You know, sometimes people mess up. Sometimes they hurt or offend people. Sometimes there’s a misunderstanding. It happens in this thing of ours. Following Newton’s Third Law: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Personally, I know that if I do something in this world against others, there will be a reaction at some point. The same goes for what my fathers and forefathers have done, and children to come. Whether it is equal or effective or whatever “fair” is, that is something else and vice versa. 

Who cast the first stones? It doesn’t matter. The now is what matters. What does matter is that there is one on top and one on bottom. One inside and the other is outside of this thing of ours. Those in power have been in power for a long time now, and have obviously had to kill people to survive. They have killed for various reasons. They have killed for betrayal. They have killed for offence. They have killed for fear. They have killed for lying. They have killed for mistakes. They have killed mistakenly too, though rarely. The one thing that they have tried to do is to be highly discriminatory in killing: To try their best to only kill those who are actively trying to hurt them, with seldom actions or dare I say, executions, straying from that reason.

But as much as those children of the dead might be angry, were their parents ever even intending to work with the people in power? Or were they always planning subversive action? Hard to say entirely. It is a grey area, as our world is. There are some lines drawn in the sand clearly though. Those at the bottom have tried to attack in many ways, politically, with guns, and otherwise. Those in power react to that, in the opposite, often brutally because they can and because it is the best practice to minimize any further risk. It is fair, no? One attacks, the other defends, prevents further attacks, and back and forth, changes of approach, adjustments, and a cycle of bloodshed. 

Something I do know is that far and few have approached those in power and honestly admitted any fault at all in anything. I can easily cite CutiePole's line as an example of someone who took a different approach. 

I will tell you a story:

Mr. Pole approached a forefather of mine in the middle of last summer while he was at an amusement park. Pole gave him a very long monologue about how he would like to have a chance to work together and be friendly. Pole admitted that he had made some mistakes, and gave explanations for his actions and his interpretations of this world of ours. My ancestor took his time to read this and reply to him accordingly. Pole did apologize in some instances, but in many other parts of going over history, Pole didn’t have to apologize, because he had reacted to what he saw on his side, which may have differed from what my ancestor had seen or known. In the end, to us all, what is true is what we perceive and that may differ between different eyes. Pole and my ancestor continued to talk, and Pole was mature about everything that had happened. He did not “submit” to me. He did not compliment my ancestor. He did not kiss the ring. And that is what made it seem like a genuine offering of good faith. For nearly eight months, he and my ancestry have been able to work together, get along, and discuss things and perhaps laugh. Striphe also deserves some credit in this, but a lot of the work was Mr. Pole on his own. Striphe is sensitive and has a lot of cats. Good faith actions are the key. As many people know Pole and my ancestry for over a decade did not get along, and there were some very intense moments over that period, even just barely a year ago. Despite that, we have been able to build something together. 

So, going back to the intensity of hatred, disdain, and anger from those at the bottom towards those in power, have you ever considered giving an apology? Have you ever even tried to compare notes? Could there have been a misunderstanding along the way? Have you tried to act in good faith? Or do you want to continue the feud, the revenge, attempts at hoodwinking, and so on? Is there no way to find reconcilement or have the wounds pierced too deep? I know that is true in many instances, both ways. There are some people who have broken trust too far or taken things too far with attacks, but for most people, there is always a chance to try to genuinely apologize and work on repairing trust. Even the slates of emus and their perceived atrocities can be cleansed, but it requires effort and a heavy scrubbing. You have to prove yourself, just as if the shoe was on the other foot certainly. Why give faith to building a house on quicksand and scorpions? The cornerstone to a working relationship is building trust, concrete. Then you become insurable. 

My line has always said that this world is like chess. I took your pawn. I killed your queen. Checkmate. In the next tournament, you can take my piece, but I will corner you in the next move. Someday, the powers that be will be caught in checkmate, but you will never see me or my line not shake the hand of someone who fights with class and wins.  

Unfortunately, there are a lot of classless. If you hate someone and feel the need to ridicule or use coarse language for outmaneuvering you by moving little wooden pieces on a board, it says more about you than anything else, that you are weak, frustrated, that you have insecurity and internalized pain and wish to pass it onto others to cope, to give yourself some sort of happy chemical in your brain. I find it amusing, but it is very sad in actuality because all we are doing is playing chess. This is a world of strategy. You’re tense, I’m calm, and maybe that gets to you too. 

