3 ms·

No snark intended below: I'm genuinely curious what the difference is according to you. From where I'm standing I sometimes struggle to see the difference bet

by beAbU 3y ago

No snark intended below: I'm genuinely curious what the difference is according to you. From where I'm standing I sometimes struggle to see the difference between my government and a mafia. They behave in uncanny similar ways.

mannykannot 3y ago
At the scale seen in Palermo (though not only Palermo, by any means) it is effectively a government (and this point is an element of the article), but without a constitution (unless you count "submit to violence" as one) and sustained economically by extortion, corruption, and drug- and human-trafficking. Lest this seems smug, let me say that, with SCOTUS struggling to find anything wrong in the events of January 6 2021, I am not feeling at all smug.
- psunavy03 3y ago
  > with SCOTUS struggling to find anything wrong in the events of January 6 2021 Might want to work on your reading comprehension there.
xandrius 3y ago
It is not impossible for a government to act as a mafia (see Russia). But I believe it's impossible for a mafia to be a functional government, they are just built on different grounds. For me a functional government has the wellbeing of its citizens as a mission. There might be different opinions on how that would look like (hence democracy) but the idea is that; once the government is unchangeable and only cares about maximising the profits of its cadre then it starts becoming more and more like a mafia, just a legalised one.
- rufus_foreman 3y ago
  >> It is not impossible for a government to act as a mafia (see Russia) I'm reading the Black Book of Communism and that's my exact impression of the Bolsheviks. From Goodfellas: "If we wanted something we just took it. If anyone complained twice they got hit so bad, believe me, they never complained again". That was the Bolsheviks circa 1920.

3 ms·

No snark intended below: I'm genuinely curious what the difference is according to you. From where I'm standing I sometimes struggle to see the difference bet

by beAbU 3y ago

mannykannot 3y ago
At the scale seen in Palermo (though not only Palermo, by any means) it is effectively a government (and this point is an element of the article), but without a constitution (unless you count "submit to violence" as one) and sustained economically by extortion, corruption, and drug- and human-trafficking. Lest this seems smug, let me say that, with SCOTUS struggling to find anything wrong in the events of January 6 2021, I am not feeling at all smug.
- psunavy03 3y ago
  > with SCOTUS struggling to find anything wrong in the events of January 6 2021 Might want to work on your reading comprehension there.
xandrius 3y ago
It is not impossible for a government to act as a mafia (see Russia). But I believe it's impossible for a mafia to be a functional government, they are just built on different grounds. For me a functional government has the wellbeing of its citizens as a mission. There might be different opinions on how that would look like (hence democracy) but the idea is that; once the government is unchangeable and only cares about maximising the profits of its cadre then it starts becoming more and more like a mafia, just a legalised one.
- rufus_foreman 3y ago
  >> It is not impossible for a government to act as a mafia (see Russia) I'm reading the Black Book of Communism and that's my exact impression of the Bolsheviks. From Goodfellas: "If we wanted something we just took it. If anyone complained twice they got hit so bad, believe me, they never complained again". That was the Bolsheviks circa 1920.