@Tyranexx Haha, not to worry, I'm not that easily offended, and if I would have been, trust me: you'd know...
And I agree with your sentiments. While the comments section underneath that article turned pretty sour pretty quick, the forum topic made about it stayed pretty decent all through, even though there were some differences in opinion. Just goes to show you how it can also go down...
@bimmy-lee Well, can't really comment on Angels in the States, obviously, and there are so many chapters of them in that one part of the world, that it's very hard for me to imagine that they're not still involved in drugs and weapons or hired hits, like many of their European chapters are. We had a whole court case going on about them and other motor cycle clubs, which are now by and large forbidden in many countries in Europe, because it was quite evident that up until last year, they had both feet in just about any type of crime that you could think of.
@Heavyarms55 Well, I did already mention El Chapo earlier, who apparently did a lot back in the day, for the people of the village where he was born, and in the region that this village was in, but again: all good deeds were funded by blood money, and this I imagine, will most definitely also be the case with the Yakuza, so which ever way you look at it, it's still wrong/criminal.
EDIT:
Of course there are exceptions, like the ones you mentioned, but I'd say that there's a distinct difference between those instances and inherently criminal actions and/or organizations. One is either self-defense or something similar, and the other is organized crime.
I think we could probably all potentially find ourselves in a situation were we'd had to take some kind of action, that might end up hurting or killing someone else, but that's still not inherently evil or with criminal intent.
And even if organizations start with good things in mind instead of criminal ones, they can still turn bad. Not a lot of people know this, but the Mafia's origins in late Middle Ages Italy was actually an attempt to create a private citizen's guard, and they actually did protect several cities, kind of like vigilantes and/or a private army (which, by the way, is also the origins of their paid "protection"), but in the centuries thereafter, they grew too big and got too powerful, and got ousted, which forced them underground, into the shadows, which ultimately led them to be the secretive, dark criminal organization that they are now, which in turn has created all kinds of satellite organizations and spin offs, some even worse than the original Mafia itself.
The only positive example of a private army stemming from these days, is probably the Knights Templar. They were simply too devout and religious to even for one second think about extorting people and/or government agencies. On the other hand: maybe they should have become criminal, because we all know what all their goodness got them in the end...
@BruceCM I think we can easily exchange "games" for any type of media that shows stuff that is too provocative or too far outside of the norm, according to any kind of suit and tie wearing stooge...
@ThanosReXXX Well the problem with private armies is that generally they aren't funded or controlled by the citizens, the only people who can organize things like that are wealthy powerful individuals with selfish agendas.
But there are cases of local militias doing things rather well.
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Yep, @ThanosReXXX .... At least to start with, the complaints weren't completely unreasonable & until it'd been studied, there was at least some sense Now it's been so well looked into & tested, anyone trying to claim such only proves they are, at best, ignorant But we all know why they're doing it these days, when there's clear interests involved
@ThanosReXXX - Well, consider me caught being myopic. I know a bit about the Angels, but it never once occurred to me that they’re international, but of course they are. That’s interesting, and I’ll read up on it. My town had an Outlaw situation in the early 00s, but the police responded with a pretty brazen “nope” and dealt with them in a very concentrated effort.
@ThanosReXXX Yeah, I'm sure Monsanto also does their charities, donations, and fundraisers out of the same "kindness of their hearts" as the Angels.... Let's face it, corporations and gangsters are more alike than they are different. They just have a stamp of legal approval and better means to hide their crimes, with better connections.
But to be specific, you said gangsters would never do such things. I was pointing out that they do, motivations notwithstanding.
As for the Templars, I'm not sure piety was too involoved...I mean the Roman Catholic Church ran a military and extorted the citizens and governments alike for almost a millennium. The Templars were just bad at it and had more specific goals than building gilded marble palaces....
@Heavyarms55 Yeah, different crime syndicates have different structures and objectives. Yakuza, Mafia, Triads especially aren't that black and white. There's a legitimate side to their organizations. "Legitimate businessman" isn't as tongue in cheek as it always sounds. Both are weird in that they're not entirely underground crime rings, they operate in plain sight in legitimate capacities, while hiding criminal activity. (Which sounds remarkably like a corporation, minus the marketing budget.)
The Latin cartels/gangs (Bloods, Crips, MS13, etc) are pure criminal though. They openly operate only out of pure hubris they're too powerful to get caught, but don't have a public legitimate side, it's all crime all the time, all tied to the trafficking business.
The bikers are more complicated. A lot of those got started as groupings of displaced Vietnam vets with no place in the world. They were rough, damaged, tough guys with no place to go and a "not welcome" sign hanging in enough places. So they banded together into a sort of brotherhood. Back in the 80's and prior they were a very gray area. Violent....outlaws....but also legit and a lot of guys just looking for something to be part of. They did good...they did some bad. It wasn't until the 90's or so they started joining up as lackeys for the Latin gangs. Today they're more or less subsidiaries, reporting to the Latin cartels, especially as the older 'Nam guys die off or lay low, and that brotherhood spirit kind of fades from it.