There are individuals and long defined groups or tribes who know they are stuck in a perpetual feud, with attempts of grasping power and flipping the world upside down, and we are more than glad to fight you. Personally, I enjoy the sport and blood (I hope you do too, sincerely), but look in the mirror before crying victim when your face is bloodied, broken, and in a gutter.

We reward those who do well to us, and those who wish to do us harm, because that’s their prerogative, will be faced with molten-hot-skull-and-cerebellum-splintering-and-splattering-lead. I’m a gangster after all and I can play the part, as we are supposed to. But to some, you could consider apologizing first and maybe even we can do the same on common ground. If that's too much for you and your self-esteem or you still want to fight for the fuck and fun of it as I do, let’s continue the dance on the bloodied stage. 
 

Yeah and  those of us who tried to help against a rogue then get killed with no explanation not fired a shot in anger at anyone in two years what the fuck do we need to apologise for?

an apology you must be mad, you and your Regime have been killing people for no reason for as long as I can remember, you have amased a very large mob of people that now will dislike you, cane you blame them for killing you over and over again.

You have done it to peoples bloodlines for years, its about time you got a taste of your own medicine 

I have to agree with DRCox,in this thing of ours people live and die,thats circle of life

but not long time ago here we had some dose of respect,when they would remove some city or a crew

someone would step up at streets with few words or with explanation for that move

Its not like that will bring dead ones in life,but they will knew reason,maybe they lived with traitors or liers and they didnt know

In my 10+ years at this place,I never saw that someone remove district and that no one knows why!

As I said,maybe we dont need to know but still I belive that we have leaders who are respected here and that they will come out and say few words

You're a professional victim Spike, truly. Everyone should apologise to you as the only person ever wronged. It was never you wronging others, huh?

Your rhetoric is boring. Those with room temperature IQ are already sold on it and the rest of us have already learned not to believe a word you say. Save it.

"I’m a gangster after all and I can play the part"

If that were true, I think many would have a lot less of a problem. Perhaps some may even respect you. You have absolutely no reputation beyond being the creepy guy who, given enough time, screws over everyone who trusts him.

That's about all the time I have for that guy. Good luck.

Im sorry you feel like you need an apology Spike 

Champ, making an apology is a choice. I didn't say whether anyone should or not. I proposed the concept.

Not all possible apologies would be towards me. You may want to give KW an apology. Maybe you want to give JTG one. Maybe you want to give Spacey one. Maybe you want to give one to KW twice. Or you could say sorry to Joe Ligambi if you wanted. There are plenty of others to apologize to. 

I have apologized to some people when mistakes were made at times or unfortunate situations occurred. Do I owe others some? Perhaps. But then there are others which no apology is asked for or wanted from either party as we are in a defined feud, of which there are many, and that is totally cool. 

You could follow this as a guide if you were to consider approaching addressing apologies:

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

GokusBae, I do not expect blind loyalty. Things go both ways. If someone actually tries to make amends, the other party is also responsible to accept the apology and build together to build up that loyalty or trust, in theory. 

I note both of you tried to be mean to me.

Whimpers and sobs: weeeoooweeeooo

I hope it gave you enough of that happy brain chemical, but it goes towards proving my point. We all make our choices. 

Hans overheard some people talking and was glad they were real and not just in his head. 

"I often hear, 'Maybe a little therapy will help'"?

He stopped talking to himself long enough to listen carefully to the arguments presented. Some rather hostile and raised voices made him chuckle but Spike was calm, that was reassuring. Shouting made Hans uncomfortable. 

"Maybe the gist of this is that all we need to do is....talk. I know a nice retreat for group therapy!  Maybe we need to go to next level of mediation"!

LuncheonEpiphany i suggest you not trying to put words in my dead fathers mouth. He himself has told stories that pretty much coincide with spikes events. He was not ashamed of them, in fact he was proud that they could put all the personal shit behind them and they gave each other a chance at trusting and working. As spike has said, at no point in his life did he "kiss the ring" or what other adjectives you would like to use. He took a chance at trying too firstly bury the personal side of things, as im not sure if you was aware but it got pretty wild, from both sides. his apologise where only for those things, and those things alone.

He said to spike anything outside of that, was sport. Its the world we live in, we try to win, sometimes we do, other times we loose. He wasnt too manly to admit that he lost more times than he won and thats ok, Thats part of the world we live in.

He always had a choice, so please do not make out like he didnt. That 220 days plus run, believe me, he had many chances and choices. Ones that could have gone different. He chose to stick to his path, him and spike set out. And ill tell you this, He has a great run and a great time while he was alive, he would not have changed a single thing.

