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| Street presence | Started by: Kangaroo on Aug 26, '08 11:23 |
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You see a man leap out of a tiny cottage labelled "The Mocha Syndicate" next to Iris' HQ, which reminds you of a palace. His moves are very similar to those of a certain marsupial and when you breathe in the summer air you can make out the slight smell of wet dog... Captain Kangaroo is accompanied by his RHM, Caligula, and a mafioso who gets down on all fours as soon as the Consigliere points at the ground. Kangaroo steps up on his back and looks at the curiously looking crowd. "Good day Ladies and Gentlemen! Recently we have heard a speech from some winged animal talking about the importance of street presence. According to him it is what separates the deserving from the undeserving. Now I have come today to ask you...what is street presence for a leader in your opinion? How do you define it? Is it publicly raising your opinion on everything? Is it giving others the opportunity to raise theirs? Is it only informing the masses about necessary things? Is it writing countless stories about someone's life or the homeland? Or is it generally entertaining the masses? Whatever you think it is, before you say it think about why a leader should do those things and add them to your comment. Why does a leader need to tell others what they think? Why do they need to inform others about anything? Why do they need to entertain the masses? In my opinion, a leader only has to inform people about events that affect other crews in some way. Of course, if they feel like it they can open debates, recount tales and so on but I do not think a leader is responsible for entertaining the masses. Are you bored? Do something about it yourself, do not whine about the leaders not being active enough in the streets. Of course, my role as a Captain to Don Iris places slightly different requirements on me anyway, thankfully. I have the feeling that I am quite alone with this opinion so I would like to hear some of yours. Feel free to speak up!" Captain Kangaroo steps down from the mafioso who gets up and rubs his back. "Thank you SnobRant you can go now..." |
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Marietta shuffles out of the bakery on Main Street, nibbling upon a warm scone that she had just purchased. Her green eyes sweep the road quickly, checking for traffic before she crosses the pavement. Heading towards the Ford parked alongside the road, she sees her driver Howard leaning casually against the car. "Ready to go, Miss Rossi?" he inclined his head towards the blond, opening the rear door to the vehicle and stepping aside so she could enter. I believe so, thank you Howard, she responds, a smile crossing her face. Placing her handbag on the seat she slowly begins to climb into the car, suddenly freezing at the sound of a voice. Pulling her head out of the car she turns, blinking, towards a small gathered crowd several feet away being addressed by Kangaroo, Captain to Don Iris' family. Oh, never mind, Howard. I think I'm going to go listen in on this rather quickly. Be right back! The man nodded his head again at the woman as she smoothed her jacket and walked the length of the street, her high heels clicking upon the road. At last she stopped at the back of the group, crossing her arms across her chest and staring at the Captain intently. She thought for a moment after he was finished speaking, staring at the poor mobster he was standing upon, before raising her hand awkwardly. Hello. May I comment? No one interjected to stop her, so with a smile Marietta cleared her throat with a small 'ahem' and took a deep breath. To be honest, and in my opinion- feel free to disagree, I don't think street presence can literally be 'defined'. You either have it, or you don't. Most of the time you're not even aware if you have it, either, as street presence is usually the public's way of recognizing your presence around The Streets. Some may think they have a wonderful street presence, only to find that the citizens of our Seven Cities think they do not, or do not appear enough. Really, it's not something you can manufacture, but rather something people identify you by or judge you upon. That being said, I think the phrase 'Street Presence' can be described or obtained through everything you said above, Sir. Granting others to voice their opinions by sparking a debate or delivering a speech, and in return responding to the ones that others have started themselves. Getting around, in a sense, and not in a one off sentence sort of way, but through sharing their opinions thoroughly and eloquently. Like I said before, street presence is something that other people 'grade' you on, if you will. The more you are involved with everything, the more likely that the general mobster population will bestow you with the title of 'great street speaker', or something of that nature. As far as family heads voicing their opinions and such in the Streets, I tend to slightly disagree with you. I believe at every opportunity a leader should step into the masses and shed a little insight into their life: whether that is through a debate, a story, a report about their family or just a general drunken rambling. Keep in mind that many new people join this lifestyle every day. They do not necessarily know the people in the Bold and Slanty suits, nor how they got to be at the top and stay where they are for so long. All they have to go off of are stories recounted by other Mafiosi and public appearances by said famous mobsters. Marietta glanced around, blinking several times at the other Mafiosi. Sorry, got a bit carried away, there. |
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| Reply by: Marietta at Aug 26, '08 11:46 | |
