OT: The superstar phenomena and society.

Was not sure where to put this thread as it does not fit in anywhere...it is machinist related in so far as I consider machinists one of the more important roles in a society that seems to have wrong what it considers valuable.

Current news events has been the death of an entertainer..In fact since his death it is all we have seen on the news...There have been specials on TV..I was even listening to the TV in another room and it came up how a school girl had to take yesterday off from school since she was so upset at his passing...

What are people's opinion on this..We seem to be raising the stature of these entertainers much higher then I feel they are worth...The nuts and bolts of society, the ones who made a real difference to our standard of living receive next to no accolades at all...I am talking about the machinists, doctors, engineers and scientists and others...

It is interesting before industrialisation say pre 1800 entertainers were considered a lower class then the general population..

Is it healthy for society to put so much value on people who in reality their only benefit to society is purely pleasure while we discard the value of the ones who really change people's lives..

If you do not have a television you are hardly bothered by such trivia, The whole concept of media hype about it's own creations (superstars are media creations) is silly. I got rid of my television years ago because I couldn't bear to watch the junk news and current affairs shows any more.

The one which gets me is ball kickers and whackers (both forms of entertainers) getting paid absurd amounts of money for displaying a high level of a very dispensable skill, then they retire and become company board members or property developers.

I don't watch TV either other then sometimes the news and sometimes the 7:30 report/stateline, and maybe a movie now and then, but even then it was very hard to get away from hearing the media hype..

Some of the jokes I read on the net were quite funny though...

I agree with the above.
We in Michigan now have one of those ball players Mayor of Detroit.
In reference to the real workers,aint they the salt of the earth?
Sports may very well be goverment inspired to keep the masses brains occupied,just a thought....
Gw

Please don't confuse me for an intellect, nor a machinist. I am neither. In fact I still have trouble figuring out which end of a chuck wrench goes in the little square hole thingy...

Nevertheless, I do believe there is substantial evidence and it is continuously repeated throughout history in which regimes controlled the masses of enslaved by ensuring they were well fed and entertained.

That is all.

Greg White said:

Sports may very well be goverment inspired to keep the masses brains occupied,just a thought....
Gw

Click to expand...

I agree. I have no use for any sports. I have, in the past, watched the world series once- maybe twice- but didn't make a habit of it. Right now, I couldn't tell you who won it this year- or last year whenever it was.

I think sports is a big money pit. They aren't in it for the fun, just to skim millions of dollars from the public. If you wanna play baseball, build your own stadium. Don't try to wangle my city into paying for it to keep you from moving to another city.

If you wanna move, move your happy arses outta here and don't let the door hit you in the rear as you leave.

Its called capitalism..... the great thing that the United States is based on. As absurd as it all is the media and the professional sports are all fed in to by the public. Its just like walmart if you didn't feed in to it it wouldn't be there.

The good side of him passing on. It got the heat of the iranians. At least it is good for the ruling body of iran. Not the one that gao elected, the other one that got elected. I think I said that right.

If it were not for machinists, engineers, and others, there would BE no 'superstars", they would be famous only in their own village........ and maybe a couple others nearby.

The entire media is the creation of folks who simply use the items created by the machinists and engineers to get their "message" out to more people..... The crazy thing about it is that those folks largely don't KNOW it.

So you, directly or indirectly, may have had a hand in creating those superstars, even if you totally ignore them.

BTW, people ought to realize that sports in particular have a function...... They are, at their lowest base level, a way for us all to go out and "fight the people of the village over the hill" without having to kill anyone. And we are ALL programmed to fight, whether you choose to admit it or not.

I don't know, id say its sad when any fifty year old dies... Never mind a tortured soul such as MJ. Its worth knowing that this person died, and perhaps a small blessing for him and his family. Beyond that, oh well so goes life.

I am sure some wako conspiracy theorist will figure that Obama or Pelosi had him taken out so that the public will not pay attention while they sell us out on a bad energy bill...


I never got the sports thing, seems many folks here don't either. I don't know why I should care if one team wins over another. Why should I like one team over another? Some folks worship a team, buy the junk with the logo on it, know all the names of the players etc. I don't get the bond or feeling one gets from following a team, even worse a team that's from a city you have never been to. Is it the name, colors, I don't know? Some one told me years ago, (about the players)" I will know there names, when they know mine", I kinda like it.

Also seems that the followers feel the players are worth what they get paid, yet business people that make less money are over paid go figure.

People love sports because of the vicarious thrill they get from it. It helps to cover up their mundane existence, because they don't live the totally satisfying life of a machinist, with all its thrills, like getting hot chips down your shirt