This week begins the first of very many (or at least as many as I can knock out before I die), of a new feature called Unpopular Opinion.

Here, I share an unpopular opinion that others will more than likely disagree with.

This week, we look at the unpopular opinion of Kuku actually being a nice guy. Having spoken to a few people, they seem to say that although he is not the most intelligent of characters, he is somewhat misunderstood at times and he can be a nice guy behind closed doors. At the height of his mafia career when he had access to unlimited funds, Kuku was known to be very supportive in a financial sense to anyone he was close to. Unfortunately, this led to a wave of criminals across the country being locked up for a while and those who he supported soon turning against him to point the finger.

However, some I spoke to have said he is loyal, hard working and bighearted, while others portray him to be narcissistic, needy and insecure.

Whatever he is, it should be known that he was famously nominated for Orator of the year. Surely a nominee in this category couldn't be an individual that people dislike, else why would he have received a nomination?

So, I'm keen to know, does anyone else agree with this unpopular opinion?

"You know..if I'm going to be honest here..sure kuku is a loud person and all that..but if you think about it, he hasn't done anything that the old supposed great leaders haven't done..I mean how many leaders betrayed their own? How many leaders cheated their own? Dont get me wrong,  kuku sure did some bad things..and he was loud about it..but just because others weren't loud doesnt mean the supposed great leaders didn't do the same thing..like I dont mean to say kuku is right..but he is..none of you have that right to judge hm..like I dont know remember exactly of how many I have caught these used leaders in their lie about things..then instead of saying the truth, you come up with some sugar coated story of why a war happened..and we all know that story is the biggest bullshit you ever fed." He paused for a minute and took s sup of his tea.

"Now you all say kuku cheated..and lied and all of that..and you say he wasn't admin jailed..but he was..infact I was around when he was in jail, there were a few others who were..I won't name any names..you know..I'm not complaining I'm just telling you what I see on a daily basis..you want kuku to listen to your truths..now it's your turn to listen...kuku seemed like a nice person to me, although I didn't exactly know him very well, but he seemed to treat me with respect, decent guy..well misunderstood...now if you want to put all the blame on that bloodline..then let's pull out other names shall we? How about mikhail..that's a big one..I remember when he pulled a few stunts..betrayed his own..blabbed his mouth to the one person that he in the end betrayed..next name..viktor..oh come on now..we all know that name..do I need to continue? I mean kuku bloodline is apparently  a more well known bloodline..I mean for heavens sake, I have seen the big leaders do worse..take out cities, betraying their own allies and then put out some bullshit sugar coated story of how and whys..when later we find out the real story and it all comes out in the end..so let's just put an end here and say we all fuck up., but that's what makes you not perfect..everyone makes mistakes, so what kuku bloodline is the way he is..doesnt give anyone a right to be like that towards him just because he fucked up..I mean you wouldn't like it if it was done to you..so think of it as the golden rule..no no not the respected is earned not given bullshit..the treat others as you want to be treated..that one..just remember to put yourself in his shoes..and then you can talk..because you dont know what you would do in his situations that he has been in...thank you for listening..good day/night to you." 

He then tipped his hat and disappeared.

Sure, why not, I'll bite. I know Kuku would be disappointed if I didn't. Do you know what? I can't disagree with you. Kuku is not a bad guy, his bloodline did nothing worse than anyone else. As Ion says, the guy cheated, got caught, and paid at least part of his price. But he wasn't the first to exploit a loophole, and he won't be the last. I too can go on record to say the man is loyal, and generous, and if you engage him in private conversation, he can be an all round decent bloke. Where he falls down is in two places. Firstly, we'll address the cheating. The fall out from his Great Grandfather's exploitation of the Casinos caused a lot of heart ache to a lot of people. People who had been loaned or given money and credits, that suddenly found themselves in jail, with Cityhall reaching into their Swiss bank accounts, and bleeding them dry. Money that they had squirrelled away for their sons and daughters evaporated like a light mist on a summer's day. And that cause a lot of people a lot of heartache. He also did a lot of nasty things whilst he was riding on the crest of his ill gotten wave. But, he wasn't any worse than Disorder, Mikhail, Anita, and a hundred other regime leaders who's names have long been forgotten. They used their power for their own gain, and shat all over everyone who stood in their way.