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I honestly don't think it's any leaders duty to talk about anything on the streets. Instead rather than implicating themselves they should send out a representative, why should the leaders leave themselves open to petty criminals questioning their actions? People expect this sort of thing to happen because that's the way it's been for a long time, but if you take a step back you'll realise it's not a logical move by any leader to do this type of thing. To come out and admit to certain crimes or open up debate with other mafiosi. People fear the streets will become stagnant if the leaders fail to do these things, but there are other ways to entertain the masses and with the coffee shops with what they are these days, people rarely miss a trick with regards to what's going on. |
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| Reply by: Messy at Aug 26, '08 11:56 | |
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Let us not get engrossed with terms such as deserving an undeserving. A street presence merely affords a leader the impression of being free from one particular item of criticism. They are in a sense more accepted than a mute. The real key however is being accepted by the "correct" people and since this demands a street presence then by all means develop one. At least pretend to have a strong one by using such tricks as posting infrequently but controversially so that people will remember. When all is said and done no amount of talking in public will make a leader stronger than his/her rivals. Prowess with a gun, influential friends and family size have significantly more bearing therein. Street presence by definition is a necessary evil all leaders are forced to endure. What used to be a pass time is quickly converted into a chore. Not posting enough? Complainers will sharpen their knives. Posting substandard quality threads born out of compulsion? Complainers will be outraged at such a transparent pretence. Posting incredible threads at every opportunity? Congratulations you win the game of life, except for the fact that jealous people will complain regardless. It is essentially a no win situation and that will never change. The nature of this place demands that those on top be chipped away at indefinitely by the bitter masses. I count as the bitter masses and will not pretend to be otherwise. To reiterate leaders cannot win no matter what they do, lest killing everyone and leading a lonely, stale existence. This transparent deception business I spoke of is well at work here. Sure the original poster cites some reasoning (see below) why he is not required to have a street presence yet by the very act of speaking now is trying to create one. I am not saying this is right or wrong but it is not exactly honest. Finally I have an issue with the whole "I am just a Captain" defence to excuse muteness to date. It sounds alarmingly like the sort of lines used in Nuremberg. It did not wash then and it does not wash now. Captain? Don,? semantics. |
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| Reply by: Yippee-ki-yay at Aug 26, '08 11:58 | |
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Famine drifted along past the cottage, noting the speaker, his Captain no less, and the two who accompanied him. "Street presence is forever linked with who you are. If you build a reputation as a skillful orator, with sound sense of reason and a healthy level of respect for tradition, then quite rightly people will listen and probably agree with what you say. For me it goes no further than that. There's nothing mythical or scientific about street speaking, it's about being a businessman, firm in what you know and sure of what you say to the masses, while retaining the logic to see a problem from beyond the angle of your own principles, if not actually compromising these principles in doing so. Without wishing to act as the catalyst for a long and vigorous love-in, I have always held FlyingPig to be an example of a good street speaker, because he is firm in his beliefs and not overly wordy in conveying their meaning. There's nothing I hate more than an elaborate speech that tells me nothing, for the sake of a flexible positon on the part of the speaker. It's easier to deal with certainties in life, even if they later turn out to be lies. It's the business we are in." |
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| Reply by: Famine at Aug 26, '08 11:59 | |
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A man with a large coat and hat down low comes out of a near by ally to address the people with his opinion I myself have always thought there are two types of people in this thing of ours... There are people who have some thing to say and there are people who have to say some thing, let me elaberate... People who have some thing to say are people who talk about valid topics that contain information that people would need/want to know about or they have good points and debates to make about current affairs. Which in turn even if these people do not talk as much when they do talk it is rememberd and contibuted to by our society. Now theres also the other type.. People who have to say somthing are the people who feel the need to get in everyones faces who walk the streets talking trash and are here for nothing more than to make a noise. Now these peoples topics usualy dont last the day in the streets and are forgoton about long before that and get very little contributions from the people even that is usualy to tell them to shut up. Now they may talk alot more than others but anything they say is usualy forgoton by the time you comit your next crime. I myself much prefer the earlyer of the two people I talked about. |
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| Reply by: Satan at Aug 26, '08 12:03 | |
