We livin now / No waitin on the next life / Gotta use up every moment worth to make this one right
Al Capone. Michael Jordan. Pizza. Hot Dogs. Cold.
Perhaps after those five, the most well known aspect of Chicago is corruption. Any poli sci 101 student can tell you that power breeds corruption. Where there is more power to be had, the corruption is heightened. Many a story line runs along these lines; "Law and Order" deals with a world where the cops usally get the robbers, even if not enough evidence is had to convict. This is a world where most often the criminals are evil, the cops are generally good, and the wheels of justice turn, if slowly. Generally, I am an optimist who actually is naive enough to believe that this is true, more often than not. Yet the most compelling stories come where things are slightly more complicated than that. The truth has always been stranger, and typically more interesting, than fiction. The memoir has the appeal it does because of the trust the reader places on the author that the story told therein is truth, perhaps with a few exaggerations, but truth of someone's life; this is why minor scandals break out when an author is found to have embellished quite a bit more than the read expected.
Thus, true tales of a crooked system, or at least where the system lends itself to be more complicated than just black and white, where the side of justice is Good and anyone fighting against it Evil. This is often even true in many comic books and related stories where the typical crime-fighting outfits are unable, unfit, or too corrupt to fight any given evil villain; the best and most compelling of these tales are those that go beyond the simple dichotomy, or subvert the typical truths. Kill Bill has a great monologue explaining how Superman has his true self as the superhero, and the alter ego is the put on of Clark Kent, that the real costume is not the blue, red, and yellow S across the chest, but the glasses and suit of the corny young journalist.
Growing up, I always found nonfiction to be more interesting. I have always been attracted to hard science fiction and turned off by it's more fantastical elements; going so far as to be nearly repulsed, or at the very least completely disinterested in, the worlds of Fantasy such as Lord Of The Rings or Harry Potter, to cite modern examples. No, I want something I can relate to, that is closer to my life, and yet still be compelling enough to find interesting, juicy, something to follow.
My dad once mentioned that he turned down 60 Minutes when asked to be on. I had completely forgot this little tidbit until I watched The Insider, and it got me thinking as to what had caused that initial request. What in the life of a Asst. State's Attorney, Lawyer in private (criminal) practice, Asst. to the IL Attorney General, then again in private practice (criminal, divorce, bankruptcy, the whole kit and caboodle, one cannot survive in a niche in Springfield), would cause such a thing? So I read up a bit.
And discovered the fascination that was the ultimate corruption in Chicago--Operation Greylord. A tale of lawyers, judges, clerks, and criminals in the lower courts; a realm unknown to the public, as it is unimportant to media and trivial when it comes to matters of Law. And yet, the abuse of the system, the fixing of trials, cases, and convictions, was astonishing. Dozens of lawyers, more than a dozen judges, even a Ward Org. Chairman(that holder of ultralocal power that is unique to Chicago). This is not the type of "victimless" corruption that is common, for a kickback, or contract agreed upon to a certain construction or trucking outfit that seems the en vogue corruption of today (see: License-For-Bribes Scandal, and others). This country is founded on the basis of a democratic society, a just society (yes, those on the far left will be quick to object, raise their points of objection in history and show how "evil" America has been, but those arguing that miss the point entirely) that relies on the wheels of justice to turn, even if purposefully slow. Those who reach around it and fix cases doom any chance for justice for those not lucky enough to hire a dirty attorney, or get assigned to a corrupt judge. After all, the key to politics is not who you are or even who you know, but who knows you ("We Don't Want Nobody Nobody Sent", as a famous Chicago story goes that lent itself as the title to a famous tome on Chicago politics).
Corruption in Chicago has nearly univerally been based upon patronage; the type of "neighborly", you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours type of deals done behind the scenes. With cases being assigned for literally decades to the same judges, the same lawyers trying the same trivial cases, the clerks handling and settling the same unimportant matters, the same cops arresting, detaining, charging the same criminals. familiarity was first bred. Then came comradery. And eventually it lead to fraternity, that old system of mutual favors. Favors eventually become setting cases at better times, then escalate in first legal grey territory, where they can become mishandling/misplacing evidence. These eventually work their way into bribes, when a favor becomes serious enough to demand payment in return. This system of patronage did not exist in the unions, blue-collar neigborhoods, and local parishes where others may have stereotypically taken place. Instead, it took place in lawyer bars (which my dad certainly frequented, a bit too much, in the 80s), drinking late into the night, in restaurants not trendy and fashionable but of the Old Order, the handful of steakhouses that cling to life that The Rat Pack knew. That is the charicatured image.
I would say something along the lines of "Oh, Chicago", and yes all politics are local, but corruption is worldwide. Which is why I think it somewhat ridiculous when the silent majority, if you will, are turned off by politics because it's dirty, corrupt, or money is somehow more important now than ever (the numbers are bigger, but that's about it). I think those that are completely disenchanted, those nihilists are really idealists who expect too much from government. But that's just me.
