Capitalism and Tullip Mania.

Lately when I see things like Profesional Sports, Fashion and Entertainment I cant help but think how absurd it is that we value these things so highly. I think it is bizarre when I read about NBA players arguing with team owners about how many millions their basketball skills are worth. I think its insane when you see the cost of dresses that are worn by actors and singers to 'red carpets' and 'premieres'. Dresses that will be worn once.

It doesnt seem to make any sense to me that there is such value in things that are of no geniune value to society.I know its great to have sports to follow,music to enjoy, movies to watch and all that but wouldnt people do all these things for less money?

In Australia when I was a kid most pro athletes actually had a job.(guess it was semi pro) It would have been unthinkable to reward a footballer such princely sums of money just for playing a game of footy once a week. These guys were not motivated by money. They enjoyed what they were doing.

I was thinking that since people like basketball and there is a demand for it why doesnt it benifit us all. What if NBA players were paid a more modest realistic wage.What the state owned the teams and the games were all played in stadiums owned by the state. It would generate alot of revenue for the public. Instead of making millionares and billionares richer we would be enriching the lives of us all. I think it would give me more incentive to support something if I knew it was giving back. I dont know much about the NFL team the Greenbay Packers but I heard they are publicly owned. Sounds like they are on the right track.

I think pro-sports is a kind of micrcosmos. It seems to expliot its supporters to the great benifit of just a few. Why werent the NBA owners and players trying to lower ticket prices for their loyal fans? Improving stadiums? If things are so good they are squabbling over their millions and billions you might think giving back to the fans on the difference would have been the right outcome.

It seems that society has developed in a way that encourages us to celebrate unbridled greed and selfishness. The epicentre of this unbridled greed seems to be sports and entertainment, I have a theory that pro athletes salaries were allowed to blow out as a means to raise salaries of the CEOs of the world. Both have skyrocketed since the 80s. If you allow Shaq to sign a $100 million dollar contract to play basketball it is alot easier to justify a similar salary for the GM that is running the team. These entertainers draw the focus away from the company directors and their million dollar bonuses and pay outs. Its harder to call them psychotic when they have made psychotic the norm. If the 80s was the time of greed then what do you call what we have now? Is there even a word for it?

It reminds me of Tullip Mania. If you havent heard about it there was a Tullip craze in the 1600s --

At the peak of tulip mania, in February 1637, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman

.

To me it seems like almost everything is tullips. But arent pro-atheletes and singers and actors the real tullips? Arent these people that contribute so little yet reap so much from us the ones to blame for the state of the world? I think they are. They take so much yet they have about as much value as a tullip. A skilled craftsman adds more to the world than Shaq.

These spectacular and highly sought-after tulip bulbs would grow flowers with vivid colors, lines, and flames on the petals, as a result, it is now understood, of being infected with a tulip-specific virus known as the "Tulip breaking virus", a type of mosaic virus

Its funny to me that the most valuable tullips were actually infected with a virus. People at the time didnt know. Seems somehow metaphoric Shaq was an infected tullip.

Anyway,I guess that opening thread has a bit of a socialist slant.Thats where I am at right now. But whatever your ideology surley we have to reign it in on these people. -I am all for putting focus on the 1% but I think we should direct our attention to the tullips first. I think its these tullips that will cause a sudden collapse. Not our skilled craftsmen.

MTV Cribs is seems more and more psychotic by the day.Talk about a bunch of infected tullips.

I will Give you the Simplest and most Truthful Answer I can.........We as humans get bored easily and when we get bored we start to feel as though our lives have little meaning, thats why some people work as much as they do. By keeping busy and doing things we enjoy we keep away the feelings of worthlessness.

That is the reason

Roman leaders created the gladiatorial events and other entertainment to keep the populace happy and prevent revolutions in the face of the systemic corruption and endless wars.

I see today's sport as something very much akin to this. In Australia, it's almost a national crime to complain about sports people being treated like superstars. The last time I made a comment in a pub about disliking sport being given so much attention and accolades, I nearly started a bar brawl.

reply to post by Kryties


Yeah,I think we go overboard on the sports in Australia for sure. You have some balls saying that in a pub

Originally posted by theovermensch
reply to post by Kryties

 

Yeah,I think we go overboard on the sports in Australia for sure. You have some balls saying that in a pub

Blame the beer lol. Damn alcohol gets the tongue wagging and all of a sudden I'm confronted by a pub full of angry tradies.

Needless to say, I ran my ass off

reply to post by Kryties


Ha! I guess its the same all over. The UK with soccer. The US with NFL.

Glad you didnt get glassed