Kalebear looks at WhereWasI.

The "best" depends on the opinion of each person. Who you considered to be the best as a Crew leader may not be who I would say is the best. We all have different views otherwise we'd all be the same and boring. So just because the first people were up does not always make the best. For example, there are individuals I think would make excellent crew leaders and should do so but they are not. Instead others are in the bold suit.

"Never innovate, inspire or adapt. Never search for progress or change; things should stay as they are now because that is how they have always been and how they always should be."

If any of you were confronted with this statement in relation to some other aspect of your life, you would reject it out of hand. It is nonsense; and yet in our thing it is a mindset guarded with such zealousness that it may as well be considered a first commandment. The words 'status quo' are whispered in a fevered, reverent tone and I fear I will never understand why.

I will be the first to admit my elevation to this position was a little fortuitous, but I challenge anyone to legitimately question the hard work and dedication I have poured into this thing of ours. Now that I've 'arrived', would you honestly expect me to sit in my HQ and follow the rules, traditions and practices that I had no hand in creating? Pull the other one. No, I will use the opportunity I have to create a legacy, something that will outlast me; something my granchildren can point to and say 'Cantona did that.', and I'm sure the other Godfathers may echo similar sentiments.

The alternative, as I touched upon, is to simply plod. To plod along endlessly to the extent where you are such an empty suit that your bloodline meshes together as one homogenous gloop. 'Ah, you're from the Jones bloodline? Your dad Billy was a Leader eh? Or was it your uncle Thomas? You know what, your bloodline is so unerringly dull that I simply can't remember.'

IF I was going to define a group of people who are the weak link who davalue the bold suit then it would be these people. The folks whose bloodlines have been bold time and time again and yet have never created anything substantive in their lives, a shameful and undeserving use of the bold suit as far as I'm concerned. You'll notice I began with if, though. Why? Because I wouldn't accuse anyone of devaluing the bold suit because it's impossible to do. Sure. 'The meaning is gone!' makes for a lovely soundbite and wraps up a disingenuous argument into one handy snippet, but it's ultimately a nothing statement.

We could enact a rule tomorrow that said we'd have 10 CL's per district who would only serve for one month before being rotated and it wouldn't devalue the status of Leadership, because in a year's time when we're all dust the names of all those Leaders won't be remembered. My bloodline has seen many things from those in Leadership positions across it's time here. Leaders who shot at themselves daily. Leaders who trusted the wrong person and saw their entire crew HQ wacked. Leaders who utilised personal information for blackmail (I wish I was joking). Homophobic Leaders. Racist leaders. Sexist leaders. Leaders who were removed from their posts by City Hall for their failings. Leaders who were removed from their posts by other Leaders.

My point is, you can throw out the 'LEADERSHIP MEANS NOTHING' card in response to literally anything a Leader does. We could have thrown out some vague accusation of Lynch devaluing the meaning of leadership as a contributing factor to his death. His son could have retorted with exactly the same accusation in response to our actions. It is an empty, straw-man argument and it is cringeworthy and embarrassing to see intelligent people resort to it to voice their opposition to something they don't like.

Those are my opinions on this matter, I won't be going through and meticulously dissecting every quote to respond to simply because the responses are too large, and too numerous; and I feel I can't really make my position more clear.

One last thing I would like to say though, to Ziva:

"Oh, and Brendan? I'd kindly welcome you to NOT imply that the standards within my organization are low, in regards to the position of Made Man...What Ragnarok just made, is a generalization."

If someone makes a generalisation and then excepts themselves of that generalisation; then it stops being a generalisation by your very own definition.

Anarchy sits idly by in the back smoking a large Cuban cigar before he decides to stand, with a big smirk on his face.

I don't think we've devalued the bold suit at the least. At the end of the day with the elections or not atleast three of us would of went to Staten Island because of our hard work and dedication.

Now let me ask you this. Are you willingly to blindly follow someone your relatives know little or nothing about? Or would you join a Family that your relatives previously served and were close and loyal to the Families leader? Is that not what popularity is? I know my relatives were friends with Atrocities and Gambits and when they saw me they asked if I'd like to join the family they serve under and I said yes.

