khaddy

khaddy t1_irhltyo wrote

I meant mafia / organized crime as a group of (mostly men) who would use their strength, numbers, and organization (in the form of attacks on other people trying to live peacefully)... And furthermore that their growing power gave them confidence to increase their activities until they controlled a local area. Whether the "good" powers around them are a King, or a local government, the villagers nearby live by the rules that king or govt established, until the "mafia" gained enough power to undermine those rules and terrorize the people. Only those people who do what the mafia wants are left alone (pay protection money, or give up their harvest and women), others get attacked.

I suppose it's a stretch and I'm playing with words here but at its core, might makes right, and struggles for power are as old as time itself, and when the violent bands got big enough to undermine society, something had to be done with them.

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khaddy t1_irg7s26 wrote

This feudal class sounds like any modern day mafia or organized crime syndicate. How strange to think that despite all our progress, not much has actually changed in many parts of the world.

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