----- Original Message ----- From: "Gautam Mukunda" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2003 10:51 PM Subject: Re: Fox News, we distort, you comply.
> --- Robert Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > In > regards to CEOs voting republican, perhaps they > > just know where their > > bread is buttered. > > > > I doubt Jack Welch could do my job. > > Your job maybe, but not Eriks or Dans. > > CEOs are not superior versions of mainline humans, > > they are simply > > specialists performing a specific function. > > And outside of their specialty, they are incompetent > > in the same way any > > other human would be. > > > > xponent > > Not Impressed By Elitist Type Arguments Maru > > rob > > It's not really an elitist type argument. It may not seem so to you, but I would suggest that you spend almost no time at societal levels that would find your argument insulting. This country is not just for rich people, it is for all people. Therefore, your glorification of people who are all millionaires, touting their skills, while ignoring the skills of everyone who make the existence of those millionaires possible, isn't gonna play well in Pasadena Texas. It takes years to become a "good" carpenter. Neither you or Jack Welch or Michael Jordan are going to come in on monday and be qualified by friday. And you and Jack Welch and Michael Jordan took years to become "good" at what you do. My point being that there is no truth to the concept that "All" brilliant people want to sit behind a desk the rest of their lives. > I remember > Michael Wilbon writing about Michael Jordan that what > made watching him truly special was that he was better > at what he did than anyone else in the world was at > what they did. I don't know that was really the case > - although given how great Jordan was, I'm not willing > to reject it out of hand. Its a mistake to conflate physical skills and abilities with business acumen. > > What we're talking about here is relative skill level. > The question is, is someone who is good enough to get > to where they are likely to be really, really good at > what they do? Again, look at professional baseball > players. To play in the major leagues you have to be > one of the ~1000 best baseball players _in the world_. > And there are tens of millions of people who have at > least, at some point in their lives, tried to play > baseball. So out of all of those tens of millions of > people, MLB players are in the top _1000_. That's > incredibly good. Now, outside of baseball, are they > likely to be any better at anything (non-athletic) > than you or I? No, of course not. But to be one of > the top, what, one-hundredth of one percent of the > people who engage in an activity - think about how > gifted you have to be to reach that level. On the > whole, I have noticed, people don't appreciate that > sort of skill level outside of their own profession. > They look at baseball players and think that looks > easy. Or see the mistake made by a CEO and think any > idiot would have known not to do that. But I don't > think so - not even close. > LOL Think Michael Jordan and his flirtation with baseball. What if Jordan had decided on baseball and had never attempted pro basketball? He would be a footnote. Your whole argument is invisibly dependent on the idea that everyone actually finds or is attracted to do what he/she is best capable of doing. There are thousands of decisions made when one is young that determine where one will end up as an adult. Would you argue that everyone in the world is in the best place they could be? I know you wouldn't argue that, its silly. But I'd like to point out that I am quite good at what I do, and am confident that I could do even better. I resisted entering this line of work for over 15 years. It is not what I wanted to do. My problem was that there were so many things I would have liked and never could decide. I wanted all of them. When I was a senior in high school I took speech in order to evade another year of english. Every week the teacher gave out assignments for our speech that week, and every week I stood before the podium with blank index cards in my hand, and every week I gave the best speech in the class. I made it all up on the spot. I made all As in that class and earned a Speech scholarship that I never used. Uses for a speech scholarship was never reflected in my world. xponent Make Of It What You Will Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
