Just a thought I was having today...I work for a pretty successful company, meaning that they rake in a decent amount of cash. But it's not like we make anything that really has an impact on people's lives. We make this database management type software that's used by other companies to, well, manage their data. It's dull and pretty unimportant in the sense that people's lives aren't exactly improved by what we do.

Since we do so well working conditions here are pretty decent...our offices are new and clean and modern. We have lots of meeting where we get free lunches. To someone living in the third world this place would probably seem like a paradise. So I was thinking...do we really have our priorities straight in this part of the world? What I mean is that cancer researchers and doctors work in crummy conditions. Hospitals never have enough money to keep their facilities in good shape...they area always old and falling apart. Same thing for universities, where people are making our lives better by creating new knowledge. Artists are usually starving and improverished. Yet my company which does not do anything that makes any difference in the world in living in luxury.

I'm not a communist or anything. But when you look at this situation objectively, it just doesn't make any sense. Think about if an alien landed here and you were giving them a tour of the place. You would say "this sleek, modern, clean building is where a bunch of people sit around and don't do anything useful" and then you'd say "this decrepid old building is where people are reaserching ways to cure life-threatening diseases". Does that make any sense?

brainless goons who have the ability to knock a guy out with one punch make 10 mill per fight. Guys with overactive Pituitary Glands who can put a ball in a hoop make 20 million a year. Talentless skanks like Brittney Spears make tens of millions a year.

Meanwhile teachers, who are molding the next generation struggle to make ends meet. Firemen who put themselves in harms way to save others struggle to make ends meet. Doctors who cure the sick make a fraction of their true worth.

This country and in fact most of this world has its priorities so far up its ass it can't see daylight.

what are pituitary glands?

brainless goons who have the ability to knock a guy out with one punch make 10 mill per fight. Guys with overactive Pituitary Glands who can put a ball in a hoop make 20 million a year. Talentless skanks like Brittney Spears make tens of millions a year.

Meanwhile teachers, who are molding the next generation struggle to make ends meet. Firemen who put themselves in harms way to save others struggle to make ends meet. Doctors who cure the sick make a fraction of their true worth.

This country and in fact most of this world has its priorities so far up its ass it can't see daylight.

i have never heard of a fireman tring to make ends meet, they seem to have a good ****ing job if you ask me. but i could be wrong.

what are pituitary glands?

the 2 marble like objects you feel when your finger is up your ass, thats them.

in fact i feel them now.

brainless goons who have the ability to knock a guy out with one punch make 10 mill per fight. Guys with overactive Pituitary Glands who can put a ball in a hoop make 20 million a year. Talentless skanks like Brittney Spears make tens of millions a year.

Meanwhile teachers, who are molding the next generation struggle to make ends meet. Firemen who put themselves in harms way to save others struggle to make ends meet. Doctors who cure the sick make a fraction of their true worth.

This country and in fact most of this world has its priorities so far up its ass it can't see daylight.

I agree with what your saying, though the thing is that people are always going to idolize people who are especially gifted, like athletes and certain entertainers (the fact the Britney rakes in so much cash is a crime, like you said, but there are other people who are genuinely talented). Obviously athletes and actors make ridiculous amounts of cash, way more than they deserve, but I can understand to a certain extent because they are special people in a way. We don't like to say that because we like to pretend that everyone is the same, but the fact is that these people can do things that the rest of us can't. I'm thinking more of athletes here, since I don't really care much for anything that Hollywood produces these days. But when I see Peyton Manning or Donovan McNabb make an amazing pass or when Floyd Mayweather dodges a guy's punches like he's Neo from the Matrix I have to say that I am genuinely amazed. People are going to pay good money to be this impressed, and that's not going to change.