As for this speech trying to belittle my linage, ill have you know that spike rehearsed it to me first and asked if i was ok with it, Which i am perfectly fine. 

Hope that clears that up for you.

Stop trying to act like you guys are the better out of the bunch. My lineage is not looking for apologies anymore, we are all quite past that I believe. Yet, since all of you think no one but Spike or those in power should be the one's apologizing, then I will give a very old example of how wrong you are.

Once upon a time, many ancestors ago. There were two men that my lineage called friends. My ancestors actually called many around these parts friends. Yet, let us focus on this story of them. My ancestor even met them outside of these streets and walls. She had never once wronged them, never once said any bad words about them. Yet, then out of the blue - one of those men made quite a rude comment among our streets regarding her. When she questioned him about it and why he would say such a thing, he didn't respond - and never apologized. The other of the men she then found out over the years, different ancestors, heard he too was insulting her and calling her such rude names behind her back. Yet, she had not once been mean to them, not said one bad thing about them. She used to laugh and joke and have fun with them - because she thought they were friends. The names their lineage like to go by are Goku and Toast.

My ancestors I'm sure have been called many things behind closed doors, but don't try to act like your side doesn't have a list of wrong doings any shorter than those who are in power now. You chose that you wanted to be shitty people. So how could anyone expect you to be any better? When most of you can't even apologize either. And yes, people actually do respect Spike. Far more than they respect many of you, how low many of you have become. How disappointing it is to see people my lineage once called friends have proved they really are just shitty people, don't worry - you guys aren't the only ones, just the story I felt like sharing from the diaries of my mothers.

The only person that may deserve an apology from me is a woman once named Melis, I think it is logical to say that we just aren't each other's cup of tea. Yet, even so - I learned that acting the way I did to her was not the way to go about things. So I stopped and actually, maybe one act of someone actually apologizing may start others. To the lineage of Melis, I do apologize for the rude things I have said about you. I am making this public because over the years my ancestors have disagreed mightily with you in our streets, so I will also apologize in our streets. It is sincere, and it does not need to be accepted, but it needed to be said.

Mr. Scousepole, in keeping with the theme of the conversation, let me please apologize to you for any offense. I will be sending you an envelope to express my apology. I was not intending to put words in your father’s mouth, as I would have no idea what he said obviously. I was only going by what Mr. Spike made us all aware of, which to me and anyone else appears to be a thinly veiled insult, otherwise why make what appears to be a private apology between two people public knowledge? If you believe it was not intended to paint your father in a subservient or cuckolded light, then perhaps it was me that misunderstood. But I doubt it. Either way, please pardon any offense on my part as that was not my intent

As to “ He always had a choice, so please do not make out like he didnt”, I’m afraid I’m not sure what I said that you are referring to, but I don’t believe anyone thought otherwise.

Epiphany heads to her accountant’s office to prepare her envelope

If you believe it was not intended to paint your father in a subservient or cuckolded light, then perhaps it was me that misunderstood.

Something interesting is brought up here by the apologetic luncheon, and I believe it warrants further investigation. Did Luncheon misunderstand? Or is there more to this than what meets the eye?

Tutte can you shed a light on this for us?

SMW had been reading the speech transcripts available on the street corner he had been begging for alms the last few hours. Some hot headed discussion was there to be read and he was rapt to see what had transpired so he gave up his prime begging spot and headed out to Soapbox Avenue.

As he saw Mr. klappstuhl hop down it, he decided to take his turn. His father had been a bum, shot in a dark alley while trying to close a drug deal but his grandfather had taught his grandson a great deal before he was shot. Only bad things had happened to him since, not even group therapy had been able to help him so far to succeed in this lifetime.

My grandfather’s favorite quote he kept repeating was ’you plant the acorn, you take care of it, coz if it falls down on your head, you’re dead’. As a child I always thought he was a nutjob, but since then I learnt it was his way of saying ’you reap what you sow’.

Reading many of the responses to Spike’s initial speech, I cannot help but think my grandfather would have oracled that wisdom to each of the salty upstarts who couldn’t hold a proper job. Mokus had often told me of his desire to live a quiet life, he knew from his recent ancestors Fluffy_Tummy and Al-Bundy that being a man of power was laborious and ungrateful. So, he decided to serve his godfather faithfully until the day the godfather died. He had made many profits for his leader, never questioned him, never involved himself in affairs that weren’t his to be involved in and never sought to raise his position above anything more than a dedicated member of the family. At one time he was even offered a promotion, but he declined it, knowing full well that others would be more motivated and would thrive at given an opportunity to grow the grand city of Las Vegas.

