Gaius sat in his usual spot on top of the Desert Palms. From his suite a balcony opened that ran the length of the building, facing the newer part of the strip. There wasn't a new hotel or business that he or one of his boys didn't have a hand in. Money was rolling in hand over fist, business was good.

Blueberry_Muffin was to the old man's left, laying in the hammock he had become so accustomed to. When Gaius gave the boy his position as third in his Empire, a hammock was placed for him to relax in from time to time. As blueberry explained the daily tally, and the schedule for tomorrow, Gaius sat staring blankly into the solid mass of people passing by below. There were posters, or some announcement of another leader being given the nod. Droning on. Anyone that has ever setup more then a handful of individuals knows the tediousness in it, even if it is a momentous occasion for the person in question.

Gaius plucked a cigarette from his wrist pack and pressed it to his lips. Pulling a match from the box sitting beside him, he struck it against his boot. Inhaling the toxic fumes, the old man realized something. He was part of the fucking problem to begin with.

As he looked down on the town, he nodded to his head of security and the throng that followed him around, began to stand up and come from what appeared to be every room in the suite.

Time for a little talk boys, get me some attention when we get out there eh?

Out on the street Gaius chuckled when three of his entourage shot rounds into the air from their Thompsons. As a crowd began to gather, Gaius lit another cigarette and began.

Times have definitely changed. I'm told of a time when it was considered a great honor to become a leader. Out of thousands of mafioso a mere handful wore the bold suit. To get that suit, meant something, the work and effort put into it required tireless dedication, and of course... the right connections. Today it's a different story, we see mobsters who haven't spoken a single word in these streets, put on their bold suit and come talk for the first time, announcing themselves to the world.

Meanwhile, those individuals that do put in the time, scratch there heads and wonder who this chump was. Our world is controlled by one thing, money. Let's be real, the values of the older times are dying in the face of sheer financial focus in our work today. Now more then ever, protection statuses are at an all time high, I read in the tribune the other day of bodyguard employment on the rise in the underworld. Some 12,000 bodyguards are on the payroll. The dynamics of our organisations have changed to such an extent that the main focus today is not what it used to be.

These days financial demands for protection alone are so high that city heads can't be as picky as in the old days. No one needs to spend months developing a presence in our streets. All that is required these days is that you can run a group of people and robots and generate as much money as possible every week. Sad as it may be thats all that matters. Sure its great if you have the other attributes to go with it but unlike the old days, its far from the main requirement. We have thirty five families in our streets as I speak, I think I can count on less than two hands the amount of leaders that actually come into these streets and speak.

This a terrible state to find ourselves in. Its corrosive to the very fabric of our existence. There must be a pulse, there must be a presence, there must be words. Without voices our world dies. We become nothing but pointless drones following a formatted routine for push button rewards. All the vibrancy and life that first attracted us here will die.

As leaders of our communities, its our responsibility to implement policies that ensure the development of voices from our towns. Our world needs more voices, more thoughts expressed and more ideas shared. Our future depends on it. We have to take the stand and do the work ourselves to ensure our people develop voices of their own and come to these streets with their own vision and ideas.

Gaius took a moment and cleared his throat. Inhaling another lung full of toxic fumes, he looked down and exhaled. Before the old man, stood a young Goomba, he wasn't local but Gaius nodded to him anyway.

Well, how would you handle this?

The man nearly shit himself. The fear was leaking off of him like water from a sponge. He reeked of it. Looking around sheepishly for a hiding place that would not be found, it was clear public speaking wasn't in his bloodline's most used traits. He stammered a response.

"Whatever you think is best, sir."

Gaius chuckled.

Whatever I think is best... Why the fuck is that no one can give there fucking opinion anymore? Instead, they feel the need to mimic the opinions of others.

SPEAK THE FUCK UP BOY!

You will never be alone as long as you form your own coherent sentences. Don't fucking drone on like some useless dimwit copying the opinions of others, come up with your own.

Gaius became animated in his rage and he began pacing, using hand gestures to put more emphasis into every word.

We as leaders must teach our people how and why its important to form there own opinions of matters. We must show them how and why it is important to speak here in our streets. Many of you may think, why? If they form there own opinions it could be different from mine, or my Godfathers. Why would I want them to do anything other then preach the gospel I provide for them?