Obviously my earlier complains apply to what you're saying as well, though. Atheletes live in palaces and work in multi-billion dollar facilties while teachers work in crumbling old schools. It's a disgrace. I feel even worse here though because these people here aren't gifted or unique at all...we're just a bunch of drones clacking away at keyboards so some guys at the top can make millions.

the 2 marble like objects you feel when your finger is up your ass, thats them.

in fact i feel them now.

what exactly are they for?(function)
im trying to find mine now

no we dont
i love watching every sport,
but it pisses me off when some atletes
get greedy, this ****ers are pulling 9 mil
a year by doing what we do for fun,
and they get paid for it, yet they complain they
dont get paid enough!!!!!
while other people are struggling to survive
in other places,
liek Sprewel he said " i need to support my family"
what kind of bull**** is that???
Cops and Firefighters who risk their lives dont make ****,
soldier's families are starving, teachers who shape the new generations dont make ****, people who try to cure cancer dont have enough money for their reseach.
my mother hes cancer, we dont got enough money to pay
for the threatment she gets, there is a doctor who has been seeing her for free, he has been giving her treatments for free,
and no offence i think he is way more important to this planet then any Atlethe, in the world. yet he doesnt make in one year what some dude hitting a ball witha stick makes in one game

what are pituitary glands?

They produce Growth Hormone which makes makes basketball players real big.

Don't get me wrong. I love boxing and almost all sports for that matter. But you'd have to be blind not to recognize the ****ed up priority of giving a kid staight out of highschool 80 million bucks for putting a ball threw a hoop. or throwing a ball 100 miles an hour or being able to sing a song that speaks to the lowest common denominators in our society.

Meanwhile many kids are "learning" with books that are 20 years old. And most of the best teachers leave the profession because they can't support their family on a teacher's salary.

i have never heard of a fireman tring to make ends meet, they seem to have a good ****ing job if you ask me. but i could be wrong.



Not really, that is why I am an ex-fireman. It is a low paying job when you consider how many hours you put in. The department I was on for instance paid us the same as the other city employees who work a 160 hour month. We worked 9 or 10 24hr shifts per month, depending on your rotation. So for equal pay you can mow the parks and fix potholes 160 hours a month or put your ass on the line for 216 or 240 hours a month.

They produce Growth Hormone which makes makes basketball players real big.

Don't get me wrong. I love boxing and almost all sports for that matter. But you'd have to be blind not to recognize the ****ed up priority of giving a kid staight out of highschool 80 million bucks for putting a ball threw a hoop. or throwing a ball 100 miles an hour or being able to sing a song that speaks to the lowest common denominators in our society.

Meanwhile many kids are "learning" with books that are 20 years old. And most of the best teachers leave the profession because they can't support their family on a teacher's salary.

Agreed. Worst thing is that it teaches kids that it's better to try and be an athlete or a singer than it is to sit down and get an education. And who can blame them for thinking this way? A one in a million shot at making millions sure seems a lot better than stuggling against all the odds to make it through school, make enough money to afford to go to college, and then have the luck to find a job afterwards that pays you something approaching a living wage.

Just a thought I was having today...I work for a pretty successful company, meaning that they rake in a decent amount of cash. But it's not like we make anything that really has an impact on people's lives. We make this database management type software that's used by other companies to, well, manage their data. It's dull and pretty unimportant in the sense that people's lives aren't exactly improved by what we do.

Since we do so well working conditions here are pretty decent...our offices are new and clean and modern. We have lots of meeting where we get free lunches. To someone living in the third world this place would probably seem like a paradise. So I was thinking...do we really have our priorities straight in this part of the world? What I mean is that cancer researchers and doctors work in crummy conditions. Hospitals never have enough money to keep their facilities in good shape...they area always old and falling apart. Same thing for universities, where people are making our lives better by creating new knowledge. Artists are usually starving and improverished. Yet my company which does not do anything that makes any difference in the world in living in luxury.

I'm not a communist or anything. But when you look at this situation objectively, it just doesn't make any sense. Think about if an alien landed here and you were giving them a tour of the place. You would say "this sleek, modern, clean building is where a bunch of people sit around and don't do anything useful" and then you'd say "this decrepid old building is where people are reaserching ways to cure life-threatening diseases". Does that make any sense?
I agree with you 100% man, It doesn't seem to make any sense
It also doesn't make sense that we have 50 companies working on how to give old men an erection, When they could be putting money towards cancer and aids research. I don't know where people get their logic from, but some of the stuff that goes on here is just messed up.

