A giant of a man climbs the steps of a near-by podium, and begins to speak.

Hello my brothers and sisters. My name is Dimitri and I stand here today to bring a subject to your attention!

I am fresh off the boat, as the old saying goes, so my words dont carry much weight. Some of you will more then likely think i am just another young upstart complaining about the realities of the american dream. But i do not care for what you people think, so if this is the case, feel free to walk away now.

Members of my family line have made many trips to the land of america and each of them wrote journals, detailing what they saw there. But it has been many generations since the last of my ancestors made the long hard journey here and most will have been lost to record so i will not stoop so low as to bring their names to your attentions. But back to the point i was going to make...

The journals of my ancestors tell of streets, littered with conversations, scattered with street actors and story tellers, with walls covered from top to bottom in fliers and posters. The journals tell of a time when the streets thronged with activity... Where you must have been so well known in the streets, that when you walked down an avenue, or stood on a box or podium as i am today, people would recognize your name, your face and speak to you with respect.

But the streets which i walk, so long after my ancestors, are near empty. The streets of today are those of a ghost town compared to the streets of my ancestors time.

So i put to you, good people, to tell me, why the streets are empty? Why there are no discussions, or plays or story tellings?

Because this thing of ours, lacks the glamour of the days gone by, without the colourful opinions of those who would speak in the streets.

Dimitri steps down from the podium, having concluded his speech, and hoping that he has done his bit to bring life back to these streets, which his ancestors wrote so fondly of.

I am so glad to hear you say all this. I am absolutely sure that you will not do as so many before you that can out here to draw attention, complain that the streets are empty and then crawl back to never speak again.

I am positive that noticing the lack of activity in the streets, you will be in the front lines making it active again bring new topics with relative frequency.

I look forward to seeing many speeches from you and I will do my best to listen to you attentively and contribute what I can.

Im glad to have found someone who agrees, i have noticed you are also active in the streets, and i hope that together, we can bring the streets back to their glory days.

I'll keep an eye out for you on the podium's and boxes, as im sure you will have allot to say, that is worth listening to. Unlike some of the rubbish i've heard and read since iv been here.

Why come to the streets when its so much easier to click money your way to success?

Because making money is all well and good, but making a name for yourself, earning a reputation and improving your charisma and confidence by speaking in the streets is much more worthwhile then wasting your time, looking for an easy mark?

Besides, speaking in the streets makes it easier to find people... You get more... street smarts?

I couldn't agree more with Don_Dimitri.

I'm going to go ahead and be the one to disagree.

Look around. There are discussions. There are stories being told. There are even several conversations about how things "lack the glamour" of times gone by...much like this one.

Honestly, I like a good conversationalist as much as the next person, but lets face it, what is there to say that hasn't been said? Why must we beat the proverbial dead horse by constantly complaining that things aren't the way they used to be? To break out the old ciche: "If you don't like something, change it". Don't like the relative silence in relation to the past? Speak more. Be creative. Tell us all a good story. Terrific. And don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that we should all just sit with our hands folded, all hushed in a corner. But to criticize the lack of speakers in the streets, just because they don't wish to partake in such clubbing of a deceased equine just seems like more of the same. Some people just have more important things to do.

Good points made by rathbone good points my friend

I have to agree with Rathbone on this, Really i am over listening to the same speeches over and over again. The streets will pick up again as they always do every now and again they go quite then pick up they always do

I have to agree with Rathbone on this one myself!!!

But you see, this is the problem... Multiple people have supported the both of us, but some have only said a sentence? Why do these people agree with me? Why do they agree with you? What are their own opinions? Where is the comedian of old who makes a complete fool of us all? Noone has given their own opinions, or thoughts... It is much easier to speak in the streets then it used to be.

See, you, rathbone have given me a chance for debate, so i will ask you this... Did you know speaking in the streets improves your 'vision'? And your sight is obviously important when you're trying to find someone. So is speaking in the streets really a waste of time? There are important things to do in this thing of ours, but why not hold a speech until that post office opens? You say there are more important things to do, but in the past, it was the most important people who spoke in the streets.

Your talking to Rathbone as if he isn't the lefthand man of the godfather of Chicago, I'm fairly sure that a man of his position would know about sight. Also people prioritize different things Dimitri and for you to come out here and yell for us to flock to the streets won't usher any "glory days", it will bring back a time when the streets were misused and spammed with gibberish. I'm also intrigued to inquire how far back were these glory days?

Fransisco, im sure he does, but obviously i put it out there as a counter to his argument. See, the streets are for discussion, so i wont bow down on my hands and knees and kiss rathbones feet while we have a debate. Im sure he understands that? But you however come out here, and insult my intelligence? I know who rathbone is, and i know that he will know what im talkin' about. I don't need you to pull rank on me for that. And these glory days span back years, before the time of roman, before the time of spacemountain, before the times of deimne. I read in one of my ancestors journals about when the mafia first came to these shores, and how my first ancestor tried to make a name for himself under a CL named snoop dog. So when i say i have read about glory days, i mean that my family has traveled to America from the beginning.