Well last I checked this wasn't a fucking cult. This was business. You want the man your sending in to kill for you to be a brainless dimwit that can't out think his opposition? See how many funerals you visit. You want to send mindless repetition monkeys to make deals for your city? See what sort of deals you get.

We need to take a daily active hand in developing our people or our entire network will crumble. We as leaders must sit down and talk to the individuals that are on the payroll. Not merely accept a bag of cash every Thursday. Our focus needs to be on maintaining and developing our positions as leaders. Believe me when I say that investing your time and effort into developing your people, will only benefit that strength and position.

Stepping back slightly, Gaius threw the end of his smoke to the floor and pulled another from his wrist pack. Lighting it, he took a deep pull and breathed out a large plume of smoke. Looking over the crowd he wondered what would sink in.

Guiseppe listened intently to what Don Gaius had to say, he was hooked on the speech something that he had thought about for a while but never thought to bring it to the public domain, but now it was here he wanted to throw his opinion in

Don Gaius a great subject you have brought up. I myself agree that our leaders should have more of a voice. They should be stating their opinions on what is going on in the streets. I look at it this way, if I were new and wanted to turn to a life of crime I would start on the streets and try to find out who's who. I would look for a leader or their hands and find out what they are all about as why would I go to join a family or a crew that I know nothing about or their beliefs. Me peronally I wouldn't.

Has the role of Crew Leader cheapened?

Yes it has in my opinion it used to be rare that someone would get the privilage and honour of becoming head of a crew bestowed upon them that has stood out in various situations, some who can handle themselves on the street and speak with confidence. I understand that some leaders prefer to be on the quiet side in the streets and like to lead from within the HQ but at times a voice is also needed on the streets.

The streets should be a hive if activity and our leaders and hands should be at the front starting it all off.

 anyone can put one a snazzy bold suit and 'lead' a crew. not much is required to do that. but if you desire to be a real leader, if you sesire to be taken seriously in the eyes of your peers. a voice is needed. as a bloodline that has never been overly vocal in the streets i realize that i myself need to work harder and develop my voice in these streets. 

in a perfect world every leader will listen to this most excellent speech and change their quiet ways, but its doubtful that will happen. its far to easy to sit behind big desk and count the piles of cash the mindless drones cluttering our cities make for them.

EvilClown sees the lowly goomba being grilled by Don Gaius, he feels for him and is unsure or not whether to approach his revered city leader. Taking a breath he steps into the fray and motions for some attention.

Don Gaius, I understand your concerns, with the way the current government is set up it seems as though the green card system they operate has been ripped up and thrown out of the window. It is a problem faced throughout the world but the ramifications here are being felt by all.

The problem is an old one with parallels here and every where else. This cheap hired muscle is being hired in on the back of the immigrant population which is prevalent now in our world. These immigrants, work hard and keep their heads bowed low, they cause no trouble at all to our leaders and the yield which they offer is guaranteed.

The government has tried and seemingly failed to restrict the numbers of these migrants, with each migrant worker paying a substantial entry fee to cross our borders I can hardly blame them in accepting this fee. However the wider consequences to this world of ours are now becoming apparent.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In allowing the influx of robot migrants, as you rightly state the financial power of each authorized crew has grown considerably to what it once was, this of course then leads to the amount of hired muscle being available to the market to increase, and increase it has. Currently there is no city limit on the number of robot migrants just a crew limit. Maybe an answer to the question I believe you are asking is to ask the politicians of this world to limit the number of migrant robots not to a number per crew, but a number per city?

Wade listens to the eminent mobster as he rages at the young goomba before coughing and clearing his throat

"well with all the respect due your position,not all of the upper echeleons in this thing of ours seem to promote free thinking amongst us lower classes.Ive only been on these shores a short while but i can point to examples where younger members have been killed by their own families for disagreeing with a capo from another family in the streets??..surely this is not conduscive to encouraging the youngers amongst us to speak out when not amongst the members of our family??"

Wade stops pausing for thought,he knew he had to word what he way trying to say very carefully.Gazing warily at Gaius bodyguards he continues

"also you say the first time alot of people speak in the streets is when they have their bold suit?while that may be the case surely a man such as yourself can appreciate not everyone is the Al Capone type,by which i mean loud and wanting to be the centre of attention?...surely a man who works behind the scenes quietly and respectfully and then authed by the people who see his work and his personality day in day out has more right to speak than some fresh off the boat yuppie with dreams of world domination?

I completely agree, yet agreeing may confirm your point of people not having their own voices... so in that case i disagree!

