anyone with half a brain: Despite the murky situation of reporting in Xinjiang (which is largely the fault of China) it is indisputable that something bad is happening with the Uyghurs. The evidence on the table, while not necessarily showing all out genocide suggest that mistreatment of the Uyghurs is very real and should be a genuine concern for anyone concerned for human rights in China.

Conq: western propaganda, western, west, US army bases, south china sea, CIA ploy, western ploy, US warships, backed by US, terrorism, national security, US military, Taiwan, NATO, western aggression, self defence, socialism with chinese characteristics, socialism, state ownership of property, suicide nets are a thing of the past, constitution, constitutional, constitutionally guaranteed, exaggerations, western bias etc.

Debt traps
Usually went like this:

Anyone with half a brain: Chinese loans to developing countries while potentially causing great good are undoubtedly a way of China expanding its influence, just as colonial powers had done so in the 20th century. The chinese government is clearly aware of this and while whether the loans do more harm than good is disputed, the fact that these developing countries have lost a significant ability to resist Chinese diplomacy is indisputable.

Conq: western propaganda, western, west, US army bases, south china sea, CIA ploy, western ploy, US warships, backed by US, terrorism, national security, US military, Taiwan, NATO, western aggression, self defence, socialism with chinese characteristics, socialism, state ownership of property, suicide nets are a thing of the past, constitution, constitutional, constitutionally guaranteed, exaggerations, western bias etc.

America
The America debates are a recent addition to GS, becoming more frequent in Civ 7. These debates generally revolved around members arguing about how bad the US is, or how unfairly criticised it is. Bean generally was a defender of the US, while Koe typically took America's side on most occasions. Quartz was generally very anti-America while Chegg's position was somewhat anti-America though to a lesser extent, and it is implied that Quartzes' anti-America sentiment stems from a sort of European nationalism. These debates are quite closely linked to the urban planning debates, as the America debates often feature shitposting about how the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are vastly cooler than Europe, and vice-versa, such as due to their city planning.

Urban planning
Urban planning, for whatever reason, is an incredibly contentious topic in GS. These arguments mainly take place between Koe and Quartz, or a mixture of other members from largely suburbanised and car based societies (e.g Koe and Bean) against Quartz.

Suburbia
Suburbia debates generally took place between Quartz and Koe in GS8 and Civ 7, and sometimes other members, on whether apartments or suburban sprawl is better. These debates generally ended with Koe calling Europe a poor shithole where everyone lives in a shoebox and drives a rusting Fiat Panda, and Quartz just getting annoyed and quitting.

Some iterations of this long-running debate are now lost following the Cheggstaffel Incident.

Infrastructure
These debates largely revolved around the state of infrastructure in anglo countries compared to that of European nations. These debates tend to be quite feisty, especially as these arguments just devolved into shit-flinging just like the suburbia debates, with people on both sides calling the other starving shitholes.

Islam
Usually involved Ahmy failing to convince people his personal views inspired by Islam were not extremist. They were relatively civil because ahmy has thick skin and didn't get offended easily. Ahmy was also terrible at choosing the right hill to die on and ended up getting clowned on a lot, such as by defending Muhammed's relationship with Aisha.

Drugs
These usually involved Bean's hedonism, with him arguing that people should do drugs like there is no tomorrow. These kinds of debates aren't nearly as common and when they do happen they usually end up straying into other areas once everyone else in the server has lost their mind over it.

All logs of this debate are now lost following the Cheggstaffel Incident.

Metropolitan areas
This debate is only comparable to the Maggi debate in terms of autism and absolute pointlessness. This debate centred around how cities should be definited, namely the argument between defining a city in the traditional sense or as an urban area. Many things were argued, such as whether Versailles and Orange Country are part of Paris and Los Angeles for all iintents and purposes, or not. This debate was surprisingly toxic, ending with Quartz going to sleep, though not before telling Av to go fuck himself after he claimed that Quartz had poor English comprehension skills.