I am sure this goes for the same as everyone else. We choose relatives friends and experiences over "New" blood. 

That's my two cents into this subject anyway.

I am sure this goes for the same as everyone else. We choose relatives friends and experiences over "New" blood. 

Not everyone does. My bloodline joined a crew leader she didn't know anything about and it worked out well for her. I have also joined a crew leader my bloodline was not friends with when I joined Penquin.  Now the better way to say it is I would normally join someone that my bloodline is familiar with but not always.

Excuse me? I'm not entirely sure where in your cereal this morning it gave you the authority to tellanyone to stop talking, especially a 

CrewLeader

Um probably because you won it in a "I have more friends/know more people than you" competition? I'm not saying you don't work hard or your bloodlines haven't in the past but the way you got auth telkin, yeh a lot of people are gonna be more than a little skeptical not to mention the fact that we have to many auths and the big solution was to auth 7 more people in 24 hours? Is that a joke? 

Doesn't matter Telkin that's what this was again I'm not saying directly to you you're just the one on the streets most so you're getting it a lot. But exactly what skill did it take to win this? You can defend it all you want in the end you didn't get auth from your crew leader you entered a contest, and talked people into voting for you. Then to devalue your auth more you got it the same day as 6 other people in contests how is that of any merit?

If we're talking about jokes, Gambit, then at least it's one we can all be involved in. I seem to notice your own Leader has made an auth in Philadelphia despite currently only having 23 members. I'd assume it was lower still when The_Crow was authed, but I can't be sure.

Either way, stop talking as if your own organisation is not part of any problem you perceive there to be. It clearly is.

I believe The Loop authed another crew leader with one of their families at 20 members. I wasn't aware there was a prerequesite number of members to be held in a crew before authing another, or is this not the case Godfather Cantona? 

We put one person there so the npcs didn't come back Cantona. You put 5 in a district, yes you're right that's the exact same thing you got me. -_-

Oh okay only 4 auth's when we're underpopulated cause we easily have 80 extra people who just can't find a home. Plus the other 2 auths yesterday yeh 120 nfp we got that just lying around. 2 auth's in each district woulda been more than enough.

WhereWasI tips his hat to Telkin,

"I'll get around to responding to everything, but due to a hectic schedule I'd rather immediately address the person whose spoken to me with the most intelligence and spine now and the rest later. Despite the fact you're yet to prove yourself, I greatly disagree with your decision on the timing of putting up hands, and turning a blind eye to the fact this competition; I respect the fact you can have a logical conversation and angry countering viewpoints of this nature are how great things come to build and clash... and trust me I don't give out any form of compliment easily. But now we must go back to business."

First off I'd like to squash these obscene remarks and comments about the lack of organization, planning, etc etc on my end for not having hands yet. Last time I checked, and as I've stated elsewhere on these beloved streets, having a RH/Lh is NOT...I repeat, for the last time so please make sure the wax is out of your ears, is not required. It is completely my choice that I don't have any hands yet. Could I have bribed off some GodFathers to bring along some people with me? Sure I could have. Could I have convinced some of my friends to retire, duel, or get shot in hopes of dying to have their line come back with me? Undoubtedly. Clearly I did not choose either of those routes for reasons that well, quite frankly, aren't any of your concern or anyone's for that matter. As for not being able to handle the burdens of leadership without them? Pathetically laughable attempt at getting under my skin. I'm more than capable of managing without them for now, though I'd be lying if I said I intended on doing so forever.

"Long story short, we disagree on whether or not you should've brought hands. I think it's embarrassing and pathetic, but in this instance you've made a decision and stuck by it. You'll have to deal with people like myself criticizing you because we think it's a moronic decision, but at least you own up to what you do. I will say that seeing as you got this opportunity at the cost of another, it is the Godfather Council's business due to the fact they're also being judged on your actions, but their problems are none of your concern."