I see people around here, making it to the high ranks, and sometimes i think to myself wow, they are a CL and i have genuinly never heard of them, does that make me look bad, or make them look bad?

People need to voice their own opinions, they do, we are the mafia! Yet my father, along with other people, have refrained from letting their voices be heard in fear of being killed, thats right, killed. People seem to think voicing your own opinion is an insult if it differs to theirs. There is a difference between insulting someone and having a different opinion to someone, some people fail to understand this.

Now, for a CL, they NEED to be in the streets in my opinion, not to cause arguements, but to merely get their voice heard. By being in the streets, people will get to know you better, people will respect you more and thats is what a good CL needs, respect. It helps out your whole bloodline aswell, people remember a good public speaker, which is good for buisness.

In regards of this hired muscle, yes there is alot of it, and i do believe it is directly proportionate to the amount of "zombies" on these streets. I see godfathers walking around these streets, oh wait, no i dont, i see hundreds of men all dressed in black and presume their is a Godfather in the middle of the crowd, as no-one can physically see the godfather behind all his protection. And that is presuming he is even a godfather, there are gansgters, goombas and earners walking around with more protection than the Godfathers. I have no problem with those fellas that have that NPM tatoo, they are great, and they are giving more people the opportunity to rise up to be a CL, but the CL needs to understand they cant sit back and do nothing, they needs to let their voice be heard, if only for the confidence of the real players in their crew.

All i can finish with really is this. You see 35 people walking around as "Crew Leaders", but sit back and think, how many of these people have you heard of, i mean, genuienly heard making their opinions known in the streets? How many have made a difference? to me, the people who make a difference and leave their mark on their city are the real leaders, inspiring other mafioso to be like them.

Arriving at the scene after hearing gunshots, Kurtz saw it was just Gaius getting some attention. In between appointments he decided to stay and se what his boss had to say. Watching while a few men stepped forward, he listened to the various points of view with interest.

Wade. You mention people being killed for disagreeing with a higher ranked or established member of the community. In my experience this is very rare. Most established members of this thing will be completely comfortable with someone expressing an contrary opinion, regardless of rank. As has been said many times before, its all about how you say it. A person can express the most controversial opinion or put forth an extremely different view from the one held by the majority. As long as they speak with appropriate respect and sense, almost anything is viable as a subject for discussion.

I would suggest the younger members of the community you refer to, either took a very ill advised approach when expressing their opinion, or they encountered an unusually insecure person with objections. Either way it is as unusual as it is unfortunate.

Taking a nip from a silver hip flask, he tucked it back into his jacket pocket and looked around at the other participants.

As for the generally held view that leaders should have a voice, I couldn't agree more. I think those that have been around for generations will know. The newer members need only listen to what Guiseppe and Terry pointed out. A leader needs to have a presence here, to be seen, to be known, to command respect and justify his position.

Wade mentions the quiet workers behind the scenes doing diligent work for their families. Sure, every family has such members, some sturdy and reliable people that many crews would crumble without. However these people are not best suited to leadership. A leader is a figurehead. Although you may say we are an underground collective and we stay out of the public eye, I think there needs to be a clear distinction drawn here.

Public to us does not mean public to every Joe on the street. We speak in these streets, these streets are only populated by us mafioso. We can speak freely here without fear of being overheard by the general law abiding public. Having a voice and speaking in our streets, having a street presence, as our community defines it, is not a matter of broadcasting your views to the world at large. It is a matter of having a recognised voice among your peers and the community of mobsters we call our number. Saying "I'm a criminal I won't speak in the streets" is not a valid argument for a leader in our realm.

A person might be a damn fine mobster and a productive worker for their family but if they can not manage a few words here and there, they should not be in the business of leadership. They should stick to the background work they have a natural inclination toward.

In the old days a leader would be shot for simply not appearing in he streets. These days a person's presence doesn't even appear to be a consideration when handing out auths. Its a very sad state of affairs and one that is slowly but surely killing the world we occupy. It can be rectified, as with most problems but it will take some strong measures and collective will to do so.

Nodding respectfully to his boss, Kurtz tapped his watch and pointed into the distance. Gaius returned the nod in understanding and Kurtz made his way off through the gathered crowd.

Godfather Gaius with respect I see a great flaw in what you are asking. Let me start off by saying that yes it is sad that the state of our streets is what it is. That there are crew leaders running around who are unknown to the majority of our ranks not only before but even after they have set up. However that is something that I cannot see changing any time soon, or if it will ever change at all.