Welp, JLPT is paid for so I'll be MIA until December 2nd. Have a great holiday season everyone (if thanksgiving is your thing) and positive ki to you all!
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@Heavyarms55 Yes, there are. And as long as they stay small enough and concentrated enough, nothing will go wrong, for the most part. It's with growth of the organization that things can and often will go sideways, because growth begets influence, begets more power, and all of that in turn can address the weak spots in the human psyche, the little demon inside all (or most) of us...
Yeah, as in: personal agendas, and scoring easy points with the soccer moms and concerned dads...
@bimmy-lee Ah, no worries. I've caught plenty of former fellow countrymen to have that almost automatic kind of "we are the world" type of sentiment, only looking at how things go in their own backyard, and more or less assuming that things are largely the same in the rest of the world.
@NEStalgia Well, I'd say motivations are exactly what makes all the difference. If, as a criminal organization, you want to look good in public, or if you want to cause divisiveness between law enforcement agencies/the judicial instances and the general public, then you hold fake charity runs, and help people with whatever, even if you don't really want to. It's simply a means to an end, and ultimately, it's still highly despicable.
I simply refer back, once again, to El Chapo, and let's also drag Mr. Escobar into it. Both earned billions in the drug trade, and subsequently decided to either donate or invest part of that ill-begotten fortune into their local communities. Maybe in some respects indeed out of some horribly twisted/warped logic, even fooling themselves into believing that they were doing something good, but there simply isn't any other label for what it really is, and "good" certainly isn't one of them.
Same goes for the Yakuza. And obviously, they only ever remain helpful and friendly, as long as you either help them or keep quiet. Both El Chapo and Escobar were often able to stay in hiding and/or escape persecution, because the local people helped them, out of their misplaced loyalty to their drug lord benefactors...
And you should read up a bit more on the Knights Templar. They really were about as squeaky clean as a newborn babe. They truly were as pure and devout as you could possibly imagine. Sure, they slaughtered and massacred a hell of a lot of people in the name of Christianity, during their battles in the Crusades in the Holy Land, but other than that, they displayed only exemplary behavior.
And as people with any interest in them will also know, they were also very important in and to the world of international banking, actually having invented and fine-tuned a highly succesful international money transfer and registering system, upon which any and all modern day banking systems are still largely based.
Sadly, it was actually that monetary prowess and power, that ultimately proved to become their downfall, because several royal a*holes decided that they wanted this enormous worldwide cache of treasuries all for themselves, either to be able to swim in money Scrooge McDuck style, or to fund their own silly wars.
Talking about this, Joan of Arc actually also comes to mind. Another tool used by corrupt kings and emperors to get what they want, and once they had it, they had to get rid of the means that they used to acquire it. Enter the Inquisition...
Sadly enough, throughout all the ages, nothing much has changed, essentially, other than the fact that kings, emperors and presidents don't kill or prosecute opposing individuals anymore, except for in several notorious areas, but we've largely moved past it. But seeing as that already took around 500 years, we've still got quite a ways to go.
Although I'm not expecting any changes for the better anymore, so I'm gonna find me a couple of shiny stones and a golden glove and do me some finger snapping...
Yep, along with the various pro-gun people, @ThanosReXXX .... Which is most America, after all Anywhere else has a shooting & clamps down on those, everyone thinks it's a good idea
@ThanosReXXX "Well, I'd say motivations are exactly what makes all the difference. If, as a criminal organization, you want to look good in public, or if you want to cause divisiveness between law enforcement agencies/the judicial instances and the general public, then you hold fake charity runs, and help people with whatever, even if you don't really want to. It's simply a means to an end, and ultimately, it's still highly despicable."
I don't disagree. My point is that there is zero difference between the gangs and the corporations in that regard. And don't pretend corporations, particularly chemical, "food science", pharma, and even tech, don't murder as freely as the gangs...they do...they just have cover of law and plausible deniability. I think I'd take the pack of Angels over the people selling "half of Agent Orange" in little brown spray bottles....
El Chapo didn't need charity to try to buy public image to protect himself from law enforcement. He owned law enforcement and the government already. That ones a whole different story than the "gray area" organized membership based organizations. The cartels are a whole other thing than the Mafia/Yakuza etc. Why he did any of that, who can say. But PR was certainly useless for him. He had no legit organization face to save.
"And as people with any interest in them will also know, they were also very important in and to the world of international banking, actually having invented and fine-tuned a highly succesful international money transfer and registering system, upon which any and all modern day banking systems are still largely based."
Remind me to slaughter them extra-mercilessly next time I play Assassin's Creed...... (And yes I know that's an entirely fictional revision.)
Governments didn't move past prosecuting opposition, they just got more clever in how they do it by effectively removing such people from viability in society and/or assassination of character.
Except for LBJ. Anyone who opposed LBJ seemed to have a habit of accidentally getting shot in public places on camera. Completely coincidentally, of course. How clumsy of them. And a certain other set of political operators for whom all in-the-know associates had the unfortunate habit of boarding ill-maintained aircraft destined to crash. Terrible luck, that.