I might pause for a moment to ask...Excuse me? I'm not entirely sure where in your cereal this morning it gave you the authority to tell anyone to stop talking, especially a CrewLeader, but I seriously hope you didn't expect me to listen to that bit. I promised during my campaign I wasn't going to be one of those "used to be vocal" types who all of a sudden went quite because they took a seat at the big table. That wasn't a dry promise, and as clearly seen by you pulling up a chair, you called ME out. Don't call someone out and bring up points if you're not expecting a rebuttal, it's horrible debate etiquette.

"I'd tell you to look in the mirror when speaking of my audacity (or to my bloodlines comments to pretty much every Godfather in this thing of ours throughout its history), a RHM to an underboss of an established city carries a lot more weight than a Crew Leader position won in a popularity contest. I don't expect you to stay quiet, but I will laugh at you for wasting efforts speaking with someone in a developed system before developing one of your own and taking care of the bare essentials your family needs."

"Worried this much about others' opinions"? No, not quite so much. As for those questioning my "ability"? Well, I'm not concerned about them in the slightest. I know what I'm capable of, as did the people who gave me the nod to run, as did most of those who voted for me. The only thing to do now is prove it, which I intend to do thoroughly.

"Responding in the streets to signs of negativity for your situation IS caring about others' opinions. You might be capable now, but no man is an island and as stated before... the kinds of accidents that come from playing Atlas for a while are inexcusable because most of them could've easily been avoided. You can disagree, but that's an unnecessary risk you're taking and it's much easier to prove risk than prove there is no risk... but such a discussion would involve trade secrets so I'd rather keep both mine and yours HQ matters out of the streets."

To be one hundred percent blunt - I really don't give a rats ass about hardly anyone's opinion outside of my close group. The only thing I care about is rebuilding up my district alongside my wonderful colleagues. Already we've had people trying to stir the cauldron and draw bloodshed, these attempts were not only destined to fail off, but a pathetic attempt at creating discord where none exists. The fact that people honestly believe we're not going to work together....Well, I'm really at a loss of words for that one. I guess we'll be able to gloat in the future when we're all alive and prospering quite nicely?

"Again, nothing but speculation. Sorry but I only deal in proven facts and, historically, these experiments have always had at least a little bloodshed as the leaders first work together and realize one of them is an idiot, a backstabber, or just rubs people the wrong way and I'd be willing to bet at least one of you dies before six weeks is up."

As for your comment about the defacing value of CrewLeadership because ahhh what was it...Oh yes, as you said "it's given to the popular crowd rather than the hard working" For lack of a better response...

Telkin bursts out into uncontrollable laughter.

Oh, excuse me. Those damn beavers cursed me with insanity when they dragged me away last weekend. As for an actual rebuttal - this is horrible horrible reasoning, at least as far as I'm concerned. I don't like to bring bloodlines into the mix, but when ever in the past five and a half years has my line been what you'd call "popular"? Not only that, but when have I ever specifically (not my bloodline - ME) made an attempt to win over friends, allies, or buddies? The answer to that is and will always be never.

"I greatly disagree and think you're all undeserving little bastard conmen cashing in on a situation that never should've been offered to you. I agree you weren't popular in the past... but you just won a popularity contest. That's the world saying, 'Fuck it, we're running out of people with spines so anyone we used to hold back as tradition is now being allowed to overcome their situation,' or 'We love Telkin.' I'm glad you overcame it but this wasn't the way to do it..."

In fact I think you'll find many of the people who voted for me don't even like me, they just thought I'd do well in this position. Do NOT slander my hard work off because I won a popular vote. If you think for even the briefest of moments that I'm not one of the hardest working mobsters out here, post, pre, or during my Bold stint, then you sir are more insane than Prince Nigel, our horrendous beaver overlord.

"What hard work? I couldn't care less about your bloodline's work. What have YOU done? I'm sorry... but winning a popularity contest isn't proof of anything. Show me what you've done that's impressive. Until you have physical results proving your influence and skill as a REAL Crew Leader, I'm just gonna laugh at you as the child telling the world he's an adult."

WhereWasI tosses the OOC cure aside, pulls out a shot of heroin and injects it in between his toes.

