Utopia walks through the streets of Philly on the way to a business meeting regarding a drugs operation going on at a night club in the city. It was a windy day and newspapers were flying around the square that he was walking through. After taking a glance at the newspaper headline - "MOB WAR SWEEPS CITIES OF AMERICA YET AGAIN" Utopia picks it up from the floor and exams it before throwing it carelessly behind him


After two horrific wars this Thing of Ours has seen a hierarchy change which a couple of weeks ago was unthinkable. Talks of free speech and a new, more balanced regime along with an extraordinary number of high profile deaths in the obituaries have made one thing obvious: change has come like a bullet. For better or for worse? Only time will tell - but that is not what I wanted to talk about....


After such a change in hierarchy and our recent wars I have a question. During my bloodlines time in this This Thing of Ours - since the moment my ancestor arrived after a colossal journey from Naples I have always found that the Mafiosos who end up at the top of the pile - the godfathers, the city leaders and so on all got where they were due to a well practiced voice, public speaking skills as they addressed their people or even simply printing a regular underground newspaper. With this came auth and then, if they were lucky, a more important role within their city - city leader for example. It was a formula - and hence many bloodlines returned to power again and again and again.


Utopia throws his cigarette on the floor and stamps on it


But is this changing? Has this formula for success which was evidently common in recent periods gone for good? . Is the way to get top of the pile now to have an instinct of survival? To be able to dodge a bullet or two and send a few back at your enemies? Will this disruption of the old ways of tasting power be permanent, or will we settle down, return to old ways, and build up again with a leader for every dozen Mafiosos as we have seen before...


Utopia leaves the square and heads in the direction of the nightclub before stopping and speaking once more


One thing is undoubtedly clear: change has not come so rapidly or so powerfully as it did after October 21st in my entire bloodlines memory.

We can talk about street presence and oratory skills until the cows come home, and in a ideal world any mobster where a italic or bold suit would be known very well across all of the cities, by everyone. But as we've seen in the past couple of days, we don't live in an idealistic world and some of these underworld bosses I've never seen tread these fine streets of ours. The fact is political prowess, strategic thinking and the minerals to carry through your agenda usually trump a good street speech.

...or will we settle down, return to old ways, and build up again with a leader for every dozen Mafiosos as we have seen before.

Personally, I can see this coming back relatively soon. Change has been preached for a while now, and although we've definitely seen some, there are still many areas where the old ways still linger. 

I guess, when all is said and done. We'll have to wait and see.

-MT-

It's been said to speak softly and carry a big stick. But in the end it doesn't matter if you speak softly or scream from the rooftops, all that matters is the size of your stick. Words can start wars and in a utopian society words can end them. But what usually gets the job done are the weapons involved. So it doesn't really matter. Indifferent situations either can be the winner or loser.

That's reality. But my opinion is the true leader is the person who can master both; can speak softly or talk it up and back it up if he or she needs to.

yeah that is true.

many can talk the talk but not many can walk the walk...you can give a good war cry but get shot in the face all the same

What time will tell now, is if the remaining society can put those big sticks away and bring some stability back to this thing of ours. It certainly makes for great news, but continual bloodshed can often lead to a more unsettled society and shifting loyalties.

Polina_Papanov said it best in my eyes. I'm only here to give the "Fear vs Respect" aspect.

We have all seen the tyrants rule this world. Many will say that the ones recently removed were the worst among them. They demanded things and others had to give in due to the fear factor. They carried big sticks and ran things the way they wanted. Now as this was and still is an effective tactic, I don't agree with it. Why? Because as it has shown us, people turn. Maybe not after a few times of being over ruled but give it time and the bear you once started to poke, bites back. Fear, the rule of a gun, is effective but at the worst costs. After all we're all in this for the money we make.

Your voice says a lot about you these days. I know I'm not the best public speaker nor the best person to give an opinion really. I always admired the ones that came to the street and preached about certain politics. The things that no one wanted to talk about because they wouldn't be able to do it properly. I'm going to go ahead and name Chuckle. He and his bloodline has always had my respect for that one attribute of his. His vocal opinion.

Now I both respect both ways but in reality, I feel the best way to lead is with a voice. A gun should be the last answer to any question.

Having a voice is ten times more important than having the gun. But only if the voice you have is trusted and listened to. In example, if a Gangster were trying to use his voice to manipulate a situation his way then the gun would always override his voice. If a Boss was trying use his voice to manipulate then it would work down but not up. A Godfathers opinion will always carry more weight than anyone elses.

It is ALWAYS about your social standing as to which way you go. A higher rank can 9 times out of 10 use his voice and make a complete arse of you. Even if what he says is complete hoseshit. This is because his voice is far more respected than yours and he has the people he has already manipulated to back him up. You have no-one. Especially if you are a 'gun'

On the flip side of that a gun means you can work alone and wipe out anyone with a voice. A gun can be trained in the dark without anyone knowing. You bring no attention to yourself and as such can pop up and strike whenever you wish. But the massive part about this is that a voice can have far more guns manipulated to his needs than your single one. Although you will make your mark it will only be short term. Very few guns make it without already having a voice.

If you are a good talker then you will manipulate people to work the way you want them to work. Although you may be an absolutely shit shot you can have those who are not wrapped around your little finger to do you dirty work for you.

I hope that makes sense. It's early and the single malt hasn't cleared yet.

Here is my take on things:

A gun is a good weapon for an individual to have. With a gun, an individual can maybe take down 3/4 other Mafioso's before losing their life. With a strong gun, a Mafioso can run things by fear of that gun. Yet they will not have any respect or loyalty.

A voice a strong weapon which can motivate and organise 50 Mafioso with 50 guns. Using a voice, you can organise a take down killing hundreds. With a strong voice, a Mafioso can run things by respect. Therefore gaining loyalty and will be stronger by having people who will follow everything you say.

Look at the recent take down of Godfathers Roman & -Premier. Roman originally ran Chicago powerfully. Using his voice. Gaining respect and loyalty. Overtime however, alongside -Premier, things were ruled with the gun. Ruled through fear. Respect and loyalty diminished and the takedown occured.

Gun = Fear
Voice = Respect

Of course a gun will always outweight a voice. Afterall a voice alone can not win you a war, can it? Nope. However, having a strong voice can get you a very long way as recent history has shown us. Take Roman for example, when he first took the position of Godfather he was not *that* strong. TheDean could have quite easily have felled him. Yet Roman's ability to sweet talk people around and say the right things when they needed to be said paid off in dividends, hence allowing him to outlive all of his opponents and create the strongest empire ever. His voice bought him time, enough to build up his gun, until he become top dog where his tone changed.

So while having a cannon attatched to your arm is very nice and obviously a massive advantage, if you just don't have the voice it will be all the more harder to win respect, without respect you are nothing.

I take it for granted the pen is mightier than the sword, a pen has a legacy that can outlast the strongest of all arms. Whilst we remember those amongst us who were proficient with a gun, the most remembered are those which have stood up here time and time again instilling us with their diatribe.

Be it we stood back and listened in awe and respect or we stood and threw rotten veg at their obvious insanity the voice was heard. It is usual for the gun to be heard but once, to take away a bloodlines voice is a lot harder than to take thier gun.

The voice has the power to direct many guns, where one gun would fail the many will succeed.

Maybe a new slant on this should be:

Which is mighter?: The Single Strong voice, or the many quiet whispers.