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Ahh excuse me, i misread your question: Street presense can be many things, but I think being a familiar face on the streets and being someone who can talk with some kind of logic is someone who has a good street presense. Anyone can come to the street and talk, even the dumbest of criminals can come to the streets and talk utter nonsense every now and then but that isn't really street presense that's just coming out here because they feel it necessary to keep themselves alive. But as i stated earlier it shouldn't be expected of any leaders to have a street presense :) |
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| Reply by: Messy at Aug 26, '08 12:05 | |
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While some may say it should be required that a CL should have street presence, in my opinion it is simply what you do with it. As a CL people will talk about you regardless of what you do. They will speculate, they will spread rumors, etc. The CL's word on the street is a complete representation of themselves and their crew. Not participating in the streets enough forces people to speculate about you because they have no other access to information about you. This is how some crewleaders get whacked. If they don't participate they have no control over what the public thinks of them. However if you participate too much you're bound to make some mistakes and they will stick with you forever. |
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| Reply by: NoDice at Aug 26, '08 12:16 | |
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| I agree with NoDice on this one. In my opinion its about quality of your speeches and various appearances in the streets rather than quantity. If you are constantly filling our streets with trite witless speeches your presence is going to garner negative attention where as a relatively quiet person who's few words have lasting impact is going to be seen as a more desirable leader. | |
| Reply by: Strabo at Aug 26, '08 13:10 | |
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Richard listens to the speech Mr. Kangroo gives the crowd and then begins to hear the crowds responce. Then begins to speak for himself. I notice one of your questions is what is street presence for a leader in your opinion? To me this is what he stands for maybe if he post about that or where he came from which is always nice to here to give me a general Idea what I may need to do or just to hear a great tell from my leader or many of the other leaders. Another one of your questions was, Is it publicly raising your opinion on everything? No not everything just what you stand for or maybe what you don't stand for. Besides you worked your ways up the ranks and thats it. Is it giving others the opportunity to raise theirs? Sure you gave us our chance here and I gotta say its quite nice being able to hear something from you upper ranks. Is it only informing the masses about necessary things? If you just did this I could at least remember you as the crew leader that felt it necessary to let us know whats going on instead of locking us in the closet. Is it writing countless stories about someone's life or the homeland? This would be nice to hear. If a crew leader did this right here right now. That would be great imagine all the people that would read it imagine the publicity your crew members being able to go. Thats my crew leader right there, that why I like that guy. Or is it generally entertaining the masses? A crew leader that is entertaining now that would be the perfect crew leader. I mean after all who likes a prune? For entertaining it feels pretty good coming to the street and seeing your crew leader active. I guess maybe how it might feel to have one of your family members you like so well entertain the masses. Its nice to hear what they have to say what there opinion is if they mention you or whatever they might say It can be quite nice. Why does a leader need to tell others what they think? So they know what you stand for. Why do they need to inform others about anything? So they know whats going on. Why do they need to entertain the masses? So they grow to like or hate you. If its hate that your scared of then maybe thats why you don't do it or you feel that you cant entertain and are scared to be judged but to tell you the truth is quite easy. I don't know if this helps or even if I made since but I came out here and I tried. Thats alot more than other's can say. |
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| Reply by: RichardKuklinski at Aug 26, '08 13:57 | |
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I believe my latest piece sufficiently described my feelings on this topic. To sum them up in two sentences - When seeking a promotion or a greater status in affairs, something must separate the candidate from the others seeking the same position. Nothing else distinguishes one candidate from another as much as street presence. I am impressed with the views given so far. They are all insightful. Yippe-kay-yay, your views were also insightful, however I have a major disagreement with your closing statement. The difference between a Don and a Captain is far from semantics. They are about as similar as an apple and a banana. Why would you even say such a thing? One is the Boss of a family. The other is a member of that family who leads a subcrew. If anyone is confused by the difference between them, it can only be due to their own ignorance. Rather than trying to learn the functions and status of each, they allow similar-colored jackets to confuse them and wrongly define the positions of each, and conclude that they are essentially the same. Wrong. WRONG! Who are we going to let define the mobsters of our cities? Those who rely on the real status and functions of the mobsters? Or those inbred idiots who are confused by clothing? Sorry for getting off topic. |
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| Reply by: FlyingPig at Aug 26, '08 17:23 | |
