Volume 2: Knocking on Heaven's Door Chapter 78: Reasons for leaning towards the White Robe Society
"I feel like I'm walking with you to a brothel, Stephen." In the night, Tommy and Stephen leaned against a lamppost on Greek Avenue in Stanford, like two idle young drunkards, holding two bottles of Pink Lady energy drinks in their hands.
This thing is actually a real alcohol product. The main ingredients are caffeine, taurine, guarana and wormwood alcohol. The packaging is pink, so it is nicknamed Miss Pink. Minors and college students can buy this so-called energy drink in supermarkets without any restrictions.
As for whether it is legal for energy drinks to contain alcohol and caffeine, it depends on who owns this product: Molson Coors Brewing Company, the largest brewing company in the United States and Canada.
Let me put it this way, when this beverage was produced and put on the market in 1980, parents of students complained that their children had developed alcoholism because of this product. But now, three years have passed, and this product still has no impact on normal sales. The main reason is that Molson Coors hired a large number of former senior government officials to serve as directors of its countless subsidiaries, and hired countless lobbying companies to conduct public relations.
Stanford University has regulations that prohibit students from drinking in public, but there is no regulation that prohibits drinking energy drinks, so many college students who can't get beer and want to drink while walking along the street will buy a Pink Lady. Although the alcohol content is a bit low, it is better than holding a can of juice drink and looking like an adult.
"That's our brothel." Stephen pointed to a two-story building with Roman-style doorposts and the words ZDB hanging on it not far away, and said with a smile, "ZDB, everyone is used to calling them Betty Society, the best sorority in Stanford, our VSA's fraternity organization. The difficulty of membership selection is much more complicated than for us boys. Height, hair color, eye color, ancestry, clothing, sexual experience, family background...Except for a few naturally ugly girls from the families of senior government officials, the rest are all qualified to participate in the Miss Universe pageant. Each of them can be noble in appearance and wild in heart. It is said that they will exchange skills in internal meetings. You know, that kind of skills."
Tommy Hawke was quite fascinated by Stephen
Although there are still sororities in 2022, unlike fraternities that rarely change their admission standards, sororities are more in line with the development of the times, first starting with aesthetic diversification and then the culture of ugliness. Of course, it may also be that the Asian fraternity Tommy was in at that time was ranked average in the school, and the quality of the sororities was mediocre, but the vast majority of sororities are unlikely to screen newcomers according to the standards Stephen mentioned at this time, otherwise they will be complained to the university by freshmen, and maybe a few big hats will be put on them, and the sorority will be closed down directly.
"As for the BDP, which is affiliated with the White Robe Society, it's also known as the Blonde Society. Its selection criteria are much worse than those of the Betty Society. It can only be regarded as the sorority with the most blondes at Stanford University." Stephen added with a smile when he saw Tommy's eyes becoming hot as he looked at the Betty Society's house.
Tommy looked away, looked at Stephen, and said with a smile, "Actually, I organized a freshman party just to attract the attention of the Order of the Phoenix or the White Robe Society. I wanted to join these two fraternities before I reported, but after I completed the report and learned more about them, I am more inclined to join the White Robe Society."
"Why? Do you want to wear the white robe of the KKK? Brother, you will lose the friendship of Prime Minister Maduf and all the black people in St. Vincent. Those bastards don't know how to treat black friends equally." Stephen showed an expression of disapproval when he heard Tommy's plan.
In his opinion, there is no doubt that Tommy Hawke will join VSA with him, firstly because of their friendship, and secondly because VSA is more open-minded and gentlemanly, while those idiots in the White Robe Society would like to carve the words "I am white" directly on their faces. Moreover, those bastards regard the executioners who invaded Vietnam, maintained the Vietnamese monarchy and hindered Vietnam's democratization as heroes, and raise funds for those bloody war criminals every year.
Tommy lowered his head, as if he was considering his words and how to explain to his good friend.
But this was a difficult question. He couldn't tell Stephen that he was from the year 2022 and that he discovered a billionaire named Ross Perot on the White Robe Society's fraternity alumni list.
In a sense, he was an American business idol whom Tommy admired very much. He had read that guy's autobiography in his previous life. Ross Perot had made a great success both in business and in politics.
When he was in politics, he ran for the US presidency in 1992 against Bush Sr. and Clinton. He emerged as a dark horse from the siege of the Democratic and Republican parties and won 18.9% of the votes, becoming the non-partisan figure with the highest vote share since the founding of the United States. Even though he failed in the election, from the day he lost until his death, Ross Perot was always the object of competition between the Republican and Democratic parties.