Alas for his boss, those people squandered the opportunity, secretly plotting no good and in the end the old godfather was faced with a decision to choose between his subordinates or his allies. He never wanted to make that choice, nor his allies, but his subordinates forced him into that position. 

This is one of the examples I like to give, showing how people given opportunities squandered them and simply were the architects of their own demises. 

Often times I read stories about unhappy endings of proud gangsters and higher ranked mobsters. They of course all have their own stories, perspectives and feelings but in general in the journals of FT, AL and Mokus I can derive 3 common themes:

1)    People died because they actively plotted to kill those with more power than them
2)    People died because they acted disrespectful, uncooperative or flat out lied to their CL or hands
3)    People died because they refused to take away concerns of those in power and nobody with enough street credentials vouched for their conduct

Looking at the last few months, indeed quite a few people have died before reaching the same maturity as they did last year. But one should not forget that this time a year ago, the average age of most gangster was far beyond that, growing even older by mid-summer last year. The allies governing the 6 cities, ancestors of most that were governing them until the recent renegade event were happily letting the average man toil in their daily activities, host contests, support an age of prosperity with many living past a century! But you might ask, why did that end, why is that no longer the case. Well for those who have read newspapers around June and July last year will remember. One of the old godfathers decided to return to the old country and removed the balance of this country. People long harboring special needs revealed themselves and within a week all godfathers governing the 5 remaining cities were gunned down by unknown and unexpected gunmen. Not in an attempt to take over, just purely out of spite. Furthermore, most cities also then saw factions rebel and kill the allies that their former city heads had worked with for almost a year. Why you might ask, well as I said each person, each crew leader had their own reasons.

Now fast forward this, when all the upstarts were taken out by the last gritty teeth of the governing coalition another period of prosperity was started. But soon the number of complaints, disrespect and random shooting down of respected gangster started. Often times by people who clearly held zero loyalties to the families they joined. Yet, with a startling frequency, all their offspring jumped on soapboxes across this country lamenting the lack of loyalty observed from leaders towards their own, can you believe it? Like if there is a general movement towards disloyalty to leaders, and they then shoot their own for being disloyal, often times proven, you expect them to do what? Do nothing?

My grandfather was not actively killing his own, with about 3 exceptions in his 100 days reign in Paradise. Yet you hailed him as the worst purger of this game, often times he was targeted by renegade gunmen and survived numerous attempts by unprepared assassins. Did he come to the streets to complain? Did he start to random kill many people he was unsure about, no he did not. Did he help his allies maintain order, kill those who actively sought to disrupt business while found with their pants down? Oh yes, he did! 

So, for those younglings, eyes sparkling with outrage and contempt for every person holding a keyring belonging to their base of operations, are you sure you got grounds for this behavior. Or are you, just plain fucking salty?

Finally, you are deciding that despite not being Spike's friend, far from it I'd say, that they no longer respect him. Like how on earth do you presume to know other people's opinions, do you believe you a psychic and know people's minds you never spoken to. Stop pretending to know stuff, if not we'll put you in the corner over there with the likes of the old crazy lady there.
 

Mister Salty_Most_wanted I asked for Tutte not you. Can we please make way for the saviour of today, the saviour of this dialectic exchange?

I honestly do not care what you asked for, you stepped on the box, and got off and left the place open. IF you wanted to hear only tutte, you should have picked him up and put him on the box to listen to him yapping. Again you reap what you sow!

Mister Salty_most_wanted at the end of the day we're both irrelevant thugs (or not even thugs). We don't have the right to distract the philosophical inquiry that's going on by saying so many words and taking up so much time.

Come. It's time to let the Bosses like Tutte speak.

Alas for his boss, those people squandered the opportunity, secretly plotting no good and in the end the old godfather was faced with a decision to choose between his subordinates or his allies. He never wanted to make that choice, nor his allies, but his subordinates forced him into that position. 

I would like to respond to this portion, nobody in Las Vegas was planning anything without the said Godfathers approval, infact, all said parties were more then loyal to their said Godfather and would have died for him. This Godfather being Petah, I would know as I was one of these said leaders apparently plotting against this regime.

People were killed in Las Vegas because they refused to shoot people they had vetted and told those in power were not any issue, even the said Godfather made inquiries about all of this the day before Paradies was leveled, a district that was not only tied to mine in Summerlin, but to Petah by extension.

Nothing more to say on that matter, just felt I should get some facts straight.. Oh wait.. there was something about Mokus sitting idle in his Godfather crew until everyone died.. hmm.