But there is a difference between them and kuku, and that difference is his second failing and probably the reason why most people dislike him. The man is a legend in his own lunchtime. He has a knack for manipulating what people say, for ignoring the main cut and thrust of what you say and concentrating on what he wants to hear. When he fucks up, he turns that into another reason why he was so awesome, and his son comes to the streets, cashes in on the fathers infamy, and continues to build on his previous legacy. If we take the Casino cheat as an example. He gave out loads of cash to his friends, he stalked the streets, giving shit to those he deemed beneath him, lauding his friends and generally making a nuisance of himself. Great Granddaddy goes to jail, gets to ride old sparky, and the son is refused entry into the country for about 3-4 months. CommnissarKuku is finally allowed into the country, and instead of lying low, licking his wounds, and building a reputation for himself, he comes straight to the streets, lauds his fathers successes, parlays his failures into a great growth story, starts writing a strange type type of homoerotic jail fiction, and goes right back to shitting all over everyone he deems beneath him, and causing trouble in the streets. The Son dies in a duel, and his son comes to the streets and continues to do what the father and grandfather did, milking his history, assuming that everyone loves him even when he knows that most don't, causes a shit load of trouble for his boss, and gets shot in the face, and so it goes on and on. 

I know for a fact that the trouble he caused Grin-07 was a point of pain for Kuku, he didn't like that he brought trouble to his CLs door, because Grin saw Kuku for what he was, loyal, generous and hard working, and he was prepared to give the man a chance and offer him the protection of Chicago. And through his actions, Kuku brought pain to his boss, and had to be planted in the desert. We are all in this for the money, and when you are costing more money than you are earning, you are no longer a viable investment. So yes, I would agree, that Kuku generally is a nice guy, if you take the time to get to know him, and he is by no means the worst or most despicable asshole to walk these streets, not even Destro was that, but he does have a hateful and decisive personality, a shit eating grin, and an over inflated opinion of his own self worth... but he is not the only one with those character flaws either. 

Many might find this surprising, but I actually agree with you Fidd, to an extent.

I don't know the bloodline well enough to judge whether they are nice people, and from my interactions in with them in these streets I would say that 'nice' is a step too far.

I don't think that they are inherently bad people either.

I have had only a couple of private conversations with the bloodline, and for ninety percent of the time, they were normal, well discussed, civil encounters.

I have had many publicly documented disagreements with members of the Kuku bloodline, and this is where they fall down. I absolutely condemn the actions of CommissarZvarez, and believe the bloodline got off incredible lightly given what happened. As Goldust said, it wasn't just Zvarez that was affected by his fraudulent activities. A lot of other people got dragged into it, many of whom wouldn't have had a clue they were involved in any kind of wrongdoing. Due to this, I cannot accept when people try to defend the Commissar, whether it be due to any good he may have done, any power he may have had, any standing in this world he may have had. The actions that led to his death completely wipe that out, in my opinion, and any attempts to wash over this show the lack of understanding regarding the severity of the fraud.

The problem I have with the Kuku bloodline, as others have alluded to, is that they are unable to take any real criticism of themselves. If you criticise this bloodline, they make out that it is actually you that are stupid, you that are lacking skills, you that needs to look at yourself. Some people actually want to help this bloodline, and there is potential there for it to genuinely develop into something that has a positive impact on our world, however even these people, are disregarded.

I'm aware that a lot of, if not all, of what this bloodline says is to get reactions from people. My question is simply: Why?

Do they need to feel like people are interested in them? Do they need such a level of interaction from people, that they are happy to take that interaction in the form of criticism and hate? Or do they simply just love to cause issues, and be at the centre of attention?