He was also a genius in the IT industry. After retiring from the Navy in 1957, he joined IBM and became IBM's West Coast sales champion within a year. He completed the annual personal sales target set for him by the company in just two weeks, which made IBM headquarters think that there was an error in the sales data submitted by the West Coast branch.
He left IBM in 1962 and founded EDS. EDS went public in 1968. In three days, the stock price of EDS rose from US$16 per share to US$165. He appeared on the cover of Fortune magazine and was called the fastest-growing and richest Texan by the magazine.
The internal network of Boston University, where Tommy studied in his previous life, was built and maintained by Ross Perot's EDS, including both hardware and software. EDS's clients were not only Boston University, but also many large companies, banks, and government agencies.
If Tommy really decides to start a business and designs a good software, he would rather submit his plan to Ross Perot's office rather than to other software tycoons in Silicon Valley. Ross Perot is a typical pragmatist, and Tommy also believes in pragmatism and holds the same view of the world, so it may be easier to communicate.
This guy has no factions or positions. As long as he thinks it can help me, he will use it. When he founded EDS in the 1960s, the United States was full of hostility towards China. Ross Perot also had a bad impression of China, but distributed the English version of Mao's Selected Works for free in the company and asked employees to study it seriously. When he was criticized by his opponents for possibly supporting China, Ross's reaction in an interview was:
"China's existence is indeed a threat to the United States, but this book is not. Instead, it is a tool for me to learn to think in another way. Those who criticize me have no idea what is happening in the world. They haven't even read this book. They just think they have found a reason to criticize me because the author is Chinese, thinking that they can give me a headache. But in fact, this trick has no effect on me. They can only wait helplessly to be completely eliminated by me who constantly absorbs nutrition and gradually evolves. The greatest pleasure of my business is to eliminate these low-level businessmen who lack vision and perspective for the United States."
Compared to IT tycoons like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Ross Perot's net worth may be far less, but the main reason is that the guy never wanted to waste his life on making money. What he always wanted to do from beginning to end was to change America, but changing America requires money, so he made some money by the way. In fact, he was once an angel investor of Jobs.
Moreover, in terms of influence among middle and lower class Americans, the two IT tycoons mentioned above are unconvincing compared to Ross Perot. Let's put it this way, write the names of these three people on a piece of paper and let Tommy's father and his co-workers identify them. 100% of those uneducated workers will recognize Ross Perot's name, and can also tell the other's legendary experience.
The lower-class Americans are, the more they desire heroes to exist in this world, and Ross Perot is a hero to many Americans.
In 1978, the Iranian government imprisoned two senior executives of EDS's Iranian branch on charges of bribing government officials and offered a sky-high bail of $12.75 million per person.
At that time, Iran had not yet undergone a revolution and had good relations with the United States. The United States meant that Ross Perot's company should pay for the bail. Anyway, the two men did bribe Iranian officials for the company's business. After the bail, the embassy could help send them back to the United States. This statement also represented the failure of negotiations through formal diplomatic channels. After Ross Perot was sure that the US government could not provide help, he finally chose to pay for it himself.
However, instead of paying bail to Iran, they hired retired U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel Arthur Simmons as commander, formed a rescue team of seven retired U.S. Special Forces elites, built an Iranian Ministry of Justice prison in Texas, USA, conducted combat simulations, formulated detailed combat plans, and prepared for armed rescue.
The real reason why Ross Perot was considered a hero by countless Americans was that he did not hide in the United States, but chose to follow the rescue team deep into Iran when the rescue team set out, just to rescue his two employees.
The result was naturally a happy ending for everyone. After going through untold hardships, the rescue team successfully rescued the two employees, and took them across the Iranian border to Türkiye. All employees of the Iranian EDS branches also evacuated Iran at the same time.
Afterwards, Ross Perot said in an interview, "I would not abandon my EDS companions no matter what, and I would not give a penny to those bastards who tried to blackmail me."
This made Ross Perot and his EDS famous overnight.
Every American hopes that his boss can be like Ross Perot and never abandon him, but this idea is nothing but a pipe dream, so they prefer Ross Perot who never gives up on his employees. American TV stations, newspapers, and novels have reported extensively on this rescue operation, and the film and television industry has been preparing to bring it to the screen in the past two years.
"Ross Perot, he is a member of the White Robe Society. I hope to have a chance to meet him during the fraternity's activities in the next four years and get an autographed photo with him as a gift for my father. My father regards him as an idol." Tommy pondered for a few seconds and finally gave a barely plausible reason.
