Cantona was bruised and bloody after slipping in a dozen different soggy flyers that had been left in the gutters; and he'd tried to turn to speak to his friends on a couple of occasions only to bump into someone in his path. It was great the the streets were so busy, but he had to admit it was kind of irritating to barely be heard over the din of different people speaking each other. Finally, he found a spot where he'd be able to speak and be heard.

My friends, I would hate to ever be considered as a hypocrite so let me put this right out there immediately. I am only here to increase my own standing and the standing of my district. This is not a speech borne out of an inherent desire to change anything, as some of my speeches are, but is solely down to the fact I have been somewhat under par in my public activities recently and it is a shortcoming I feel I should address. I should qualify this point by saying I only venture out to the streets if I feel I have a point or two to make; and today that is the case.

In a bygone era, there was a particular type of speech my Grandfather relished the thought of seeing in the Streets and he often dubbed it privately a 'Campaign Speech' with no small amount of scorn and derision. The implication, you see, was that it was pretty transparent who was venturing out on to the streets in an effort to say 'Look at me! Aren't I good with my presence? I should definitely be a Leader!' They were people who were easy to spot because they were generally mute for large portions of their life until they started to approach the ranks required of a Leader; and this was the time they blossomed into regular speakers in a not-so-subtle attempt to display their credentials for auth.

That's a practice long consigned to the history books, though. Indeed; street presence is hardly a prerequisite for auth these days in a time when more Leaders walk the Streets than ever before - but that is a topic for a different day. The long-forgotten practice of campaigning for auth is nothing if not relevant though as it is directly comparable to a practice we see repeatedly these days.

I am referring to, of course, the practice of bulking up one's street presence to influence the perception of one's district. Speeches where one may as well preface their words with 'This one's for all you VIP's out therrrreeee' muttered huskily into a microphone before beginning.

More and more, we see topics raised that are barely tangential to our life in the Mob and arguably don't belong on the Streets. We see people returning to the Streets three or more times to say what could be said with just one visit and we, occasionally, see superfluousness piled upon superfluousness in the never-ending quest for the number one spot.

Is all that so bad, though? The purists are muttering that it's all a bit artificial and fake - that things aren't being done for the right reasons. Do the ends not justify the means? Sure, the side effect is that I more frequently have to wade through syrupy or downright unintelligible shite before I find something worth reading or listening to; but personally I find that a fair trade off for the increase of passing trade in the Business District, for one thing.

And what of our natures? We are criminals, it is perfectly natural that if we are given the opportunity of success - the opportunity to attain something that others may not be allowed - it is natural, expected perhaps, that we should exploit that situation to look after our own business interests.

Personally, I think the Business District has thrived under the VIP system and it is a pleasure to stroll through Chicago's Financial District, or Midtown New York, or any other locale to see what is going on. Sadly, though, I think the Streets have suffered for this. In the past, people would, upon opening their mouths and realising they had nothing to say, close them and quietly retire until they could provide something. These days, it seems that the natural inclination errs towards saying something when there's nothing to be said; and I'm personally not convinced that speaking without really saying anything is actually very good for our beloved Streets.

As Cantona made to leave, a typical Chicago breeze, tunneled into violent gust by the soaring skyscrapers, whipped a flyer right into his face; he managed to snatch a glimpse at the words 'An Audience with Larry Lance!' before the flyer obscured his vision entirely, causing him to smash his shin against a fire hydrant.

Izzy stammers into the scene of Cantona speaking and he listend intently to what he had to say not wanting to be much of a dick kuch of his restraints where gone on aaccount of decaying and all

 In the past, people would, upon opening their mouths and realising they had nothing to say, close them and quietly retire until they could provide something. These days, it seems that the natural inclination errs towards saying something when there's nothing to be said; and I'm personally not convinced that speaking without really saying anything is actually very good for our beloved Streets

"Yet in a funny way you follow suit in not really saying something yourself?" Izzy laughs and pats ccantona on the shulder with a slight urge to naw on his cranium but he was already full.

I've not followed suit at all, Izzy. I've come out to the Streets and posed a question - are we better off in our thing with the VIP system or worse off? I have clearly stated my own point of view; that the impact on the Business District has been nothing but positive, but that the quality we see in the Streets has, in my opinion, declined as a result.

I don't see how you can say I've said nothing, or nothing of value, when I've posed a question that is highly relevant to our way of life and subsequently given my own thoughts on it too. Yes, I won't lie about the fact that a driving factor in me appearing in these Streets is that fact it will benefit my district; but I don't think you can  claim that my contributions have not offered any substance.

Congratulations Izzy for further confirming Cantonas point regarding wading through unintelligble shite before hearing something of worth.