"I love when people think I'm crazy. It makes it easier to pick out who's dumb enough to only attack the fact I pretend to be crazy and shoot up heroin from those able to see the point behind a statement."

WhereWasI walks into the local bakery, buys a strawberry short cake, and comes back out. He sees an old trash can, puts it in front of Telkin, tosses the cake in and lights it on fire.

"Strawberry Shortcake is only the beginning of your things I'd love to burn for being the weasel who took a competition gig with an undefined clause to reduce bloodshed."

Ah, so the man you authed was just to stop a gang run by City Hall from taking over the district? Well, that's a stunning vote of confidence for _The-Crow_ isn't it? Sorry old chap, you didn't earn your auth in any discernible way, you were authed because we literally needed a warm body in South Philly. A cringeworthy statement from a district head's number 2 as far as I'm concerned.

I can hold my head high and say that my Underboss in the West Side earned his position on merit; and that least for the Staten Island contest which I was part of and nothing more, that the leaders there had to do something to earn their position; a stark difference from the policy in the Old City District which, by your very own mouth, has made an auth based not on merit, or ingenuity or any kind of vision; but on the fact you literally had no alternative.

Bra-fucking-vo.

Yeah but Gambit, they had to still get permission from their leaders to even be considered for the contest. If their leaders would had said no, and they left or still made a bid, they would be disqualified or even killed.

Even with the traditional auth method the majority of us aren't privy to know what someone's qualifications are. So why people are questioning their qualifications when we do get to have a say, is odd. If you don't think people are qualified, don't vote for them. However, there were a lot of votes in the polls - I don't think people have hundreds of friends at their disposal. I can understand if we were having this conversation if hardly anyone voted and boycotted this altogether, and less than 100 people voted. But that wasn't the case at all.

At the end of the day, no one really knows whether someone is qualified to lead until they are in the drivers' seat, no matter what method it was that the person got their bold suit.

He was the best man for the job. But you give away 7 auth's and you feel you can judge anyone's merit Cantona? Please tell us you're brilliant thought process for the competitions so we can follow it when we do our auths? I've always respected you and your bloodline Cantona ironically enough you were my first descendants sponsor when I entered these shores. And I thought auth would be something valued a little more than that. The fact that you can say someone else didn't get auth in a discernible way after what your competition just did is hilarious and a slap in the face to anyone who has ever worked there asses off to wear that bold suit even for an hour. 

Blaise I agree with you 100% I'm not knocking their ability to lead at all as a matter of fact I have high hopes for all of em pretty much so why couldn't they just have been given their auth by their hard work straight up? There should have never been a contest a lot of these people should have just been allowed to set up then!

Do you know why I feel I can judge anyone's merits? Because I am a Godfather and you are a Made man. Because I lead a district and you do not. Because the announcement I made was with the unanimous backing of every other Godfather and the result of several meetings that stretched over days and lasted hours at a time.

The same is true for JackRyan; whilst he may have made the announcement, he did it with the backing of the Godfathers who have all agreed to this contest for Brooklyn. You say you have always respected me, well that's dandy, but you seem to be fundamentally misunderstanding what is going on here. I have always been a person for frank and open discussion; but there is a time when frank and open discussion stops and what replaces it is a Right Hand Man sarcastically questioning every single Godfather's decision making abilities.

You are wearing a suit that raises expectations of you. If you want to question the merits of these contests, that's fine. If you want to ask how decisions were made, that's fine too; but you are a right hand man and it is unacceptable to do so in such a childish, petulant and embarrassing manner.

I have listened to all that has spoken and I must say that if something good has come out from this "popularity contest" as some have called it is the revival of discussions in the streets. Prior to this contest street activity is mostly confined on new auth announcements, some stories but very few debates. Then comes Godfather Cantona's announcement of what was agreed by the council. Then suddenly the streets bursts back to activity. Each candidates trying to convince the public that they deserve to have their own crew and help rebuild New York. The people have already voted...those who were voted has already moved to New York. Let us now watch them prove that our votes are not gone to waste. Let us now watch how they rebuild a city back to its glory.