MrSpikeS skips around into the streets

Preamble: A soldier is someone who answers orders without question. They condition themselves to be fit and able to fight. However, there is a difference between a soldier and a leader; A leader has a plethora of talents and is able to apply them with the use of his/her soldiers. 

There is a major problem in this world, and I have discussed it several times over. More succinctly, there are far too many people who are soldiers, almost perfect soldiers, trained monkeys. They kill for sport, but killing does not really take much talent these days. They are mute, and well boring. For a period, this tranferred over to the concept that they could work as leaders. The GFC, luckily, has implemented some precautions to prevent having completely voiceless and personality-less leaders. I am definitely grateful for that. 

However, I am still at a complete loss regarding those soldiers, those monkeys, and their silence. What are they doing here that keeps them so attentive to their practice? They're pretty silent. It's depressing how silent this world has become. Motivating people to speak, as a leader, is the hardest thing to do here. There has been some progress...

Point: The Coffee Shops are dead. I'm sure you all have noticed this. Even the really active people aren't really using them. This social shift is making this world quite lame. Is there a way to remedy this, or is the world we knew fully lost? Is this the monkeys' fault, or are a lot of us to blame? I hope we can fix this. This once was a social place, not an assembly line.

MrSpikeS skips off to the coffee shops.

I think the real question should be, what do you want us monkeys to talk about?

The mafia is a business with many facets, many of those do not involve street and/ or business presence.  To discredit those that are not seen publicly as being vociferous as the few that are doing so is judging the book without knowing past the cover.

Of course I do understand your point, it's hard to read a book that never opens itself up.  The problem is, most forget that they need to.

There are many ways to speak without being in the coffee shops.

I, personally, do not venture there much anymore unless I need to. What makes it a need? Well having to speak to someone face to face rather than sending a messenger. Other than that I do not go there.

Are the streets dead? That would be more important to me. I recognize that it is a task to get people to be more vocal but I pose a question to you. Why are the coffee shops more important then the streets in this case?

I don't how much of a monkey you are, sir, or if you are one. Just speaking here proves you're not so much a silent monkey. 

The mafia's business is really built around the concept of being social, about working with others, and about communicating.

I do discredit those not seen publicly because then it would seem they're just along for the ride, not actually contributing to a community. They might as well clean toilets in the back of a bar, rather than be in this line of work. 

The people that forget they need to, perhaps need a firm reminder. 

Well Melis. A long time ago, I would've definitely pushed the streets as the more important venue for speech. However, with the major decline in the coffee shops, it's becoming quite apparent that they were truly a lifeline in terms of social interactions for the community. The Streets are far more formal, and I do believe they are at issue too... However, before they can be fixed, I think repairing less formal forms of communications are a bit more important.

I reckon everyone has their reasons for being quiet in the coffee shops but I can only speak to mine. There is a reason I no longer frequent them and I do not believe that they hinder my ability to speak to others. Whether I speak to them one on one or in a conversation here on our lovely streets shouldn't matter. It does hinder my ability to do business.

But I don't think the coffee shops in decline is a bad thing. There have been times that you could hear people say how unhappy they were that they were so favored. That they shouldn't have meant so much to our ability in this community. Now it's declined and you are suggesting that it is a bad thing? I think those that can speak in the streets and can use other forms of communication are not quiet little soldiers.

Perhaps this could be a good thing? Could not G1 Avenue and G2 Avenue be classified as coffee shops? I see people there regularly. If you see them as coffee shops then coffee shops are not declining. Just changing their avenues a little bit.

Moxie tips a nod to MrSpikeS.

An interesting concept for sure, Mr Spike. And one that I quite agree with. The coffee shops are comparatively dead compared to how my line has seen them in the past and I do view this as detrimental to our society. I've noticed more of a decline since G1 and G2 Avenues were introduced (which I personally find to be horrific avenues, they take up too much space when viewing the world), and I do believe that it has a wider impact on our society. 

I prefer to communicate via coffee shops, for a number of reasons. Mail can be inefficient, clunky, slow and overly formal. Our coffee shop conversations can be quicker, more personal, more comfortable and easier to stay on top of. Mails also tend to accumulate at times when I cannot sit and respond to them and that sometimes means they get buried and forgotten. If I am sat in a coffee shop, more often I am actually available for communication.

I do also think that livelier coffee shops would make for a livelier state of our world. The times when there were many friendship groups active in the coffee shops, as far as my bloodline saw, tended to be much more dynamic and exciting times in our world. More actually happened. The social side to our world is much more appealing with active coffee shops. 