I for one don't believe it to be the last one, as that would make them unhinged and downright arseholes. As I said, I don't think they are. Away from these streets, they are like completely different people.

Whether it be the 'powerful' CommissarZvarez, the middling CommissarKuku, the lowly Wilde, or even the newest daughter of the bloodline. Despite their apparent hatred of me, I will always believe they're able to be something more, and I'd always have time to talk.

Loyalty is one of the core foundations that we value so highly, yet we see many without this trait. Kuku is not one of them.

he is by no means the worst or most despicable asshole to walk these streets, not even Destro was that, but he does have a hateful and decisive personality, a shit eating grin, and an over inflated opinion of his own self worth...

Let’s let sleeping dogs lie, Goldust, lest you’d like the PhillipMarleau treatment as well. That’s not a fun place to be.

I thought about whether someone like me should comment on this, but I've read the journals and history books, and looked into this Kuku bloodline closely.

What people, particularly Goldust, are missing is the unmistakable fact that the Kuku bloodline was roundly loathed years, maybe even a decade,  prior to the Casino Heist.

Those coming to this discussion should acknowledge that their own bloodline will have had strongly formed opinions about the Kuku bloodline long, long, long before the Commissar set up the Iron Bank.

From what I've been able to gather thematically from this limited comments here, what people object to is the Kuku bloodline:

CommissarZverez's conduct in relation to the great Casino Heist, and other misdemeanours during that time.

This is a fair cop.  He stole, cheated and murdered his way to infamy.  It was inexcusable.  But, as we have seen, this bloodline was hated for many years prior to the Commissar joining the Soviet State.

"and probably the reason why most people dislike him. The man is a legend in his own lunchtime. He has a knack for manipulating what people say, for ignoring the main cut and thrust of what you say and concentrating on what he wants to hear"

I think that it isn't controversial to say that Kukus down the years have insulted, derided, and otherwise baited many people on the Streets.  But if one consults the history books, one can see that the targets of his attacks were ScipitaRoutke, Premeir, Roman, Phil_Steak and others.  What do these people have in common?  Power.  Huge power, influence and wealth.  And for these efforts, Kuku after Kuku after Kuku was hunted and killed.  

Kuku, lest me forget, was one of the first names on the Anti-Terrorism Treaty some years ago.

Have all of Kuku's targets been great leaders?  No, they have not.  But arguably most were.  And when this was the case, he was as detested as he is now.

So, if I may, I would like to ask a question to counter the unpopular opinion.  It isn't whether, or not, "Kuku is a nice guy" it is, simply, "when and why did I first form an opinion about Kuku?"

For almost everyone, it will be long before the Soviet State.  This isn't to defend the Kuku bloodline, it's to contextualise.  

Thanks for listening, and I'm happy to take questions.

I will go on record Kuku, sorry, Kirsty, to say that my family had barely any knowledge of the Kuku bloodline before the Soviet state, so my opinion was formed solidly within my families living memory, that is to say within 5 generations. My opinion of the man is based solely on what my Great Great grandfather saw and witnessed, what his son saw and witnessed, and what my Grandfather saw and witnessed, plus my own experiences with CommissarKuku and his son and grandson. 

My own family have constantly battled in the streets against some of the biggest and greatest leaders in history, however my family isn't hated anywhere nearly as much as yours is, apologies as Kuku's is. Now don't get me wrong, I know there are people out there that dislike me, probably think I'm a dick, or perhaps even hate me, but there are also a lot of people out there that have a huge amount of respect for me. My family's feuds go back as far as '02 in some cases, so its not that the Kuku bloodline has been a pain in the side longer than mine. I've been banned from the country by Cityhall on 2 occasions, I've been sent to jail by cityhall on numerous occasions, so forgive me if I think your assessment is wholly incorrect. Kuku isn't hated because of his actions against ScipitaRoutke, Premeir, Roman, Phil_Steak and others... its because he treats pretty much everyone not in his immediate circle like shit on his shoe. He talks down to people, he thinks of himself as better than everyone else, he thinks of himself as lord of the manor, and he therefore treats almost everyone as you would expect someone full of their own self importance to treat those he deems his inferior.