Your not expected to bend over backwards in a debate, but you don't talk down on a man with that status. I would reword how you say things, it comes off snide. I'm not insulting anyone's intelligence here I didn't say you didn't know who he was, twisting my words to be like that is clever. But why are we talking about years at the very start, this thing of ours has changed dramatically since then and is still changing, Abel is also right in fact that the streets are not "dead" and again calling out for people to flock to the streets will do more harm then good. The streets are there for those who want to use them, if you can't be bothered you shouldn't be here.

Fransisco, i think we both need to remember that because of the fog we cant see eachothers facial expressions or body language clearly, and along with the noise of the cars our tone of voice is sometimes... Distorted? You came across stand-offish, but im sure that wasnt the intention, just as im sure you can understand that to speak down to rathbone wasnt the intention? So i think we both got off on the wrong foot, yes?

Let's go with that. But yes back to my other point. We need not yell for everyone to come to the streets, the streets is something for those that are willing to put in time and effort.

You definitely have a point there, but a little encouragement can go a long way... Many new members of this thing of ours do not understand the streets, or are intimidated by them... So for someone to stand there and say, come, join in our conversations, gives them a opening to introduce themselves and grow accustomed to speaking in the streets... I think that they think we expect them to throw speeches out with no trouble at all, when in reality they can just offer their opinion and it is just as good. Wouldnt you agree?

Well, that's up to the crew leaders and individuals within crews to build courage within the newcomers, but yes I do think maybe a little push is better than leaving people idle in the streets.

Let's put it this way - the most celebrated of the Street speakers is also one of the most reviled.

Yes or no?

There isn't a great deal happening just now - a bit of a lull, it will pick up, it always does.

If I were given the option of seeing a relatively sparsely populated street where the only people talking where the people talking are doing so because they are genuinely passionate about a topic or an issue; as opposed to a scenario where people are only piping up because they feel obliged to from constant heckling about the streets being too quiet and people not saying enough.

For what it's worth, incidentally, I certainly don't believe the streets are in the 'state' that some are making them out to be. In plain view at the moment, I can see people discussing how abrasive or indulgent you should be with people, the 'new school, old school' debate, a community newspaper, a couple of people retelling first hand accounts of their exploits, someone harking bark to an old era, a slew of discussions on the merits of big 'names' and bloodlines, and a couple of promotional pieces involving new businesses. The majority of these discussions have been started within the past few days, and ALL of them have been added to at least once in the past 4 days.

If this is what you call empty, you are obviously comparing to them to a super incredible golden era that I don't remember; or perhaps more likely, one that didn't really exist. I'm not going to spend the time trawling back through recorded history, but if you take a trip down memory lane to October of last year, you'll see a roughly similar trend going on at that time. Go back a year to the day, and you'll find that there's a similar level of activity although most discussions are involving auths and protection orders - which I wouldn't really 'count'.

My interpretation of your speech is that you wanted to create a persona for yourself and be recognised for your street presence. This is great. However, you couldn't really think of a topic to speak about so you chose this old favourite. Not so great, at least not when it can't be backed up by facts.

You make a good point with the old sycophantic 'I agree with Bagpipe Barry here!' posts. They're frankly pathetic if I'm honest. Sometimes I even wonder if they're satirical, but most probably not.

A few other points I'd like to make referring to other people's comments in this thread that made me want to speak up a bit:

'...a little encouragement can go a long way... Many new members of this thing of ours do not understand the streets, or are intimidated by them...'

If this is the case, a bemoaning discussion about the lack of activity (when there is plenty of activity) will do no good.

"Why must we beat the proverbial dead horse by constantly complaining that things aren't the way they used to be?"

I'm assuming this is in direct reference to the discussion at hand, but this comment (or something along these lines) is often used to belittle debates on frequently talked about topics. That's something that I don't like, as I'm sure the majority will agree. Ultimately, I feel the streets are in a pretty solid state at the moment, but the dead horse argument is always a non starter for me. Some of the most talked-to-death speeches still present some of the most heated platforms of debate despite the fact they are among the oldest topic of conversations. Someone will always find a new angle, and I generally always find 'old' debates very interesting.

"Let's put it this way - the most celebrated of the Street speakers is also one of the most reviled."

The most celebrated street speaker of our time? In recent memory? Of all time? I'd say there are more than a lot of speakers who are remembered as much for their sharp tongue, quick wit and verbal panache and I'd also agree that they are generally reviled as they are loved; but who was the individual you were thinking of? I'd be interested to know.