This is something that even has crept into the being of the Godfathers themselves. -Premier, InspectorGadget, Rogrog, Whatsername, Roman, -BostonGeorgeJung and Gaius. These are all names that are known by our society, but that is all they are to those outside their respective cities. The only time we see them contributing on the streets is when war has broken out, or a a Rogue has entered our midst. Yes you have this stirring speech right now, but it will fade quickly much like everything else that comes to our streets.

We can look at the other leaders in the cities, who are too many to name and as you say they are there, not because they have earned it, not because there is a need for more crewleaders. But because of the financial benefit that comes with a family and I'm not talking about the active members contribution, what I'm talking about is these robots that roam our cities, jumping in on OC's earning money for their boss while costing nothing in return. These "people" will never step out of line, the will never bring embarrassment to a leader, they live their days making money then become cannon fodder, I would say for the family hitsquads, but in fact so few families have enough real members that they cannot possibly have a hitsquad. These nowadays are no longer confined to one family, they are brought together under the banner of their Godfather, their city. It's not a wonder many feel that our world is stagnating, the common response to that is rank up and change it yourself. But if someone has that desire it would take a full compliment of Hitters to even put a dent in one of the cities and there is no family that is going to be able to do that.

The lifeblood of the streets used to be debate, but so many things have been debated so many times that there is nothing left to discuss. Nearly everyone these days has the same opinion on the different issues that face us each day. Then if something out of the ordinary happens, Say Foxxy's coup d'etat on Drexler no one says boo about it. I have read in ancestors journals in the past that when something like that happened the streets were in uproar, demanding to know what happened. There would have been those for the actions defending their corner, there would have been those opposed. Even after The Godfathers and Mother stepped in and removed Foxxy there would still have been stirrings on the streets. I feel somewhat sorry for Godfather Drexler, his death garnered less attention than say a footballer in the other world who could not be named yet has.

Apathy has firmly gripped not only our streets but also ourselves. We know that to get anywhere in life it will now always be about who can bring in the most dollars, help finance the ever growing numbers of bodyguards. Many of our life devote themselves to obtaining a killer gun, what some call a cannon. In fact that itself has gotten so far out of hand that nowadays unless your gun is in triple figures it's about as useful as the day and hour you earned it.

However I may have said to much, or I might not have said enough. I feel I'm starting to ramble now so will close by saying, good luck. However I fear your wishes are going to be in vain.

A much needed discussion, Don Gaius. I too pine for the days of old, when every leader was expected to have a street presence and you knew the person next to you was just that- a person. In fact this statement of yours: "This a terrible state to find ourselves in. Its corrosive to the very fabric of our existence. There must be a pulse, there must be a presence, there must be words. Without voices our world dies. We become nothing but pointless drones following a formatted routine for push button rewards. All the vibrancy and life that first attracted us here will die." echoes my own beliefs nearly to a T.

I became very encouraged when I heard you speak in such a manner. I said to myself "Well, Las Vegas knows what's up! A shining beacon of street presence and old school values in the desert!". To be sure, there are other pockets throughout the 8 cities that believe the same, but to see an entire city adopt such views as its modus operandi? That would be amazing.

You yourself, Don Gaius, have come to the streets on several occasions over the past few months for a variety of reasons and are one of the more active current crewleaders. Truly, I wish more followed your lead.

Yet your speech also stated "Today it's a different story, we see mobsters who haven't spoken a single word in these streets, put on their bold suit and come talk for the first time, announcing themselves to the world.". You say that leaders must earn their leadership by speaking in the streets both before and after they have gone bold. But a cursory examination of the men and women you have working for you raises questions in my mind.

Don Naenia, your current listed Underboss, who I understand is stepping down for personal reasons, has started a discussion or began an action in the streets three times: the first day she arrived, the first day she put on her bold suit, and the day she announced she would be removing that bold suit. In all forums of public discourse, 30 total times speaking.

Don Marston has come to the streets to start a discussion or begin some task twice: to announce the opening of a tailoring business, and the day he put on a bold suit. In all forums of public discourse, 37 total times speaking.

Don JimmyNapoli has come to the streets to begin a discussion a single time: to "put on (his) bold suit and come talk for the first time, announcing (himself) to the world". In all forums of public discourse, 47 total times speaking.