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In my personal opinion although it is not neccesary for a crewleader to have street presence but it will certainly help them in the long run. Having a street presence can divert attention away from a mafiosos lesser qualities. Also there is a trend that if you are a better speaker then you are a better leader and although in many cases is not true it is perceptions which are important. The amount of street presence required merely comes down to a question of quantity over quality. One leader may decide to visit every speech taking place on the streets and say something rather quickly with little insight, this means they are showing their face to the crowd but this method isnt particuarly memorable and only works through mere bulk of appearances. On the other hand a crew leader may only decide to visit a select few speeches and deliver interesting responses. I personally prefer the second approach and if i see a crew leader visiting multiple speeches and often making very little sense then my respect for them will not rise but instead fall. |
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| Reply by: caspa at Aug 27, '08 01:27 | |
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I agree with caspas reply it's all about perception when you come to the streets really. Generally any family can run itself unless you are the biggest idiot going and even then I'm sure current families wouldn't allow that. So when a leader comes to the streets, if they show that they can get their points across well and from time to time make an example out of someone through talking out here then they will usually be seen as a good/strong leader. Steet presense is exactly what it says on the tin...Being present in the street. From setting up street parties to explaining why a leader has fallen...it doesn't really matter it's all steet presense, it all just depends whether you can present yourself well out here. |
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| Reply by: TesleR at Aug 27, '08 09:46 | |
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I would like to thank you all for taking the time to reply to my question. I am truly impressed with the effort you have made sharing your opinion on this one. It was really nice to see how some other people think about this. There is not much I can add here, everything that has been said has made sense to me and the disagreement I had was pointed out by FlyingPig already :) |
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| Reply by: Kangaroo at Aug 29, '08 15:33 | |
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I've always found this to be an interesting subject, so if I may, I'll share my opinion. I think street presence is overrated for several reasons. First, how many people really speak what they believe? Oftentimes people feel the need or are forced to tiptoe around their true beliefs, sometimes even agreeing for the sake of agreement, to impress or show unity. Therefore, there's always the question lingering in my mind: how much truth is to be found in what Person A is actually saying? Secondly, is someone more qualified to lead just because someone they can speak well? I won't say it isn't an asset, but it's my opinion, that it's not necessary. There have been great leaders in the past that weren't considered great speakers...Anita comes to mind. That being said, I'd rather put my trust in someone who shows the other qualifications needed for leading than one who relies on eloquence alone. Thirdly, what is there to be said that hasn't already been said? There's hardly a debate or idea that hasn't been touched upon at some point in history in this world of ours. I don't believe that means it shouldn't be said again, but again, I don't think it's necessary. Fourthly, a lot of people expect the leaders to hit the streets with speeches. Sure, it's nice to hear from our superiors. It helps us gauge where the other families stand. However, they weren't put into the positions they hold by a vote. They don't answer to us, nor should they. If you ever get a chance to lead a family/crew of your own someday, you'll see that it is quite the time consuming task. Plus, let's face it, this is the mafia, a business. This isn't a democracy and they're not obligated to do anything more than guide their families to prosperity. To sum it up, street presence, while nice, isn't necessary. It is a helpful tool for those that are new or unknown to get their feet wet, meet others, and allow them to share/debate their views. However, this does not entitle those that speak to anymore than that. That's my personal opinion. |
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| Reply by: Hitch at Aug 29, '08 18:29 | |
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*After being crushed by a Man/Kangaroo/poofter, He cracks his back and begins to speak.* Fat Bastard, Anyhoo. I agree with you 100% Sir Kangaroo. Any Leader should not feel it necessary to entertain the masses, At the end of the day all leaders top priorities should be their families, not street presence. This is for the masses who think leaders NEED to entertain the public, Who the fuck are you to demand your superiors to come out from there busy schedules to share a few words for your sake. If a leader needs to come to the streets He or She will whether it is for a wee chit chat or to inform the public of current state of affairs. |
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| Reply by: SnobRant at Aug 29, '08 19:04 | |
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*JohnnyThunder looks around* "You want street presence? Heres some F--king presence. " *JohnnyThunder rolls up his sleeve to show off a tattoo to a Thunder bolt across his arm* "Nice F--King work huh... " *JohnnyThunder makes a muscle and shakes his head walking away proudly* |
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| Reply by: JohnnyThunder at Aug 29, '08 22:04 | |
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