I personally don't see it as that big of an issue. There are still plenty of people out walking the streets, stopping into local businesses and on the corners shouting and questioning and everything else. Everything shouldn't be out there for the public to see, the important discussions especially business related discussions are all private and should stay that way. I'm more of the type that holds private meetings to discuss just about anything whether it be business related or just to bullshit with someone. I try and stay out of the public spot light as much as possible because that's what I feel is safest. As long as you aren't one hundred percent mute the reason behind your death shouldn't be that they were too quiet and couldn't be trusted. The same can be said for those that don't shut up as well, talk too much and you eventually say something someone doesn't like. Depending on who that person is depends on if you keep breathing or not. Then there is all the drama as well, now this is the real reason I try and stay out of public discussions ramble on for too long and the listeners start to twist and tangle your words into whatever they want. 

Red-Cloud turns and walks away so he is not late for his meeting with Whorable. As he starts to walk across the street he pulls his peace pipe from under his coat and lights it as he inhales. Seeing a few familiar faces inside a coffee shop he nods to them and quickly disappears into the distance.

MrSpikeS,

I do discredit those not seen publicly because then it would seem they're just along for the ride, not actually contributing to a community. They might as well clean toilets in the back of a bar, rather than be in this line of work. 

So those who earn millions for their leader or build a respectable gun might as well clean toilets? I think the mafia is more about business and less about public appearances and great rhetoric.

I drink coffee.

But I must admit I enjoy more my coffee when i just sit alone, reading my newspaper. I also enjoy watching other mafioso discussing about things. If someone asks for my opinion I will speak, but nowdays the young people don't usually need the advise of an old man. Coffee shops have always been a nice place for someone to chill, and socialize. But every year that passes, I am watching that some of the discussion topics are repeated again and again.

Having previously broached the topic to little avail, Alphonse decided he may as well speak up again, knowing another man's speech would earn him the attention he wanted. 

"I heard someone mention the idea that the streets are formal, and in my opinion, they are too formal. When an uproar over decorum is caused over rumours of a few mob executions in Detroit, it's easy enough to observe that it may not just be an issue of ambition or intelligence or creativity that is keeping mafiosi from stepping out, but that we are limiting the streets by our very outlook of them. The fact that it is referred to as a formal place makes it intimidating and unappealing.

And now, forgive me, I'll quote myself because I've said it elsewhere and my opinion hasn't changed:

What we learned we passed on to our sons; appropriate ways to act, appropriate ways to speak. We turned rhetoric into a horse and beat it to death. If you’ve ever wanted to learn about the importance of street presence in a crewleader, there are dozens of gangsters, alive and dead, who can bring you up to speed. (I’ll tell you this: quiet leaders live, have lasted, and have held important roles, but they have never been remembered.)

It’s another reminder: every act counts, not just the ones meant to cultivate an image. When we talk about pickpocketing now, something that has been noted in rules by Godfathers, who are we discussing it for? Fresh blood rolls off the boats but they just as quickly find sponsors, teachers, and mentors, as they would their way to our streets. 

So who else? For a gaggle of mafiosi to line up and throw an opinion into a hat? What is the purpose of entertaining ancient ideas from old blood, and what are we showing by receiving it in the manner in which we do? I think this, I think that. Once you sit in the kitchen long enough, you stop picking up the smell. 

So, you open a window.

When we stress presence and leadership, we preach the importance of an individuality of opinion. Is it shocking, then, that a business which rewards ambition and greed has in turn created a culture of speaking that is more self-serving than rewarding? Why inquire, when it is in our nature to compel? 

Discussion is cooperative and reactive, an ebb and flow of information traded back and forth until a resolution is moulded (or not, sometimes more is learned from being driven further apart). Instead, I have observed many treat it instead like a trash dump, where you bring all of the things you have gathered, drop them off, and leave. 

There are men now, in the 1930’s, still studying stone tablets written thousands of years ago, and finding new things to say and new ways to be interested. And every week, a group of mafiosi are still asking themselves questions their ancestors may as well have carved into cave walls.”

So often we complain that the same subjects are talked about again and again, but it seems incredibly clear to me that is a product of the system. It's as if we chalk it up to short-term memory: maybe they forgot the answer. Or we tell ourselves it is a teaching experience, so that new blood can also learn. It's devaluing. Subjects like omerta, honour, respect, presence, and everything that comes with our lifestyle, should represent a healthy portion of our discussion but instead of treating them like ingredients, we throw them front and centre and try to figure 'em out like a word in the dictionary." 

Alphonse's lips had become somewhat chapped as he continued to talk, and he pursed them quickly with saliva to offer a brief solution. 