So to summarise, the question is not "when and why did I first form an opinion about Kuku?" because that is not the question Fidd asked, and as a question linked to the initial topic its completely immaterial, because it has no effect on the original question. If I think that you... oh, I truly am sorry about this, if I think that Kuku is a complete cunt or if I don't, it doesn't matter at all when I formed that opinion, merely that I hold that opinion and can vocalise and conceptualise that opinion. This isn't a conversation on why the Kuku bloodline was almost hunted to extinction, but whether or not people actually think he's a big of a dick as the majority obviously do.

So, Goldust, if you don't mind me asking, why didn't you hound Mikhail on the Streets?  Or the perpetrators of purging?  Or their apologists?

Is talking down to someone worse than repeatedly killing dozens of people for no particular reason?  Is  killing someone who has worked very hard for their CL simply because they were a potential threat worse than alleged suggestions of superiority?

Sheer persistence has enabled you to get noticed by the Kuku bloodline, prior to that, well, it appears you simply weren't known to them.

If, as you claim, your bloodline has been around since the turn of the century, then it is a bloodline as old as Kuku's.  I wonder which side of history you were on during the Winter of Discontent?  Were you with Roman and Prem?  Kuku wasn't.  He fought the good fight and helped bring about a liberation.  I've consulted the kuku journals, and you simply aren't mentioned.

You mention two admin-jailbirds.  What did they do?  Was it worse than talking down to people in combative street encounters?  

Le sigh...

Why didn't my family hound Mikhail? I think you appear to have forgotten about this gentleman... MikhailsWaaambulance. He spent his short life doing exactly that, and in fact managed to make Mikhail cry on more than one occasion. He ended up swimmin' wit da fishes because of his opinions. When you say the perpetrators of Purging, which ones exactly do you mean, after all there have been quite a few over the years, and rest assured if my family was about, they were probably giving them grief. Give me a name and I'll tell you whether we gave them abuse. 

Never been with Prem or Roman, and its great that your journals have a list of every member of my family ever. I don't even have that, so if you could perhaps send a copy so that I can get a better view of my own family tree, that would be greatly appreciated.

Lmao, don't compare yourself to Disorder......

I leave Kuku's own words to explain the sort of person he was proud to be and the enduring legacy he contributed to this thing of ours:

My legacy will be making the fantasists fantasise elsewhere.

Kuku lineage wins this hands down.

And which was responsible for more negativity, in your opinion?

I dont personally know the bloodline of Kuku but I have to be honest and say that I dont find him nice or the opposite at all. I am grateful for the entertainment he brings to our shores. The bloodlines riske' topics are very joyful and witnessing people criticize and harrass the bloodline is quite entertaining too.

So thanks for being you Kuku.

Kuku is the type of guy that back in the day rich people will pay him to perform tricks or entertainment for them while they sit back with their buddies and drink a cold one

Little Is known about the elusive Kuku, but what is known is this. You sitting alone in a bar? Think again! He is behind you. 
Think you are having moving night alone? Think again! He is next to you.
Think you are alone praying in church? Think again! He is in disguise as the priest.
Think you were not followed by any suspecting witnesses? Think again! He is in the trash can next to you.
All of these can be certain of one thing. Kuku is not known for being a friend, being there for you or just being there to kill you.

Seems like Kuku is as a ghost and hunts all that dont love him, he had then much as hell to do as I see it, poor Kuku, the watch is over and many is glad for this as I know. Hope his dreaming that all love him even when he is acting badly against many and cheating and so on, sad shit.

Almost everybody passing comment here is now dead.  And the orator of this speech, arguably, owes his life to me.

Let's take a moment to remember the fallen.