A CELEBRATION OF PSYCHOSIS AND SINGLE-MINDEDNESS: THE TALE OF “UNSUALLY RUTHLESS REUBAN”

Readers, it appears that I once again need to dive into my nerdy side, and this most likely coincides with the summer sales that occur on Grand Old Games, because if it’s not at all obvious, I am apparently a total hipster curmudgeon and refuse to play any video game that isn’t 20 years old.  And on that note, allow me to tell you about the hero of the game “Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games”; “Unusually Ruthless Reuban”   

Not to be confused with Walter White in the last season of Breaking Bad

So anyone that has played the game before is already questioning my judgement, but for those of you less cultured readers, let me give you the briefest of crash courses.  In this game, you hire a team of mercenaries to perform various missions of varying degrees of scruples (from some to none).  You hire from an organization known as the Association of International Mercenaries (A.I.M), which, in turn, recruits from all ranks of life: from military trained professionals to lunatic ex-post office workers (no hyperbole: “Postie” remains one of my favorite characters).  Mercs are rated in a variety of skills, from marksmanship to medical to explosives handling, on a scale of 1-10.  For example, take Mike, the best in the game.

He commands an outrageous salary of $10000 a mission.  Compare this with a more middle of the road mercenary, like Wolf

Modest salary, modest stats. 

And then, there is Reuban

That is not a doctored image: his stats are awful.  He could very well be a joke character in the game.  He is rarely able to contribute to your success in the mission, because his marksmanship is so poor he can’t hit most targets (the only person with worse marksmanship in the game is literally blind in one eye) and his physical stats are so poor he can’t get close enough to the enemy to improve his odds of hitting them OR use his hedge trimmer on them.

But the end of the sentence spells out what makes him the hero: he showed up to war armed with a hedge trimmer.  Why?  Because some mercs signed on for money, some signed on for fame, some signed on for career advancement, some even signed up for adventure, or simply out of boredom.  But not Reuban: he signed on to kill people.  And he makes no attempt to hide that.  In broken English he tells you “I like kill people: good prices!” when you interview him for hire.  Not only that, but he’ll leave your employ if he doesn’t kill enough people after a few missions, stating “I go now.  I no kill much here.”  And if you attempt to RE-hire him after that, he rebukes you saying “I go there.  I no kill NOBODY.  Ok ok.  Maybe one.  Maaaybe two.  But still: no much.  No enough.”…and this is why he’s the hero.

 
I may not have the best heroes...

The other mercenaries are just that: mercenaries.  This means, quite frankly, they possess incredibly questionable loyalty.  Remember how Machiavelli cautioned his prince on the hiring of mercenaries, as their loyalty is only to money, not to the country.  Well this is entirely magnified under the motley crew of A.I.M.  Mercenaries will quit your employ if too many people die on your team, if you fire too many people, if you fail too many missions, if you fire one of their friends…but they can all be bribed to come back.  Not Reuban.  There is literally no script in the game for that to happen.  They recorded no dialogue for that to occur.  Reuban will ONLY leave your employ if he does not kill enough people, and once that happens, there is no coming back. 

This means Reuban has some goddamn integrity!  He is EXACTLY what he says he is: a remorseless, sociopathic killer.  He offers you a $40 pricetag so that he has a chance of joining you and getting an opportunity to kill people.  These other mercenaries, quite frankly, are whores, and will compromise any and all of their values for the right price, but Reuban’s motives are clear, they are obvious, they are uncompromising, and they are consistent.  He is the hero of the game.  HE is the one true role model.

Trust me: it could be worse

We could all stand to be “unusually ruthless”.  When we are truly dedicated and focused to our goal and unwilling to compromise, we accomplish the things that others can’t.  And this means an unreasonable dedication towards this end.  This single-mindedness IS the psychosis we are celebrating.  It’s the insanity of pursuing things that make sense ONLY to us, things that a reasonable person does not understand.  It means NOT being able to be bought off with the trinkets and rewards that others seek.  No fame, no fortune, no acclaim, no joy or fun or adventure of alleviation of boredom: just purely the goal for the sake of the goal.

Those that are motivated by the external rewards become the whores and mercenaries aforementioned.  THESE are the people who start to change the way they train to appeal to the masses.  They abandon effective training methodology for the party approved garbage, they alter their technique to meet the approval of the formcheck brigade, they take the supplements they are told to take, etc etc.  Or, on the other side of the equation, the people “in the industry” start producing content purely because it will be well received and rewarded: NOT because it is the content they want to produce.  They pursue clicks and hashtags and retweets and sponsorships.  They are not here to kill people: they just want to make money.

Or whatever it is that this accomplishes...

And if you’re not here to kill people, then be honest with yourself about that fact.  Quit telling the world that you’re “all about that life” when you’re really just all about TELLING the world you’re all about that life.  There’s nothing wrong with you seeking accolades and rewards: that makes you normal.  And normal is just that: it’s normal.  All in all, you probably stand a good chance of surviving: perhaps even THRIVING in society.  You may get to be the mercenary with the $10k pricetag and all the skills maxed out.  But your loyalty will always be questionable, because anyone with offering the right price can get you to jump, while I know that, as long as Reuban keeps killing, he will stay on my team.  And quite frankly, I’d rather have a whole team of those psychopaths, because at least I know EXACTLY what I am getting into.

Grab your hedgetrimmer and head out for battle.  Decide now what is your “kill people.”  What are you actually here to do?  Be single-minded in that focus and let nothing else take you off that path.