Boss MrVengeance- has also come to the streets to begin a discussion a single time, immediately after putting his own bold suit on. A grand total of 11 total times speaking in public.

Is it not hypocritical to become so enraged in the streets due to the fact that crewleaders are being authed without building a street presence first, when the last two people that have gone bold in your own city have made their first public street speech announcing their new crew? And when no leader in your city outside of yourself lives up to the high standards that you and I seem to share?

You know I remember times when a leader would die, and nearly every member of that leaders family would call up in arms, ready to set up and continue where business left off, ready to risk and die for their dead leader. Lately, I have seen the opposite where people are quicker to jump ship for their own survival, longevity and greed.

Jimmy pulls his newest family member into his office, sitting the kid down and offering him a cup of coffee while asking the kid what he thought of his HQ, his business practices and generally how things were going for him.. Jimmy listening very seriously, wanting to make sure the kid was getting used to business in Vegas

Times change, politics change the face of our world as new rules are taken away and implemented but one of the things that never changes is our image. How is a leader going to look when he runs a family filled with jokesters, non mobsters, who look more like a circus than a respectful mob family hailing from a powerful city. Our image is everything, hell our image can keep our enemies at bay if the time is right, but our image can also lead to our demise (such as being removed for not ever showing your face, or how you discipline your members etc).

Family structure, our roles and our job to teach and grow these new mobsters, while strengthing our relationship with our current members and never forgetting where they came from, and where we came from is something we must understand we sign up for being leaders, not just a fancy suit and a nice car because the money comes in like water from those below you.

We all learn and grow and sometimes a slap in the face by those we care about works for BOTH leaders and members.. as we all have the same goal in the end, just multiple different ways of getting there and sometimes we need reminders as our life starts to consist of crime, drugs and family and we forget to visit the places we need to be to fulfil our responsibilites.

The streets seem to be becoming more active, and now if all us 30 leaders could catch up business would be great as a nation, including myself.

I will always be a strong advocate of any and every person within MafiaReturns, whom ever fancies himself as a someone, having a voice. No talented individual will ever reach the vaunted 'legendary' status, which so many of us here crave. Given the nature of our world, we are all continually striving to create a legacy and I believe that it will never be achieved by those who watch on in silence from the sidelines. I hope history casts doubt over the successes of any who do.

With that said, I am forced to concede the horrible truth; that which I advocate has become redundant. It has long since stopped being a necessity to have a strong presence, but it now seems that any presence at all is no longer required before you are graced with the opportunity to lead. You could, in theory, say nothing to anyone and lead a crew of robots until someone deems you surplus to requirements. I'm not saying you would have much fun, but it is entirely possible and that to me, is a terrible, terrible thing.

This isn't an entirely new thing, I'm sure if you perused your histories, you would find references to anomalous incidents of near silent people being given the nod. However, I would suggest they happened to be far fewer in number and far rarer in regularity than we see before us today.

I try not to preach too loudly about dead things, because there is after all, very little we can do to bring them back. Similarly, everything I've seen in my time here suggests that this will become one of them, unless all Cosa Nostra changes to prevent it. But, why would they? Why wouldn't I arm myself with 1000 hired henchmen if I could? Why wouldn't I arm my trusted enforcers as best as possible if I could? The practicality of the situation has demanded that those who are most useful are rewarded with HQs, rather than those most deserving of them.

I'm a practical, realistic man. I see dealings in coffeeshops and occasionally on our streets, where all politicking is virtually dead. People are brash, no longer afraid of the trouble their blunt dealings have. This is not due to the allies they've marshalled, the favour they've won or the schemes they've employed; they rely purely upon their bodyguards. I long for the age where it was the savvy ones who rose to the top, rather than those prepared to introduce the most otherworldly capital. I long for the age where it was as important to hone your wits as it was your firearm. I long for the age when there was no near impregnable armour, no near nuclear weapons and they not the property, desire or goal of every individual.

As you began this with, the focus now is upon finance, not speech. Whilst that remains the primary concern of the Mafia hierarchy, I know that the age I long for will never return. In fact, every day we seem to slip further and further away from what one would consider to be the fundamentals of our creed. Perhaps our greed has finally outstripped our need for those old lessons? Perhaps I'm just an old head on young shoulders, wishing for what never was? I don't know.