"As for coffeeshops, I visit much less often than I can or should. It's a rare sight, to tell the truth. And you're right, there's often little conversation to be had in the public shops when I do step in. I am not sure of the state of it, but I remember a time when mobsters spent a lot of time in their family establishments. Melis mentioned G1 and G2 avenue - That, as well as the addition of C Street, gives many little reason to look further for a coffee and a chat."

I personally find those G1 and G2 avenues kinda lacking. C Street is okay, but I much prefer the actual connected-feeling of the Coffee Shops. I find it not so easy to hold a conversation in one of the others.

MinamotoNoYoritomo Yes. I think that silent earners and gun builders are no better than a nameless toilet cleaner. This world is about community, not so much those other skills. If they aren't immersing themselves in a community, they're doing something wrong. Those other skills have their place, but this world is shifting into a very quiet place. 

This isn't about "public speaking" so much as it is about the deterioration of what we once knew as our community. The Coffee Shops are a direct representation of the true community in this world, and given their state, it is evident that we're on a decline. The importance of "work" as representative of someone's value is outweighing the importance of a person's personality and character. In many ways, the latter two really are the best means to define loyalty, while the former can only be used as a highly abstract way to judge it. 

A faceless world is what this is becoming, and the only way to change it is by perhaps leadership doing something drastic. There used to be immense regular meetings held in the coffee shops regularly, where everyone was welcome. Perhaps we should harken back to at least that part of those times. It may be just enough of a draw. 

Yes. I think that silent earners and gun builders are no better than a nameless toilet cleaner. This world is about community, not so much those other skills. If they aren't immersing themselves in a community, they're doing something wrong. Those other skills have their place, but this world is shifting into a very quiet place.

I disagree with that. Are their millions in donated cash worth less because they do not speak on the streets or do not go to the coffee shops? Are the notches on their gun lesser than those who immerse themselves in the coffee shops? I call bullshit. Sure, they avoid a possible bonus by not going to the streets and/or coffee shops, but it isn't a requirement for good business.

I like the coffee shops, even though at times it's dominated by the political scenery of Britain, or soccer or whatnot. 

You're sounding like that pastor who keeps talking about the declining number of people attending his service, while people actually stop going to his services because of his lamentations.

What's so important about the coffee shops? Really? Why do you feel the need for a (coffee) shop community so much? If anything I'd hate more to have more random people (and thus more random shit talking) there. People who want to go can go, if they don't want to be there, fine.

I don't respect mutes, who have the inherent ability to speak. It sends the wrong message to me.

Then we should ask ourselves: Why are these people being mutes?

Coffee shops aren't the only way to communicate. There is private courier service by which messages are exchanged via back alleyways and fast cars, there's small talk in businesses, and there's always the dang phone. I know that might not be the most secure method but it's better than nothing. People seem silent because they've found more than one way to communicate with each other that are effective, fast, and convey as much information as the shop. 

That's not to say I don't enjoy a little banter here and there but many friends have left this world behind and with them the ceaseless chatter that once filled up the corner shop. It can make one feel a little lonely but all it takes is a simple hello to get a conversation started with someone new. Silence, like streets, goes both ways. 

well MrSpikeS i drink Jameson or Jack Daniels what you think about that Mister

Well, Murphy, you're right. I discussed saying hello, here. But the thing is in terms of a community feel, the fact that you have to reach out, and by reach, I really mean reach... You have to send someone mail in the postal service to even get anywhere! It just goes to show that we've lost something that acted as immediate contact.

Think of children in a classroom, likened as the coffee shops. We all used to clamour around and yell and get points across. It might've been a bit sloppy, but it was very effective. We were even able to pass around notes in class. ooo naughty.

But now it's as if we're all being tutored from home, and well come on... home school... Anyway, SOMETIMES, we can go out and play with what few friends we have, but for the most part we're up in our room sending a message pigeon or asking the mailman to deliver something. 

My point is, when the coffee shops were more prevalent, our social/community pool was much more vast. Now, it's much more isolationist, even with those streets and avenues. It does not have the same feel. 

BlackWater, enjoy drinking alone?

And MinamotoNoYoritomo, they're mute partially because prior leadership allowed Coffee Shops to go out of fashion. Perhaps, they were too involved in their super private channels. 

I mean hell. DivineLunacy, and even the beloved Randomland are shades from what they used to be. If Blackwater wanted to get drunk, he could get drunk in DL, and most likely, he'd find some other drunkards there too. However, with the forms of communication at hand now, most likely he's not gonna find another drunk friend, and he's just gonna pass out and pee the bed on his own. SAD SOLITARY TIMES ARE HERE!

Nevertheless, DL is still chatty enough for most of us (I presume), and I think I'd leave if there was more random chatting about.. nothing going on. Some people just prefer other channels of communication I guess. They're not useless because of that.