Approaching the streets GodFather Premeir climbs on top of a near by car and motions for the crowd to gather around.

Hello Ladies and Gents,

Being Godfather I have a lot of free time on my hands, to play poker, drink, smoke cigars, hunt with Thomas, and more importantly to think.

What have I been thinking about? Well first, I like to remember where I came from, and what my family line has done. I also like to remember how things used to be, so when people come and complain i can laugh in their face.

I was going through old newspaper clippings at the library, and this is what i found, that caught my interest.

http://mafiareturns.com/comm/thread/21762

The reason it caught my eye, Jonnie_Reese aka The Monster aka The Hero aka Oh Shit. Some of you know the story, Jonnie along with his brave friends WilliamWashTub, Deano took out a horrible gross tyrancy of some random people. 

Now if you read along with me, you will see some of the important facts i want to bring up

"First up let me address the situation about References . There was a unanimous vote taken that we should from this point on do away with the referencing system. Lets face it, it didn't work. Its done with, over.
This was for many different reasons which we won't go into here but it does lead on to our second decision. From this day forward EVERY leader shall be wholly responsible for the governing of his own city. We the leaders will come together on important issues affecting the worldly affairs only. Other than that we will try our best to stay out of each others business. We all deserve to be here, we all worked hard to achieve this opportunity. And so it is that we will all work as hard to ensure that our own cities are governed properly. "

In that speech, Jonnie did away with 3 references to become a made man, he also stated that each leader will be responsible for his city, before That one group made all the decsions regarding the cities, no one governed their own people.  How has that changed from today?  You no longer need references its based on your leaders choice, we have 4 Godfathers and 2 Godmothers all in charge of their own cities making all the calls themselves. 

People fought and died to give everyone here this lifestyle you all know now.

So now things are much better then they were, but yet people find new things to cry and moan about. New groups such as "Project Freedom" (lol)  Try to cause waves.

People come in the streets and talk about how rank means nothing because everyone is such high ranked, and because this and that.

Yet 4 of the current godfathers were active particpates in getting our lifestyle back on track, to the life you know today.  So their rank means nothing at all I guess.  People need to step aside and look at the big picture of everything, you say given a rank, I say earned. Have some people be given a rank? Im sure they have, but everyone in a leadership postion currently in my eyes has earned their rank.

Even more so, all the work we put in for you to enjoy your comfy life style as  a mobster, is taken for granted because you think you are intitled to it now.

One of the biggest things i believe is, your city is your city. If you want to member whore, good for you, if you want to tax great make your money.  Unless it directly has an impact on LA or myself, that's none of my concern.  Shouldn't be anyone's concern except that city.

We make our past and we mold the future.  Myself, Thomas, Marietta, Auroa, Sidious and DeathKnight, are all Godmothers and fathers of our own cities. 

Main thing i want people to take away from this, 90% of people have not put in work like most of us have, but can judge just the same.  If you want to change something, cowboy up and do it, we welcome the test.  Remember where you came from.

Nice speech Godfather, more than one good point was raised in it. Everyone who holds a position now and most in the past have earned it through hard work, and being stronger than the people who would see him/her killed off and replaced. For example my father for better or worse, with other crew leaders attempted to change how things were run. During the war that followed he was killed and most of his crew with him. I hold no ill will towards his killers, we are in a cut throat business. He wanted to change something so he stepped up and tried to, he wasn't strong enough and was killed.

Eacellent speech Godfather Premier.

I agree that all Godfathers or Godmothers should concern only about there own city or anything that has to do with them.

I fail to see the correlation between the old times you refer to and now, but that's besides the point.

People always moan. They moaned before CP were in charge, they moaned when CP were in charge, they moaned when Reese and Animal were in charge, they moaned when Iris and Daera were in charge, they moaned when it was just Marietta in charge, and they still moan to this day with the current batch of leaders.

I understand the point you're trying to get across and it's not that I necessarily disagree, but, for right or wrong, the masses don't really care how they arrived in a certain situation...just that they're in it. However, I also sometimes think that street discussions, with lots of valid input, valid arguments and counter-arguments are misconstrued as whinging or moaning. Often it's not, often it is exactly what it appears, discussion.

It's understandable that people, particularly leaders, can get defensive about this but at the end of the day, as you say, if people want to change something, they can always try. The fact is though, sometimes people don't want to change something themselves, but they might like to discuss it.

You're right that those in charge now have earnt their right to be there, you don't get to the very top without sufficiently earning it of course.

I agree with Boaby that getting to the very top like the Godfathers and Godmothers have today without fighting their way and hardwork would be impossible. I completely conquer that people will always moan. My bloodline always teeter totters back and forth depending on the reason they came to this country. Recently my bloodline have realized just do hardwork, put their two bits in and try their best to get to a higher role.

I don't think that people so much as mind as having new leaders. CP ruled for almost six months I believe and then Animal, Reese and Apathy took the world back. Then Animal was dethroned by a pot shot from the Striphe bloodline and left it to Alessia, Iris and Skulls for the most part. Then people got sick of Iris and Daera. After the major war that launched Marietta into her reign on Detroit everyone was happy for the most part. That's just a gist of the situation.

I think everyone is fine with who leads but they just like to see a different group of leaders every now and then. Mafiosi nowa days are growing faster and stronger these days unlike the past. It's change in itself. I personally don't mind how the cities are being ran. Every city I fly to I'm welcomed with open arms and I have a caring family. There's not much I can say other than if people want a change they need to take matters into their hands not just bitch about it.

