The Truth About Playing Poker For a Living

[pokergripes]

What a stupid thing to post. The character you're quoting from As Good as it Gets is hardly a role model, while Ayn Rand was actually a good philosopher and great writer. Her books are studied in classes all over the country, and if correctly understood (that is, without a bunch of whining about how "cruel" or "heartless" she was), they have a ton to teach people about how the world actually works. But dopes like you would rather crack a one liner quote from a character in a movie who was put up on the screen as an example of how not to live one's life. You deserve your lot in the world my friend [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[pokergripes]

Yeah, when I hear people start to talk about how much other people are, or are not, "contributing" to "society", it makes me want to put my hand on my wallet so they don't lift it next.

It takes a lot of nerve for a bunch of monkeys sitting around a table to tell the other monkeys that they're not contributing enough to the good of monkeys in general. It's not anyone's responsibility to "contribute" to the good of other people--that's called "charity", and while there's nothing wrong with doing it if you're so inclined and it makes you happy, it is not an "obligation" by any means, and the people who try to convince others that they have such obligations to the collective are typically trying to sell you something, or gain advantage for themselves through the leverage they get out of making you feel guilty for no good reason, or both.

Luckily for us all, everyone benefits from each individual person looking out for himself and the people he personally cares about, and a by-product of that self-interested way of living is a better civilization for everyone that results.

Just look around you at this last, best hope for mankind that you're a part of (or "city on a hill", to quote the greatest president of the 20th century), and then ask anyone who has tried to live under another type of system for any length of time how they feel about those alternatives (other than the "good of the people" thugs at the top of those alternative systems with their boots on the necks of everyone else, that is).

And before anyone starts chiming in about particular other systems, keep in mind that the Canadians get all their national security free from us, and send their acute care medical emergencies to hospitals in buffalo to avoid the months of waiting time for operations in their "good of the people" nirvana [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[savage_here]

[ QUOTE ]
You deserve your lot in the world my friend

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks, I like my lot in the world. And, with a clean crotch, all the better.

Savage

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks, I like my lot in the world. And, with a clean crotch, all the better.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey--anything worth doing's worth doing with a clean crotch.

I understood your original point.

Btw, one thing I've always thought was funny about Rand was peoples' reaction to her.

I mean, if the point of Objectivism is identifying your realm, and understanding the nature of the world around you (political, natural, societal, whatever), doesn't it seem ironic that those who hate her want to shout it from the mountaintop (like a sermon where she's mystically Evil), and those who love her want to prostheletize (like she's somehow greater than the sum of her parts)?

It seems no one is able to simply accept what is (a woman wrote some books of debatable quality and content, and the books had some ideas of debatable value)--they want to make it personal.

Enjoy your clean crotch.

(Ok, let me rephrase that last part...)

[benfranklin]

[ QUOTE ]

Enjoy your clean crotch.

(Ok, let me rephrase that last part...)

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like many a dog I've known [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[invictus]

What about Ayn Rand do you find so distasteful? Specifics please. I find that most of the time when I hear her slammed it is by people who have never read her work, or have serious mis-understandings about her philosophy. Anyways, I'd be curious to know SPECIFICALLY what you find objectionable.

[hotdog da 2rd]

[ QUOTE ]
But, to generously paraphrase Jack Nicholson in "As Good As It Gets", people who quote Ayn Rand should have to shampoo my crotch.


[/ QUOTE ]

you going to prison anytime soon? i can recommend a couple people.

[benfranklin]

[ QUOTE ]
What about Ayn Rand do you find so distasteful? Specifics please. I find that most of the time when I hear her slammed it is by people who have never read her work, or have serious mis-understandings about her philosophy.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that the bigger issue here gets back to the original topic of this thread. In the previous thread, Gamblor said, or implied, that people who play poker for a living are a drain on society. The point of this thread, in my humble opinion, is that you are defined by how you live, not by what you do to earn a living (assuming your career is legal and by your standards, ethical).

The side track regarding Rand shows similar confusion. An idea is neither good nor bad just because Ayn Rand said it. It is appropriate to quote Ayn Rand on an idea if she said it first, and you learned it from her and agree with it; or if you arrived at the same conclusion, and you like the way she expresses the idea.

It is inappropriate, and intellectually lazy, to say that something is correct simply because Ayn Rand said it. It is equally intellectually lazy to dismiss an idea simply because Ayn Rand, or anyone else, said it.

Philosophical concepts, like crotch shampooing, must be judged on their own merits.

[Benman]

For capitalism to work it must be backed up by the rule of law, which is a very important system.

[tek]

[ QUOTE ]
Professional poker players produce nothing of value, so they are not a factor in this discussion. And yes, in a perfect place, it is not anyone's 'business' how one earns their money, but we're not there and never will be.. the sentiment that 'it's not me that's wrong, it's society' is a wonderful catch-all justification.

[/ QUOTE ]

With your logic, poker players do produce entertainment in the same way that pro sports does. Otherwise their would not be a WPT.