Now back to the topic at hand. I have to say i agree completely. I've always been a firm believer of quality over quantity too with what's said on these streets. However it can be hard for someone that is trying to improve their street presence when they're often berated for rehashing old themes or, in this case and as has been the recent trend, bringing to the streets the most ridiculously non-relevant to this world of ours subjects.

blink shrugs

Guess i've probably just spoken when it wasn't needed but i don't have a VIP badge so it's alright..right?

ChaosSpike notices _Izzy_ snicker about his comment. He is baffled by it and begins to speak.

"Sigh,And you prove the main point right there _Izzy_."

ChaosSpike brushed at a few wrinkles in his suit. He then reached into his pocket and lit a cigar. The air was brisk and Chaos was quite delighted to see Cantona speaking on a very solid subject.

"Let me start by saying, honesty is something I will always respect and I hold in a very high regard. People that know me know this as well. So I commend you Cantona for coming out there and saying your main driving factor is for your district. The reason I am replying is some what for the same reason. The other reason is I want my district to be more active as well in the streets. Have we been a good example at that?No. In my opinion Blink hit the nail dead on the head. We have gone the opposite way I find, quantity over quality seems to be more apparent. Your speeches Cantona are generally very very well written. And so are some others, I am always quite excited when I see you speak. The quality has dropped and I hope I can do my own part and change what I can on that subject. For my district I plan on assembling a team for speeches and stories. I still do not see the reason for the sarcasm when his speech was quite well written."

"The truth is to me VIP is like a lot of other things i find in society, not really needed just there to get people spending money and attempting to motivate those who have nothing much more to do.  I have seen how absorbed some people are into this lifestyle of ours and will use any perk, promotion or activity to try and best themselves and their city even if less then what society previously demanded.  We then have the people trying to catch up with x,y and z further up and spew further bike meeting your point."

pauses momentarily to take a breath

"the truth is no matter what you offer as a reward for qualifty the lesser element will sink within just to fill gaps, having seen even blank comments left.  Sometimes it is a case of inability, others a rushed job and finally just coz they want to stand out as you mentioned."

looks thoughtfully

"the truth is people are gonna post not just for vip status perks, or to be a crew leader but some will do it just for the benefit of rank and as much as the sickness could be wiped; once in many of our or our ancestors careers we have done it.   is just how our leaders chastise or reward us for it."

Izzy re-thinks what Cantona had said and soaks it in the best he could he blames it on his zomby'ish brain...its been a long day of eating flesh and brains. He takes a second to speak again

I'm sorry Cantona, I didn't fully understand you... and what you were asking my english is a bit rough. I thought you were stating opinions that most already knew but instead it was a question and you offered your opinion so please let me offer mine. I've see some sort of flux in the business side and I'm pleased to walk through my city also, I have a business in the makes also I hope to be apart of the boom. I've also seen quite the flux in the streets. I don't think the quality slacked just more of the same increased. I personally am trying my best to be out there and contribute to this way

I'd like to hear if you have an opinion on how we could change this issue you think the streets are having? 

I think you hit the nail on the head Godfather ChaosSpike by managing to sum up in a mere sentence a concept that took me far too long to describe - conciseness was never a strong point of mine!

quantity over quality seems to be more apparent

This hits the nail on the head, really.  More and more often we are seeing people come to the Streets and not really saying anything of quality. Empty platitudes, congratulations or echoing what has been said by someone else only moments before; it's not very stimulating to say the least

I want to make something absolutely clear, here; I have absolutely no problem with 'flogging the dead horse' or rehashed speeches. For many people these will be fresh topics, and for many others their opinions will be different from the ancestors. My own views on pickpocketing, for instance, differ greatly from my father's. Is this hypocrisy? Not in the slightest, we are two very different people and we go about our business in very different ways. Personally, I'd much rather see yet another debate on, say, the importance of Made Man versus, I don't know, something that isn't related to our way of life in the slightest; because people are always able to phrase things in a new and interesting way that I haven't thought of before and, as I've already mentioned, people's opinions may harden or soften over time.

I'd like to hear if you have an opinion on how we could change this issue you think the streets are having? 

This is the kind of thing that needs a universal approach for anything to change, and that's very unlikely to happen because I think it will never be universally accepted that there is a problem that needs fixing in the first place. For every person like me who says there is a problem, someone else will say that busier Streets = better Streets regardless of content.

For the style of posting to change, there always needs to be a collective and gradual swing in opinion where poor quality speeches, or topics only tangentially related to our way of life, are attacked and derided. Once that happens, we begin slowly moving back to the other direction where they're accepted again - this thing of our is usually cyclical.

As I said though, I am not a hypocrite and if I believe there to be a problem, I will do what I can in my position to try and address it. From a personal viewpoint, I can point to the tax structure implemented in Dunder Mifflin Human Resources by Toberius and myself. It's somewhat exhaustive but the central idea that is relevant to this topic is that better quality contributions here in the Streets by an individual will net that individual a lower tax rate.