The reason is because the focus of early Western societies, which is what lets face it the world is modeled after, became about wealth. Not life.

It used to be that the leaders of a tribe or village were the wealthy ones. Because the wealth was entrusted to them because it was decided they could best use it. Somewhere along the way, it became that people became leaders because of their wealth. Human greed allowed these unsavory folks to gain power, promises of material rewards kept people from opposing them.

Somewhere along the way Human beings became concerned about this concept called money, which is a completely human construction that only exists because we decided to create it. Money became what gave you power. Not your merits as a human being, your intelligence, your physical strength or your ability to provide, but merely your monetary wealth.

Because survival is not an everyday struggle for us anymore (Lets face it, we are not in constant danger of an attack from another tribe, wooly mammoths or sabertooth tigers) our priorities have shifted to making everyday life more comfortable. To do so, one must gather monetary wealth and indeed hoard it.

Lets put it this way. If Aliens were to attack or the social order of the world collapsed.....would anyone give a **** about money anymore? The wealthiest person would be the one most able to survive, or enable others to survive.

If the world lived in a more feudal society (but an enlightened one) I believe humanity would be better served.

BTW, has anyone seen the movie 'I Heart Huckabees' that touches on much of what is discussed here.

The reason is because the focus of early Western societies, which is what lets face it the world is modeled after, became about wealth. Not life.

It used to be that the leaders of a tribe or village were the wealthy ones. Because the wealth was entrusted to them because it was decided they could best use it. Somewhere along the way, it became that people became leaders because of their wealth. Human greed allowed these unsavory folks to gain power, promises of material rewards kept people from opposing them.

Somewhere along the way Human beings became concerned about this concept called money, which is a completely human construction that only exists because we decided to create it. Money became what gave you power. Not your merits as a human being, your intelligence, your physical strength or your ability to provide, but merely your monetary wealth.

Because survival is not an everyday struggle for us anymore (Lets face it, we are not in constant danger of an attack from another tribe, wooly mammoths or sabertooth tigers) our priorities have shifted to making everyday life more comfortable. To do so, one must gather monetary wealth and indeed hoard it.

Lets put it this way. If Aliens were to attack or the social order of the world collapsed.....would anyone give a **** about money anymore? The wealthiest person would be the one most able to survive, or enable others to survive.

The problem is that leaders first became leaders because they demonstrated some sort of unique ability. Sometimes that was just that they were the biggest *******, but other times it was because they were genuinely enlightened people, as least in some respects. The problem is what to do after this person dies. Say someone becomes King of an area because they were an especially gifted political and social leader. What usually happened after they died was that this leadership position was passed on to their sons or daughters. The problem with that is that it is extremely rare for one of these kids to possess the same abilities as their mother or father. If there is an especially weak leader, others around them will see that there is an opportunity to seize power from them. What happens is that this leadership position becomes nothing more than a shell with which to yield absolute power, so it attracts tyrants and dictators.

Democracy is one attempt to address this problem. Instead of hereditary positions we have elected ones, and the people are supposed to be wise enough to pick their own leaders. Unfortunately democracy as it exists now is full of flaws.

My biggest concern is that as members of the so-called First World we should be setting an example for the rest of the developing world to follow. I have no problem with the idea of pursuing an existence that is more comfortable than that of our grandparents, for instance. The problem is that people see comfort as the selfish accumulation of possessions, not as the pursuit of common goals of safety, community, health and the development of arts, among other englightened goals. We have all the advantages here and all it does it make people selfish and greedy. Pretty sad.

The problem is that leaders first became leaders because they demonstrated some sort of unique ability. Sometimes that was just that they were the biggest *******, but other times it was because they were genuinely enlightened people, as least in some respects. The problem is what to do after this person dies. Say someone becomes King of an area because they were an especially gifted political and social leader. What usually happened after they died was that this leadership position was passed on to their sons or daughters. The problem with that is that it is extremely rare for one of these kids to possess the same abilities as their mother or father. If there is an especially weak leader, others around them will see that there is an opportunity to seize power from them. What happens is that this leadership position becomes nothing more than a shell with which to yield absolute power, so it attracts tyrants and dictators.

