The world has branched off into itself. We were once simple hunters and gatherers. Once we had machines to do the work for us, we could pursue hobbies and dreams. We have spread ourselves to thin to turn back towards a smarter, safer, healthier way of living. All we can do is continue down this road until we're all dead.

It's unfair. But life isn't fair. And no one gives enough of a damn to try and make it fair.

because unlike the middle class they are good at it.

It is simple, what these people do is a form of entertainment for a lot of people.

Basketball, preferably the NBA, is my favorite form of entertainment, and I am willing to spend some of my spare cash to watch it. It's relaxing, exciting, and something that brings my family together often.

The United Center can hold around 21k people, so you can only imagine how much money a team could potentially make from just one game. It is not like the money is coming from nowhere, a lot of the lower/middle class people are buying the tickets, which funds the league.

I don't call it bullshit as many of us happily give our money away to watch basketball. Just like we are willing to toss our money away to buy video games, cars, and so on.

Sandlight wrote:

To be fair, the actors and sport players probably worked their asses off too in order to be the best at what they do.

Playing a game and working are two totally different things. If shooting a ball into a hoop is working, then I'm working every time I log into Heroes of Newerth. Of course you can invest hours upon hours to get good at shooting a ball or playing an MMO, but the fact still remains that it's essentially just a game and is therefore not work.

Sandlight wrote:

You can't compare yourself to a professional basketball player whose job is to actually play the game.

You've contradicted yourself once again. Work and play are two different things. "Play job" is an oxymoron.

It's like comparing myself who plays recreational basketball to a professional gamer who earns money through competitive gaming tournaments.

Just because something earns you money doesn't qualify it as a job. I could run outside naked all day. Would that be a job just because someone might be willing to pay to see me do that?

A job can be seen as black box and this is true for any job. You put in time and effort, you get back money.

This is just a common way of thinking nowadays. People have lost the ability to distinguish between legitimate work and something people are willing to pay for. Having a 9 to 5 and tossing a ball into a basket are apples and oranges. Grown men playing children's games is not working and the fact that they get paid to do it or that they spend hours practicing to get even better at the game they play doesn't change anything.

My definition of a legitimate job is simply work - actual labor. Not play, not sleep, not watching T.V. And it doesn't matter to me if people got paid to do one of those three things. It still isn't work, it just happens to be something that people demand.

Having a farm and selling crops is a good example of what I'm talking about. A farmer doesn't play games all day - he gets up, tends to his animals and crops, then when he's ready to profit, he sells what he has.

A basketball player plays games and receives a paycheck. Sure, he spends hours practicing, but it's still playing. You do know the difference between someone playing and someone working right? Me firing up Team Fortress 2 is playing. Me getting up at 7:00 to get ready to go to my medical coding job at the hospital is work. You're saying me playing Team Fortress 2 would be just as much work as medical coding - just because someone might be willing to give me a paycheck for playing it.

Playing doesn't stop being playing just because you get paid to do it. It just turns into paid playing. It never becomes work.

I agree with Empirez. 'Work', by true definition, is how much effort you put into something to get a result. But there are situations where this does not apply. For example?

I put in the effort to walk over to my computer and start up TF2. Work, right?

No. Even if you get payed for it, it isn't a 'job', it's more of an action that you're paid for.

Basketball isn't that easy as you guys are setting it out to be. Acting takes lots of time.

Edit: A job is a paid position of regular employment.

Anime HQ wrote:

iit doesn't matter. Because they don't need millions for a movie or sport when porr people need it to live a smart person could live their whole life with at least 1-3 millions dollars. And they're making much more than needed. Jenifer Lopez for instance makes over 20millions dollars just for being a stupid judge on american idol. Anyone can be a judge so why should she make that much?

Because of tickets sold, most famous people actually do donate.

Anime HQ wrote:

not most but some...

There not forced to donate to poor people, yet they do.