Yeah...things haven't changed as much as you like to believe.... It's just more sophisticated now. We've moved from gallows to clandestine "accidents." We've gotten better at hiding our duplicity, though, so, yay progress?
@BruceCM Yeah, absolutely true. But that is a VERY touchy subject, and best not discussed here. Besides, it isn't even allowed, so we better leave that particular topic alone.
@NEStalgia I covered all bases, concerning El Chapo. If he didn't need to do it to influence the media or law enforcement, then he did it, as I mentioned, out of some truly warped belief that he was actually doing something good for his local community, but nothing done with blood money is ever any good.
I'm going to leave large corporations out of it, though. For one because we completely agree there, and secondly because we were only talking about gangsters/mafia, so they're not relevant to the topic at hand.
And I actually already concluded that things haven't really changed all that much, seeing as we did indeed only manage to cover things up much better, or have found better ways of manipulating the masses, which is also why I mentioned that even this little step of "progress" took us almost 500 years. That's also why I don't have much hope for the betterment of humanity in general, and also why I mentioned me needing to go look for a real world version of that gauntlet.
Then again, if it actually did exist and I tried to use it, it would probably kill me, so perhaps we should just wish REALLY hard for that comet to hit us...
EDIT:
As for your comments on that banking system and the Templar's part in it: you misunderstood. It's actually modern society that has corrupted and abused this system. In and of itself it was completely transparent and highly successful, in a positive way, so only later societies have put those stains upon it, that you're apparently railing against.
@bimmy-lee So... I just watched the local evening news, and apparently, the storming of Area51 is still a thing, and several groups of people have now gathered in the surrounding area. I wonder how this is going to end...
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@NEStalgia
Want to ask about Mafia organization.
If you have read my description about my Chibi Mafia Imperio, do you think my description was make a sense enough for a Mafia group ?
I mean :
1. Do they live in a hideaway house ?
2. Do the mafia leader can run their dirty business somewhat like i found from Biker Mice from Mars villain ?
3. If one day they will get arrested, by what evidence they will be sentenced ?
4. Do you think my whole concept about my Chibi Mafia Imperio was very Amateur ?
@NintendoByNature Sounds very much like just another idiot, far as I'm concerned. If you click on an article that says "guide" or "walkthrough", you should be able to figure out exactly what you're gonna get. If that doesn't suit you, then don't click on it, simple. I sincerely hope that this person was ridiculed and/or disliked by all the rest of the commenters.
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@ThanosReXXX "For one because we completely agree there, and secondly because we were only talking about gangsters/mafia, so they're not relevant to the topic at hand."
Organized crime is organized crime....even if it's traded on the Nasdaq so your Templars can buy a piece of the action
@StableInvadeel But how will you charge it in your Amish village with no electricity or running water?
@Anti-Matter I think your description makes sense in the direction of a kids show with a cute mob-esque type situation. Nothing serious or actual mob related, but plays on the theme in a way that would be entertaining for kids...it makes sense in a "kids show take on innocent mob themed characters" sort of way, yes. It plays on stereotypes of the Italian Mafia in a kind of innocent way as kind of a kids parody.
I mean, no it couldn't come close to passing as an actual serious story... But I don't think that was your intention...that would have to be VERY "M" rated
As for the real deal, that's more complicated since a lot of that is based on stereotypes, which themselves are largely based on the 1920's through 1950's operations of the US branch of the Mafia, particularly during their heyday running "speakeasies" (illegal nightclubs serving, making, and transporting alcohol during alcohol prohibition.) The clothing in your art design is based on that mid-20th century stereotype, which is what most people picture when talking about the Mafia. The reality of today is their presence in the US is very very very diminished and they have nearly no power (back in their heyday they were actually doing business for the government watching for German spies during the war - and the government agreed to look the other way and not look too tough at their crimes while they were helping.)
In the 60's there was Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters union. All perfectly legitimate. Nothing mob related whatsoever.....nothing at all....
Today they have little influence here, but in Italy they're still a problem. A few year's back they had almost total control of Venice and the government really had a hard time cracking down. But it doesn't look like pinstripe suits and bowler hats anymore, of course. Half of the crime happens on the internet, not in the street. It's "modern" now.
Hideouts were never really "hideouts" - they were normal people living normal lives.....but happened to be criminals. The "hideouts" were either temporary staging areas to assemble for a larger crime, or were the speakeasies mentioned earlier. Known clubs that served as a gathering place for them, usually owned by the organization or it's leader. But that was died to the 1940s and prohibition. They may launder through restaurants, construction companies, warehouses, etc...various businesses they own or the leaders own, but they don't hang around eating pasta all day anymore.
Well, I do think Western governments generally find better ways to deal with people than killing civilians, @ThanosReXXX & @NEStalgia
Not so much for moral reasons as that it's usually more effective to use other methods Then, when they do have to, they are better at disguising it for the general public
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