Bloody and naked, BloodySpikeS steps out into the streets...

In all the recent speeches, I’ve noticed a lot of discussion about certain characteristics and how they balance on respect. I feel thought that Honor has been skipped over. What is honor? That’s kind of hard to say these days, but generally speaking it is loyalty, and how one carries one’s self, if one is genuine along with some other qualities. How do you measure that? With an abacus of course! No… It can’t be measured. It’s just something that you either have or you don’t, and in a lot of ways, it’s something that isn’t a constant in this line of work. Consistency is something that’s quite hard to find in people here. However, ironically, it appears mostly in people who do naughty things… are disrespectful… are rogues… etc. If you are without Honor, you don’t deserve respect, that’s a given.

Unity is one of the hardest things to find here. Loyalty is similar, but true unity is harder to find on a massive scale. Unity throughout the cities, throughout the ranks and positions, on a common issue, is something that one might think to be impossible, but it’s not. It just takes a small amount of effort. It requires everyone to talk, something that has not been going on here at all, and it requires a manifesto of the people’s and leader’s volitions combined in some fashion.

I think there’s something though, that a lot of people can’t seem to grasp based on what I’ve listened to. We’ve talked about Respect a lot. In my opinion, respect is owed to those of higher rank. It is earned by those with lower rank, but it is not something they deserve without warrant. It should be under the assumption of anyone looking at a person Made and up, that they should be respected. As for below, there’s not need to assume much of anything, positive or negative, but it can of course go either way. Pissant or God’s greatest gift. However, based on what one might witness of a person, it can be clear that they do not deserve respect. Why? Well, one reason could be they are not respectful. The other could be they haven’t done anything at all.  These days with well beyond more mutes than speakers. I find it hard to even begin to gauge people on anything except for actions… and there are far few of those that can even begin to help a person grasp what to judge someone on.

Anyway, my main push has been towards Rank standards, as one step, which have been missing from this place for too long. I’ve detailed out why the problem exists, and why it’s hard to change. It’s really not the only thing though, but it’s a big step towards a bigger change.

In politics, to get a bill passed, it’s best to aim low on expectations. That’s why I wouldn’t expect everything to change in one meeting, but there are a few things perhaps that the populous can all agree on, or at least a majority number, or at least a good chunk of the representatives in power… Gotta aim low with democracy. With all the power held in the hands of leadership, it seems at a standstill. Potential is something that is horrible to see unused, and we cannot live forever. Time has proven that much.

But nonetheless, here is my call to all of You, the few that are listening here in the streets. What do you want to see changed in terms of this world regarding the aforementioned issues? Are things working for You the way they are? Are You having fun? Are You bored? I assure You, that if changes occur, people actually have to put forth effort into their presentation of themselves, You will live in a happier world, because it has been far too long since things have been run tightly, and it’s only due to unfortunate circumstances over two years ago, that things changed. Real effort is seldom seen… the amount of drugs you can carry does not represent you as a person, and nor does your pretty gun, the Silent Colossus Complex (S.C.C.). Build something with yourselves that brings You to life, and illustrates a persona that can transcend into generations. In a vivid cohesive world, we will have more stories to tell our children, and our children’s children. My journal seems pretty bland. I failed a petty yesterday. I can’t say my father’s journal was all that interesting or even his father’s. It was all just a few days of excitement, and then nothing. I know in my family history, there was a time when there was a sense of involvement daily, in a community, with all of You.

Ad Sideram

P.S. Maria Do your thing. 

BloodySpikeS goes off to wander around naked some more. 

Curtis listens to Spike and goes after him as he tries to walk away. Handing him a jacket he gestures for him to cover himself.

 "I must say Spike, I agree with you. Thanks for giving us your view on this. You have mentioned aspects of this before in other areas but I agree that ideas need to be put forward in order that they can be discussed and possible formats for new regulation put in place. You mention aiming low and I'm not sure low is the word. Simple is perhaps a better one. If I was asked for my suggestion I could give a very long list and protracted explanations but I fear I'd lose people's attention along the way. For now I'd keep it to this.

Make every leader responsible for the actions and behavior of any members they have at or above Made Man.

I honestly believe that this one rule would create such a wave of knock-on effects that our society would change considerably. There would be a hell of a lot more gravity given to awarding people their buttons. Respect would very quickly rise to more expected levels. I believe the vast majority of current problems stem from a fundamental lack of accountability. Reintroduce that accountability and consequence, you reestablish a great deal of what has been lost."

I think that one goes without saying. That has always been a rule. It still is a rule. It's just something that isn't followed to the fullest extent. Hell, even a misfire can be excused, sometimes without even money exchanged. Most of that is for social reasons though, not because of rank standards, exactly. A leader friend isn't going to kill their other leader friend for something like that. They just might kill the person who disrespectful. That might part is definitely an issue...

If we assume that rule is in fact already in place and it has proven to be broken continuously, it might as well be tossed... because clearly respect vs. accountability vs. rank have no correlation in a loose leashed world. And I honestly don't see those specific leashes tightening until well after some other things change in terms of what Made means. Saying we're going to enforce that rule first doesn't mean that people will drop bad promotion habits. I understand the theory, but risk is something that I find any leader assumes when they first take someone into their crew, prior to any promotion. The accountability a leader has for someone should be raised when they are promoted, but well, it's unlikely that consequences will be dealt... Why? Well, leaders have always had the ability to claim deniability... unless it's something out in the streets, but even still, people are hesitant to alert a leader to one of their members being a problem, because they don't want to step on other people's toes. Moreover, deniability is something genuine in some cases, especially in the case of rogues and undergrounds. As someone who combated those groups in the past, it's not always easy to know when someone is building under you with the intent to cause harm outside of the family. Traditionally though, leaders were held responsible for such things. These days, people are responsible for somehow paying for the damages, sometimes. In the end though, everyone does need a home, which is an unfortunate truth, given the way certain people's lines act repeatedly. Not ranking them up is a great step to preventing them from doing damage, but trust can sometimes still be given mistakenly, most importantly when they're incog. And even ranking standards can't necessarily prevent that case. In terms of people being disrespectful, there are "rogue" attempts at disrespect that you can't really have foresight into. A leader should be accountable in as much as depending on who they disrespected, and what rank they are, they should shoot the person, or let the victim shoot them. 

Anyway, I do think that leaders should not hesitate to shoot their members if they are out of line. I think they do hesitate now. The worst example of this I can think of, though it's a little different, is what occurred when a Godfather "PPed" a big gun in another city, maybe a hand even, and it was paid off for a very large sum. We all were expecting war. I also remember a great deal of public disrespect to another Godfather, by that same aforementioned Godfather's right hand. That should not have gone unpunished either.

Those are just some fan favorites though. There are plenty examples of people stepping out of line and not being punished, but I think that period contained the most blatant infractions within upper structure. Why? Politics of course, but politics should not get in the way of certain standards. All in all, that is in fact what built up to the infamous May Mar.

Sometimes you have to kill friends when they screw up or are about to. I've done it. 

Back to the point:

Leaders should be responsible for the actions and behavior of any members they have at or above Made Man, and they should not hesitate to inflict punishment when it is due, despite the perpetrator's internal "value" to them. If they choose not to, they should expect their own lives to be held accountable.