As nobody living was alive during the time you're referencing, I'm a little baffled as to how you deem this the defining period that led us to where we are now. Unless you're saying we haven't improved or evolved at all in well over a year, which I disagree with, I think more recent events are responsible for where we are now. I would say therefore, we probably came from the fall out between Iris, Daera, Marietta, Branston, Caligula, Mont etc.

Anyway, historical irrelevancies aside, it is a common misconception that the only way to change things is to shoot your way to glory. Firstly, it is an extremely difficult thing to do; assuming everything works as it should, and otherwise I suppose just about any idiot could do it. Secondly, the smart play is to encourage change without a mass loss of life, which would be bad for business. As you say the current setup allows for maximum ranking and thus maximum profit. Therefore encouraging a change that limits the loss of life would be a far superior option.

As my learned associate BoabyWanKenobi points out, a lot of so called 'moaning' is actually intelligent discussion. Not everyone who speaks is unhappy with their lot in life. Some people do moan, but others persuade. My own discussion with the Godfather of New York in the OOC has led to a mass change in policy on recruitment. As you mentioned, people fight and die for policy changes, but that doesn't mean it is the only way.

Obviously the link between hard work and success is long proven, which makes your chosen newspaper clipping, the most potent example in our long history of hard work being undone by pure chance, a surprising choice.

~T~

You say nobody was alive during the time, true, simple fact.
But have you considered ancestors of the now existing Godfathers and Mothers were alive?
People could have been inspired by the goals set back then, perhaps by the occasional discussion that bring policy changes?

I wouldn't directly call moaning an intelligent discussion, especially in the mafia moaning isn't something smart at all.
I quote godfather Premier;

Main thing i want people to take away from this, 90% of people have not put in work like most of us have, but can judge just the same. If you want to change something, cowboy up and do it, we welcome the test. Remember where you came from.

Complaining/Moaning in the streets isn't cowboying up to something, bringing something up to discussion is another thing.

The way things are now is refreshing, like Godfather Premier states no longer is everything discussed with other city heads.
So neither should member whoring be a public discussion, it's a call made by the city leader.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. None of us were alive. The ancestors of those in question are just that, ancestors. Long since deceased ancestors in most cases as well. Comparison between then and now is frankly pointless - we have such intervening history, that it makes any direct link impossible to prove. I referenced the point I think we can reasonably extend back to and even then it gets hazy.

(The point I'm trying to make is that in reality you would be wiping out years and years of history. Whilst to us this is only 15 months, think how long ago that would be in relative terms. What's the average account length? 1 month? 2? Then what is the average life of a human being? How much inspiration do you take from your great great great x 10 grandparent? To pretend a direct link would exist between their actions and your own would be laughable and even if such a link should exist what relevance would it have in a much changed world? Think on the extremely different situation we have between then and now, forget the people, the entire world has changed.)

I'm actually in agreement that we should remember how we got here and it was doubtlessly through hard work and endeavor. I also think that people do forget that and assume it was handed to those in power on a plate; I just don't think we should backdate this period of remembrance so much further than our own lives that it becomes irrelevant.

Moving on, I'll have to quote myself;

As my learned associate BoabyWanKenobi points out, a lot of so called 'moaning' is actually intelligent discussion. Not everyone who speaks is unhappy with their lot in life. Some people do moan, but others persuade.

I wouldn't directly call moaning an intelligent discussion either, in fact I didn't. I said that a lot of so called 'moaning' is actually intelligent discussion. When you're on top it is easier to tar everything that doesn't 100% agree with you as moaning, lest you have to consider the points people are making.

I also didn't suggest that complaining/moaning/discussing or anything of that sort was 'cowboying up to something'. I treated that as 'to shoot your way to glory'. I was merely demonstrating that the gun isn't the only way to change things.

I do agree with you regarding the autonomy of the various cities. I think it better allows for growth and prosperity of the various organizations.

I've never refuted the fact that a city leader gets to make the rules of their city, nor would I. I treat this as one of the fundamental principles of power and thus the Mafia. I would however be dismayed if we took things, other than private business, off the table as discussions for the public. I don't see the harm in discussing these aspects, as the leader still ultimately can turn around and say 'no' and this say is the important one.

I'm not sure if that was all aimed specifically at me, but there we go.

~T~

The point I was trying to make is that it doesn't matter if people were alive during the time the news article or not.
The message in the article says it all.

(Indeed accountlenght, with a few exceptions is a lot shorter than humars lenght I think the mafia is one who is pretty steady when it comes to traditions and rules. I am pretty sure some things haven't changed the slightest since the existance of the Mafia, I think like the bible, Omerta isn't written to often. Just as the mafia it often goes from father to son, so even though you "might" not have been here your father was.. Argumenting that it's not relevant time wise is true but how else would you suggest we refer to history? This game, including the .org version is now roughly 8 years old.. I started playing it 7 years ago meaning since my mother and my grandmother and her mother died I shouldn't even be here, I shouldn't anyway RP wise since I am female and have no business here. We can take this to any lenght that at one point nobody can refer to anything their fathers or mothers did. Which actually sounds interesting as an idea on it's own.. You die.. You just become a new player, unknown to the world who can never make a referall to the old days since you weren't there.. It sounds like a challgenge but with IRC around and nicknames that keep getting used that will not be possible. Tallien, Premier, Scipita. We're all guilty of that.)

Regarding the moaning, I was in agreement with you on that one, my only point was one that moans would not survive long. An intelligent discussion on the other hand would open new doors.

As ever,

ScipitaRourke