What I do know, is that you, as leader of a huge city, are in a position to change things. Should you desire to do so, Las Vegas could pride itself on appointing those people who encompass a street presence within their arsenal just as strongly as a well trained gun. Las Vegas could demand any who would be leaders of the community are to be known by them. Las Vegas could enact standards and whilst they might not be self-serving, they would be in the best interests of Cosa Nostra. The only thing preventing that from being a reality is your decision not to make it so.

It takes courage for a leader to convince his followers that the harder path is better than the easier one, especially when he is the only leader determined to walk it. But, as I mentioned earlier, I'm a practical, realistic man. Why would you do anything, just because you could, that would make it more difficult for your city?

I don't often want to disagree with Gaius -- but I personally see no reason why any high level mafioso should be opening their mouth in public for anything other than casual conversation. How a crew leader runs their family does not involve any crew but their own...other crews should only be concerned with actions, not words. Crew leaders should be active within their crew and within their city. City leaders can deal with city leaders when needed. But it is contrary to our culture to go chattering about crew business in the streets, and opinions of leadership are crew/city business.

If a crew leader wants to encourage their crew to get out and meet people, etc, then I have no problem with this, of course. But from what I've seen in my day, and my father before me and so on...is that most crews have a rule that goes something to this affect:

If you do anything that even remotely seems like disrespect to some over-sensitive moron I'm going to wack you without mercy or warning (Paraphrased, I rarely see this literal rule, but that's the gist of it)

I've even been in cities where below Made Man you weren't allowed to speak in the streets without getting their speech pre-approved by leadership, and Made Men and above were basically not allowed to disagree with anyone in any fashion unless they were a crew leader.

Seriously, if the goal is to get people to talk, then people need to stop being such over-sensitive children. If the goal is to make everyone fall in line, then stop trying to promote posting. But from what I've seen, most people want it both ways. The result is so much confusion, fear and misconceptions that street conversations aren't fun to people anymore, it becomes a chore.

Don Gaius.

Oh boy how times have changed... you were spot on with your comment Gaius about how it used to be an honour to become a leader. This "auth a buddy" system is leading us down a huge shithole spiral. People seem to think that if they auth their friends then there will be no problems, but the problem is... their friends are morons. Well, maybe morons is a bit harsh, but still... when it comes to actually LEADING a family, they are morons. They think it's just something where they invite a bunch of buddies, they do some crimes, kill some time and hold hands with the rest of us while playing hop-scotch at the local park. Some people are even guaranteed auth for a family before they're even 24 hours old. What a fucking JOKE.

Absolutely proposterous.

I'm glad you pointed out that nowadays is more about money because I also think THAT is a ridiculous way to go through the daily life of this world. If all you do is gather money for bodyguards there comes a point where you can improve no more (either through the fact that you can no longer afford the upkeep if you bought more, or you get to 401 then it's just pointless), whereas other people believe that death and destruction is the be all and end all to our world and THOSE people have no limits at all. They can improve their guns without having to rely on other people earning money for them. They do not NEED money. So people can pad themselves up with extra bodies but making sure they do the highest profitable drug runs means they will probably be missing out on the few kills that are available. So when a time of war comes (we all know it comes round eventually, no matter how stable our world seems) they will be sat there with all those BG's which will drag out their untimely demise but be able to do nothing or very little to hurt their attackers.

The amount that we actually KNOW about the vast majority of our leaders is quite laughable, it is a sorry state of affairs that none of them feel the need to come out into our fair streets and contribute to our society. I mean, sure... we're all ultimately in this for ourselves, but if we want this world to grow then the streets need to flourish. There has to be something to grab the attention of the new visitors to our world and the first thing they will look for is what the bolds have to say for themselves. Tt is all the fault of our current powerbrokers that the streets are dying. Nobody can speak their mind without being shot. Sure, (in reality) they should be shot, but for the good of our world this NEEDS to change or we will just continue on this downward spiral. With people treading on eggshells, the debates are very tame which leads to them dying our very quickly. It also has a knock-on effect with the comedy side of street posters as nobody makes satirical posters anymore because they fear they could upset the wrong person. THIS is why nobody gives their opinion anymore, THIS is why opinions are only mimicked and not thought of by the person.

I am glad you have pointed out that it is the responsibility of the leaders to correct this issue because no matter how many people preach "It is EVERYONE'S responsibilty" it's not. We have a LOT of sheep here who will only follow what their boss tells them to do. So if their boss is telling them to go find themselves a brain and a voice, maybe... just maybe they will.