It's normal for a boy from the lower class of a small town to admire the American hero praised by his parents. However, these words would probably make Stephen realize that he is different from himself. After all, a considerable number of upper-class people and politicians in the United States do not think that Ross Perot is a hero, but a hypocrite seeking fame. He does not want to spend money to pay the high bail. After all, it is cheaper to hire a mercenary to save people. That guy just seized the opportunity and successfully completed an image advertising for himself.
Sure enough, hearing Tommy's answer, Stephen sighed: "To be honest, sometimes I forget that you come from the country place of Warwick , and I forget the difference between you and me. You have relatives who put family first, while I only have relatives who are indifferent to family affection. Sons always want to be praised by their fathers, right?"
"Don't be too pessimistic. In case those guys from SSD don't choose me, you have to lend a hand and make sure I can join a fraternity, pick up girls, and drink." Tommy raised the bottle, clinked it with the other party and said with a smile.
Stephen took a sip and said with some disappointment, "I'm hoping those idiots will make you lose the election, but I don't think there's much hope. Especially when the idiot from the White Robe Society sees me and the VSA housing manager come to see you, as long as he didn't have his brain shot out while having sex with a girl, he should know to find more detailed information about you right away. Hey, whether it's the White Robe Society or the Phoenix Society, it won't affect the relationship between us two CSLS, right?"
"It's hard to say, brother." Tommy said with a straight face and a light tone.
Stephen was stunned and looked at Tommy. The next second, Tommy laughed and pointed in the direction of Betty Society: "Unless you are not going to introduce those girls to me because I joined the White Robe Society."
"Actually, I have a better introduction for you. I'm going to Los Angeles next month. Do you want to go with me? There's a cocktail party being held by a Hollywood production company. The financial company that helps me manage the money received two invitations from the other party. The other party hopes that I can take out some money to invest in a movie. It is said that there will be some young actresses who are very open-minded at the cocktail party." Stephen breathed a sigh of relief, and then said mysteriously to Tommy.
Tommy looked at Stephen, who was smiling brightly, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Hollywood is said to be very open, but your best choice is not to waste your time taking me out to see the world. Instead, you should bring your professional investment manager with you and let him deal with the other party for you. In order to attract investment, film companies can use any means. If you want to sleep with a female star, you don't have to go to that kind of cocktail party to chat up a female star."
Although women's equality has been called for for many years in the United States, in places like Hollywood, female stars are just male vassals and company resources. From Shirley Temple and Marilyn Monroe to today's famous Hollywood actresses, if you want to become a Hollywood movie star, you must first learn to become a Hollywood prostitute.
Even though Tommy lived in Warwick, he had seen all kinds of gossip about Hollywood actresses and various wealthy people or high-ranking officials in newspapers and on TV. In fact, a little analysis would show that it was just bullshit interactions or ordinary chats. The Italians and Jews in Hollywood simply treated all kinds of actresses as prostitutes and sent them to those people in exchange for benefits. Even Americans have become numb to this kind of thing. After all, they have seen gossip like the Kennedy brothers and Marilyn Monroe playing two kings and one queen. No matter how explosive other gossip is, it is nothing.
Respect for women? In Hollywood, where male chauvinism reigns supreme, actresses are synonymous with high-class call girls.
Stephen is young and rich. If a film company really regards him as a fat sheep and arranges for a few actresses to haunt him, this guy has some gentleman spirit and may impulsively take out some money to invest in a movie. However, the results are often not very good. Generally speaking, the money will be completely wasted.
It’s not that the movie has no chance of selling well, but if you are an outsider and have no intention of cultivating long-term cooperation in the film industry, the other party will naturally rip you off. After all, even if their own actresses are prostitutes, they can’t sleep with them for free.
The other party clearly invested your money in a hit film, but will lie to you and tell you that the money was invested in another money-losing work, and that you got nothing. If you want to get your money back, you can continue to invest and there is a better script ready to start filming, or simply write two movies when you attract investment from outsiders. In this way, even if one is a hit, the other is still a long way off. Do you want dividends? Just wait.
There are countless ways for Jews in Hollywood to defraud investors of their money.
That's why Tommy told Stephen not to waste his chance to accompany him to broaden his horizons, but to bring a professional investment manager with him and not to make blind promises after a few drinks.
Seeing Tommy's serious expression, Stephen nodded. "If you don't want to go, then I can only call my investment manager. Let's go, change the subject, take me to your dormitory, poor guy, bring out some real alcohol, I know you must have some in stock."
Tommy heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that the other party was willing to listen to his opinion. The two of them walked side by side towards Hope Apartment in the night.