Democracy is one attempt to address this problem. Instead of hereditary positions we have elected ones, and the people are supposed to be wise enough to pick their own leaders. Unfortunately democracy as it exists now is full of flaws.

My biggest concern is that as members of the so-called First World we should be setting an example for the rest of the developing world to follow. I have no problem with the idea of pursuing an existence that is more comfortable than that of our grandparents, for instance. The problem is that people see comfort as the selfish accumulation of possessions, not as the pursuit of common goals of safety, community, health and the development of arts, among other englightened goals. We have all the advantages here and all it does it make people selfish and greedy. Pretty sad.

The trouble is, you get one stupid leader and he will **** everything up. A truly enlightened leader will chose who he thinks is the best person for the job. A leader motivated by any factor other than survival of those he leads will choose the one who will further his agenda as his successor. Oh and the Church has also had a hand in creating the ****ty leaders that Western society has had. A big hand.

All of the flaws in democracy have been caused by the human construct of money.

Really, the only thing that will change any of this is some apocalyptic event which causes our focus to change to surviving instead of comfort.

The trouble is, you get one stupid leader and he will **** everything up. A truly enlightened leader will chose who he thinks is the best person for the job. A leader motivated by any factor other than survival of those he leads will choose the one who will further his agenda as his successor. Oh and the Church has also had a hand in creating the ****ty leaders that Western society has had. A big hand.

All of the flaws in democracy have been caused by the human construct of money.

Really, the only thing that will change any of this is some apocalyptic event which causes our focus to change to surviving instead of comfort.

Even if some leader is truly enlightened, it's almost always impossible to find a successor that's equally wise. You'll never get a continous string of great people to lead a society. Early on governments created counsels and committees so that many people could provide their input. The problem is that ANY government position is a position of power, and so greedy and selfish people will hijack it for their own purposes. We haven't created a system yet that will stop this. Our current democracies are hijacked by people that take orders from special interest groups fronting global corporations. It's a complicated system, but that's how this sort of greed words...it finds its way to power no matter what.

Even if some leader is truly enlightened, it's almost always impossible to find a successor that's equally wise. You'll never get a continous string of great people to lead a society. Early on governments created counsels and committees so that many people could provide their input. The problem is that ANY government position is a position of power, and so greedy and selfish people will hijack it for their own purposes. We haven't created a system yet that will stop this. Our current democracies are hijacked by people that take orders from special interest groups fronting global corporations. It's a complicated system, but that's how this sort of greed words...it finds its way to power no matter what.

Even a stupid man who puts his people's needs above his own will probably do little harm. At least not nearly as much harm as a wise man who puts his needs above everyone else's.

Even a stupid man who puts his people's needs above his own will probably do little harm. At least not nearly as much harm as a wise man who puts his needs above everyone else's.

True, but let's face it...most stupid people don't know what's good for them or for anyone else. Those who know George W. well, like Seymour Hersh, say that he genuinely believes that he is doing what is morally right for the world. Conservative Christians would tell you that they are concerned about the well-being of everyone in the world. It takes an educated person to figure out what's right and wrong, and even then it's never a process with a definite end. If someone is stupid odds are they won't take the time to learn a thing.

True, but let's face it...most stupid people don't know what's good for them or for anyone else. Those who know George W. well, like Seymour Hersh, say that he genuinely believes that he is doing what is morally right for the world. Conservative Christians would tell you that they are concerned about the well-being of everyone in the world. It takes an educated person to figure out what's right and wrong, and even then it's never a process with a definite end. If someone is stupid odds are they won't take the time to learn a thing.

