Members knockwood Posted July 28, 2012 Members Share Posted July 28, 2012 Hey people watch it for various reasons like looking at rare items, classic cars etc. At least I do. Not everyone that comes in is living in their car. Yep, true. I'm not knocking the shows nor the people who watch them. Just mentioned that I for one cannot get into this stuff because of personal experience/perspective. But while my own views on this kind of industry are quite negative, I wouldn't knock anyone else for being entertained (by the objects for sale, that is). Hell, I'm not about to give up porn just because others don't approve... I don't think anyone has suggested the shows ought to be taken off the air or anything. There's always worse {censored} on TV, IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zenbu Posted July 28, 2012 Members Share Posted July 28, 2012 It`s TV people....nobody really believes reality shows....do they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldGuitarPlayer Posted July 28, 2012 Members Share Posted July 28, 2012 I used to like PawnStars but it gets old very quickly. As for the Storage War show I do watch it occasionally and my favorite buyer is Barry Weiss. He is not in it for the money since he is already a wealthy fruit and vegetable retail store owner. According to the info I have read about the show Barry only keeps stuff that he likes for his own collection. Any money he makes off the storage unit he donates to charity. Plus back in the day he looked like quite the rocker.... Barry Weiss 30 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FretFiend. Posted July 28, 2012 Members Share Posted July 28, 2012 ... the logic just isn't there. People selling off their engagement rings, instruments, family heirlooms, etc., out of desperation is undeniably a sad affair. The fact that something is a business does not exempt it from ghoulishness. The slave trade was once a "business." ... The slave trade business dealt in the involuntary servitude of others. The pawn shop business does not. The people who "sell off their engagement rings, instruments, family heirlooms, etc., out of desperation" do so willingly, and were it not for the pawn shops, they would have no alternatives at all. Loan people perform a necessary and valuable service. The mortuary business is also "ghoulish". By your logic, funeral directors are also profiting off the misfortune of others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Michael Martin Posted July 28, 2012 Members Share Posted July 28, 2012 Why watch it then? Next hot TV idea: lets watch a family get evicted from their forclosed home. Contestents can bet on where they'll end up- shelter; station wagon; motel 6? Real fun. I decided years ago that TV was a vast wasteland. Yes yes I know there's some great stuff here and there but 99% is tripe and people (read: me too) will simply flip around the channels and get seduced by what media analysts call the LOP (least objectionable programming). So I gave that habit up in favor of guitar playing. One of my better decisions in life. As for pawnshops: yes they are depressing places sometimes as a browser because it's low-grade stuff for top dollar--but I have never pawned anything and hope I never have to. For the people who have to pawn stuff, it must be so much worse because of the bad deal they are accepting. But in that sense pawnshops are like the much-vilified payday loan storefronts. They are meeting a need; they make high-interest/short-term loans to people who can't get the money any other way. I guess if I was desperate for cash, I would be glad there was some option for getting it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katopp Posted July 28, 2012 Members Share Posted July 28, 2012 Telly has gone dumb and dumber.First, I dropped the so-called "major" networks, sticking to Discovery/NatGeo, but even those channels are getting dumb and dumber. Nowadays, I do not own a telly anymore, I very selectively watch BBC on the iPlayer, that's it.There is a link between quality and quantity.People say, that the amount of quality in a system is a constant, the quantity is variable... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Opa John Posted July 28, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 28, 2012 Television programming is pure, unadulterated CRAP!! I watch NFL & college football, the occasional golf tournament, a few of the Discovery & History channel programs and that's about it. The rest of it is just background noise. I've got a brother-in-law who's a TV Nut! The dude will watch anything that moves because he doesn't know how to do anything else! I'd much rather play my guitar, mandolin, fiddle or poke a stick in my own eye than watch TV! Get a life people.........TV SUCKS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdBega Posted July 28, 2012 Members Share Posted July 28, 2012 I don't think half of that stuff is legit - how can a pawn shop get all that interesting stuff and cram it into episode after episode .Your probably looking at staged purchases . Mary ford was a legend , that instrument would of easily brought more than twice that .If this was legit , the guy who sold it was a moron. Same thing with the Storage Wars looks staged to me. Coincidentally they happen to know someone who's an expert and has a store that stocks those same peculiar type items. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zenbu Posted July 29, 2012 Members Share Posted July 29, 2012 I wonder how many of those folks who sell their things on Pawn Stars head straight to the casinos afterwards...or were there the night before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knockwood Posted July 29, 2012 Members Share Posted July 29, 2012 The slave trade business dealt in the involuntary servitude of others. The pawn shop business does not.The people who "sell off their engagement rings, instruments, family heirlooms, etc., out of desperation" do so willingly, and were it not for the pawn shops, they would have no alternatives at all.Loan people perform a necessary and valuable service.The mortuary business is also "ghoulish". By your logic, funeral directors are also profiting off the misfortune of others. You're missing the point in several ways, Homeslice. First, you're alluding to a nonexistent comparison between the slave trade and the pawn industry. The ONLY parallel I'm drawing between these two enterprises is that both are/were "businesses." The point is, the "business" label is not enough to exempt anyone from judgment. If legal and ethical meant the same thing, we might have better gun laws... These wacky comparisons to doctors, funeral directors, etc., are disingenuous and illogical. But to play along, yes, technically funeral direction is "ghoulish" in that it deals with dead people, and *technically* it is profiting from misfortune. However, the difference is that funeral direction is a function entirely necessary to society: If corpses are not disposed of properly, there is a massive health risk to the public. Additionally, grieving families tend to want services to honor their dead, and if they choose a relatively expensive burial or other service more costly than a pine box, they are not acting out of desperation. If you really think it makes sense to equate a situation like that to one in which a mother desperate to feed her kids hocks her engagement ring for a fraction of its value, so be it. The comparison another poster made to doctors is particularly absurd. While I'd agree that medical care is often incredibly expensive, a large part of the reasoning behind this is that it is a profession for which we, as a society, very much need to attract the best and the brightest. No one wants his liver transplant performed by Lefty from downtown. And in a free market economy, what attracts the best and brightest is high income potential. Another glaring difference is that if you walk into an emergency room {censored} broke with a bullet in your chest, the hospital is going to save your life first and ask about money later. Try that with a pawn shop. Completely different motives and mentality. Comparison fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FretFiend. Posted July 29, 2012 Members Share Posted July 29, 2012 You're missing the point in several ways, Homeslice. First, you're alluding to a nonexistent comparison between the slave trade and the pawn industry. The ONLY parallel I'm drawing between these two enterprises is that both are/were "businesses." The point is, the "business" label is not enough to exempt anyone from judgment. If legal and ethical meant the same thing, we might have better gun laws... These wacky comparisons to doctors, funeral directors, etc., are disingenuous and illogical. But to play along, yes, technically funeral direction is "ghoulish" in that it deals with dead people, and *technically* it is profiting from misfortune. However, the difference is that funeral direction is a function entirely necessary to society: If corpses are not disposed of properly, there is a massive health risk to the public. Additionally, grieving families tend to want services to honor their dead, and if they choose a relatively expensive burial or other service more costly than a pine box, they are not acting out of desperation. If you really think it makes sense to equate a situation like that to one in which a mother desperate to feed her kids hocks her engagement ring for a fraction of its value, so be it. The comparison another poster made to doctors is particularly absurd. While I'd agree that medical care is often incredibly expensive, a large part of the reasoning behind this is that it is a profession for which we, as a society, very much need to attract the best and the brightest. No one wants his liver transplant performed by Lefty from downtown. And in a free market economy, what attracts the best and brightest is high income potential. Another glaring difference is that if you walk into an emergency room {censored} broke with a bullet in your chest, the hospital is going to save your life first and ask about money later. Try that with a pawn