Thousands of factors play into every aspect of our lives. Some pieces of the puzzle are bigger than others, and hard work goes a long way, if it is of the right kind. Again, back to the ditch. One can plug away and build a grand ditch, working very hard, yet not gain much success from it. Clearly the kind of work matters. Some people have the talent for many great kinds of work, some people do not. Though there are plenty of talented people who also fail. People should strive to better themselves. This means recognizing that those two factors are not alone in the determination of success. They should also come to terms with the fact that their best may not gain them the level of success that they envision. Learning to fail and learn from failure is something that we should put a lot more stock into. Learning, in general, is the only real tool that can help us to grow out of hard work, and into more productive work. I'd place a premium on the enhancement of one's skills, learning, and most importantly growth from failure. Those skills may fall under your definition of hard work and talent. If they do, we obviously are in agreement. If you don't think learning and gaining from failure are under hard work and talent, then you may be ignoring two very important factors.
This is rich. You come into a topic about hard work to start ranting and raving about political conspiracy theories, "neo-capitalism", "neo-conservatives", and then accuse jmhoffer of pushing an "agenda" when he debunks one of your claims with an actual factual link. Why do so many people feel compelled to pontificate endlessly about politics, regardless of topic? This is true, considering so many of the negative responses are encapsulated in Wong's final point about dismissing the message to shield one's ego. (Not all of them, but a lot)
Let's keep things civil, okay, people? Accusing other members of things like "ranting and raving" about "conspiracy theories", "selective manipulation of facts and deliberate misinterpretation" and the like is only going to escalate things. If we're going to discuss, let's discuss. Let's not simply demonize those who disagree with us - we all know that leads nowhere. (I wish the US Congress would understand this.)
The main problem is that the topic was about a completely non-political subject. Until, that is, a certain member came along and repeatedly posted about how "neo-conservatives" are evil. That's not an accusation; that was the content of her posts starting with this one. If someone posted in the "Sports Thread" about 9/11 conspiracy theories, that would be a blatant example of derailing the topic, no? How is this any different? No warnings or infractions for that, however, but Dante Dases gave me an infraction for writing this; I asked what exactly the infraction was for, but have yet to receive a reply. Inconsistent moderation, perhaps?
Hooray for bias! And beer. Of which I have had a lot to drink. I'm sure I'll regret posting this in the morning.
[MENTION=54840]IronPalm[/MENTION]: I have you on ignore from a while back because you are rude and confrontational, creating uncomfortable discussions with ad hominem attacks all over this forum. So I had no idea you were referring to me in your posts on this topic. A word of advice - if a member is ignoring you and not responding to you, it's best you leave them alone because if you carry on, you'll work yourself up and create all kind of conspiracy theories, then act upon them and start bashing people, and it never looks good. Everything I write about is a fact accepted in the mainstream. I don't indulge in puerile theorising. But I am a pacifist, and socialist, like pretty much half of the world, and it is people like you that personally attack those that disagree with you, that are the problem. Not me. Now back on ignore, so don't bother replying.
TLDR version: "I'm totally ignoring and not responding to you, even though this entire post is an off-topic response to you! Oh, and I'm absolutely correct about everything, you're completely wrong and the embodiment of the world's problems, and don't reply to me!!!" I guess thread derailment is fine as long as jazzabel does it? Not the first topic where I have noticed this, either.
Uh, that article was really quite condencending. I mean, you can get away with "life lessons" like that if you've got enough life experience, but then again, the tone of the article would be different too. Now it read really bratty to me. But it's true you don't (usually) get anything by just wishing it. You have to be active and pro-active, and hard work often does bear fruit. And I know this sounds naive, but I'd rather be nice and well-to-do than a dick and filthy rich (unfortunately I'm sometimes a dick but still only well-to-do). Also, one must live in a very dark corner of the world if a career matters that much when it comes to love. Sometimes it's ok to go a bit OT if it's somewhat related to the subject matter at hand. Jazzabel brought up relevant points worth reflection. Mods step in if things get too derailed.