Perhaps after those five, the most well known aspect of Chicago is corruption. Any poli sci 101 student can tell you that power breeds corruption. Where there is more power to be had, the corruption is heightened. Many a story line runs along these lines; "Law and Order" deals with a world where the cops usally get the robbers, even if not enough evidence is had to convict. This is a world where most often the criminals are evil, the cops are generally good, and the wheels of justice turn, if slowly. Generally, I am an optimist who actually is naive enough to believe that this is true, more often than not. Yet the most compelling stories come where things are slightly more complicated than that. The truth has always been stranger, and typically more interesting, than fiction. The memoir has the appeal it does because of the trust the reader places on the author that the story told therein is truth, perhaps with a few exaggerations, but truth of someone's life; this is why minor scandals break out when an author is found to have embellished quite a bit more than the read expected.
Thus, true tales of a crooked system, or at least where the system lends itself to be more complicated than just black and white, where the side of justice is Good and anyone fighting against it Evil. This is often even true in many comic books and related stories where the typical crime-fighting outfits are unable, unfit, or too corrupt to fight any given evil villain; the best and most compelling of these tales are those that go beyond the simple dichotomy, or subvert the typical truths. Kill Bill has a great monologue explaining how Superman has his true self as the superhero, and the alter ego is the put on of Clark Kent, that the real costume is not the blue, red, and yellow S across the chest, but the glasses and suit of the corny young journalist.
Growing up, I always found nonfiction to be more interesting. I have always been attracted to hard science fiction and turned off by it's more fantastical elements; going so far as to be nearly repulsed, or at the very least completely disinterested in, the worlds of Fantasy such as Lord Of The Rings or Harry Potter, to cite modern examples. No, I want something I can relate to, that is closer to my life, and yet still be compelling enough to find interesting, juicy, something to follow.
My dad once mentioned that he turned down 60 Minutes when asked to be on. I had completely forgot this little tidbit until I watched The Insider, and it got me thinking as to what had caused that initial request. What in the life of a Asst. State's Attorney, Lawyer in private (criminal) practice, Asst. to the IL Attorney General, then again in private practice (criminal, divorce, bankruptcy, the whole kit and caboodle, one cannot survive in a niche in Springfield), would cause such a thing? So I read up a bit.
And discovered the fascination that was the ultimate corruption in Chicago--Operation Greylord. A tale of lawyers, judges, clerks, and criminals in the lower courts; a realm unknown to the public, as it is unimportant to media and trivial when it comes to matters of Law. And yet, the abuse of the system, the fixing of trials, cases, and convictions, was astonishing. Dozens of lawyers, more than a dozen judges, even a Ward Org. Chairman(that holder of ultralocal power that is unique to Chicago). This is not the type of "victimless" corruption that is common, for a kickback, or contract agreed upon to a certain construction or trucking outfit that seems the en vogue corruption of today (see: License-For-Bribes Scandal, and others). This country is founded on the basis of a democratic society, a just society (yes, those on the far left will be quick to object, raise their points of objection in history and show how "evil" America has been, but those arguing that miss the point entirely) that relies on the wheels of justice to turn, even if purposefully slow. Those who reach around it and fix cases doom any chance for justice for those not lucky enough to hire a dirty attorney, or get assigned to a corrupt judge. After all, the key to politics is not who you are or even who you know, but who knows you ("We Don't Want Nobody Nobody Sent", as a famous Chicago story goes that lent itself as the title to a famous tome on Chicago politics).
Corruption in Chicago has nearly univerally been based upon patronage; the type of "neighborly", you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours type of deals done behind the scenes. With cases being assigned for literally decades to the same judges, the same lawyers trying the same trivial cases, the clerks handling and settling the same unimportant matters, the same cops arresting, detaining, charging the same criminals. familiarity was first bred. Then came comradery. And eventually it lead to fraternity, that old system of mutual favors. Favors eventually become setting cases at better times, then escalate in first legal grey territory, where they can become mishandling/misplacing evidence. These eventually work their way into bribes, when a favor becomes serious enough to demand payment in return. This system of patronage did not exist in the unions, blue-collar neigborhoods, and local parishes where others may have stereotypically taken place. Instead, it took place in lawyer bars (which my dad certainly frequented, a bit too much, in the 80s), drinking late into the night, in restaurants not trendy and fashionable but of the Old Order, the handful of steakhouses that cling to life that The Rat Pack knew. That is the charicatured image.
I would say something along the lines of "Oh, Chicago", and yes all politics are local, but corruption is worldwide. Which is why I think it somewhat ridiculous when the silent majority, if you will, are turned off by politics because it's dirty, corrupt, or money is somehow more important now than ever (the numbers are bigger, but that's about it). I think those that are completely disenchanted, those nihilists are really idealists who expect too much from government. But that's just me.