shop. Completely different motives and mentality. Comparison fail. No, "homeslice," no missed point. Lets look at a few of these "comparison fail" examples. Slave dealers deliberately and directly force their will on others. Pawnbrokers force no one to do anything at all. Desperate or not, patrons of pawnbrokers sell their items of their own free will and accord. Attempting to equate pawnbrokering to the slave trade is a real "comparison fail". Portraying anyone who makes a business of being prepared to offer quick cash to the likes of "a mother desperate to feed her kids" who "hocks her engagement ring for a fraction of its value" as a villain is also a "comparison fail." Try to stay on point. Bringing gun laws or doctor qualifications into your argument prove nothing, and are also "comparison fails." If people have something of value and need quick cash, pawn shops provide a useful service to them. I wonder what that "mother desperate to feed her kids" who "hocks her engagement ring for a fraction of its value" would do if there were no pawn shops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knockwood Posted July 29, 2012 Members Share Posted July 29, 2012 Slave dealers deliberately and directly force their will on others. Pawnbrokers force no one to do anything at all. Desperate or not, patrons of pawnbrokers sell their items of their own free will and accord. Attempting to equate pawnbrokering to the slave trade is a real "comparison fail". But I never attempted any such equation, which is why you are still very clearly missing the point. Deliberately, perhaps. So I'll say it one more time. The ONLY thing I'm saying that these two things have in common is that they are or were referred to as "businesses." Since you saw fit to bold the word "business" in your post, in an attempt to use the word as a suggestion that it in itself grants freedom from negative judgment, my point is simply that there are and have been other "businesses," like the slave trade, that were morally corrupt despite the title of "business." I never said pawnbroking is as bad as slavery. In fact, after not saying it in the first place, this is now my second time reasserting that I never said it... Yet you keep reading it into comments where it does not exist. So yeah, you're completely missing the point. To simplify things for you, forget about slavery for a moment and try this by itself: Labeling your activities a business does not excuse immoral behavior. The "choice" argument doesn't cut it either. Every heroin junkie makes a "choice" every time s/he uses. This doesn't absolve the dealer from being a scumbag. And before you deliberately distort what I'm saying here as an attempt to put pawnbrokers on an equal footing with heroin dealers - um, no. That would be, again, missing the point. What I am saying is that the mere fact that someone who gets the {censored}tier end of the deal is making a "choice" does not mean that the other party is acting honorably. You're not going to argue me into thinking pawnbrokers are fine folks. Clearly I am not going to argue you into thinking they are a bunch of slavering avaricious weasels. I'm pretty sure I can live with that. If you cannot, feel free to continue repetitively arguing with things I've never said to your heart's content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chordchunker Posted July 29, 2012 Members Share Posted July 29, 2012 I watched that show once but found it so staged and fake it was ridiculous. Plus those guys reminded me of several sleazy pawn dealers I`ve dealt with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FretFiend. Posted July 29, 2012 Members Share Posted July 29, 2012 You're not going to argue me into thinking pawnbrokers are fine folks. Clearly I am not going to argue you into thinking they are a bunch of slavering avaricious weasels. I'm pretty sure I can live with that. If you cannot, feel free to continue repetitively arguing with things I've never said to your heart's content.A little paraphrasing might end this. You're not going to argue me into thinking pawnbrokers are slavering avaricious weasels. Clearly I am not going to argue you into thinking they are a bunch of fine folks. I'm pretty sure I can live with that. If you cannot, feel free to continue repetitively arguing with things I've never said to your heart's content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knockwood Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 slavering avaricious weasels. Precisely! And you, sir, are smelly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zenbu Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 I don`t read the really long posts...just sayin`. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Michael Martin Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 I don`t read the really long posts...just sayin`. I sometimes read the arguey ones, if they're well-articulated arguments. Which this one is on both sides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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