There is a difference between stupidity due to voluntary ignorance (ie being religious) and stupidity due to being uneducated. A stupid man who is uneducated is still capable of logic and rationality. Conservative Christians are NOT capable of logical deductions. They make their decisions based on blind faith.

in my high school the teachers have to go thourgh so much **** from kids think there are way bigger than they are. Most of these kids only care about being popular. I know this one of my best friends has changed from being himself to changing his looks just to impress girls. :mad: Its sad when people my age only care about cloths cell phones and so on

People are paid what they are worth. If fans choosed not to pay 100 bucks or better to watch a football game, then guess what, athletes wouldn't be getting paid that much. If teaching was such a bad gig, there wouldn't be people doing it. There are dangers and pitfalls to almost every job. This is what happens in a society that gives people complete freedom. Choices are made to benifit individuals rather than the group.

i have never heard of a fireman tring to make ends meet, they seem to have a good ****ing job if you ask me. but i could be wrong.

I thought that most firemen werent paid a dime..that it was volunteer work??
I think teachers should be some of the highest paid workers in the country for two reasons:
#1- Working with little children all day long is rough, and there's not enough money in the world for that! Enough said about that
#2- They are molding the people of the future, training all our future doctors, lawyers, scientists, etc. They should be rewarded for that. I'm shocked at just how little teachers get paid when this country's future rests in the hands of these kids!

People are paid what they are worth. If fans choosed not to pay 100 bucks or better to watch a football game, then guess what, athletes wouldn't be getting paid that much. If teaching was such a bad gig, there wouldn't be people doing it. There are dangers and pitfalls to almost every job. This is what happens in a society that gives people complete freedom. Choices are made to benifit individuals rather than the group.

Actually, most average Americans have been priced out of Professional athletics. I am the head of a family of 4 and it cost about $200 to take them to a baseball game. That means we can only really go to a couple games a year. Most of the seats are bought up by big companies to shmooz clients and write it off on their tax returns. Meanwhile, Football cost closer to $400 for the family. :eek:

Actually, most average Americans have been priced out of Professional athletics. I am the head of a family of 4 and it cost about $200 to take them to a baseball game. That means we can only really go to a couple games a year. Most of the seats are bought up by big companies to shmooz clients and write it off on their tax returns. Meanwhile, Football cost closer to $400 for the family. :eek:

What city are you in?

I agree that most sports are overpriced. For less than an hour drive, though, I can go see two minor league franchises, the IHL's Indianapolis Ice and the AAA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, the Indianapolis Indians, at less than 10 dollars a ticket. If you can stay away from the ridiculous concessions...

And Victory Field is a nicer stadium than a number of MLB ballparks.

You don't see too many kids (school-aged) near the floor at NBA games - who gets that kind of allowance? And since we're on a boxing forum, let's not forget venues where tickets START OUT at 100 bucks and go into the four-digits before scalpers get their hands on them...then you have to pay 10 bucks for a beer when you get in...

Interesting figure - and this isn't a bash on the government necessarily (which is the first reaction a number will have) but rather an indictment of our values that follows the line of thinking of this thread:

Our tsunami relief dollars were still LESS than the combined budgets of Men in Black II and Waterworld.

Actually, most average Americans have been priced out of Professional athletics. I am the head of a family of 4 and it cost about $200 to take them to a baseball game. That means we can only really go to a couple games a year. Most of the seats are bought up by big companies to shmooz clients and write it off on their tax returns. Meanwhile, Football cost closer to $400 for the family. :eek:
:D Some of my memories of Baseball games were in the nosebleed seats at KC and Minneapolis.

What city are you in?

I agree that most sports are overpriced. For less than an hour drive, though, I can go see two minor league franchises, the IHL's Indianapolis Ice and the AAA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, the Indianapolis Indians, at less than 10 dollars a ticket. If you can stay away from the ridiculous concessions...

And Victory Field is a nicer stadium than a number of MLB ballparks.

You don't see too many kids (school-aged) near the floor at NBA games - who gets that kind of allowance? And since we're on a boxing forum, let's not forget venues where tickets START OUT at 100 bucks and go into the four-digits before scalpers get their hands on them...then you have to pay 10 bucks for a beer when you get in...
I hit the AAA cubs team about once a year, and have a great time. Beer cost a lot but hey, its once a year. ;) I have just as much fun at the AAA games as the pros.