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Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

theguardian.com

161–170 of 267 posts

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Carnegie and Buffett occur to me as counter-examples that you need to devote yourself to a specific field or technology.

You know speaking of Warren Buffett, he came to mind while I was reading the article, as someone who pretty much behaves the exact opposite of this. No ostentatious display by the 3rd-richest person in the world... hmm that's interesting. You'd think it would give pause to the many suckers out there, but apparently they all still think things in the world are exactly how they look. That's why it's not fair to target…

That's a nice picture. It shows how a real billionaire looks like, as opposed to the get-rich-quick fantasies:

https://www.instagram.com/richkidslondon/?hl=en

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's because film is a visual medium, and in these movies the protagonist always looks cool . He may be doing terrible things, but he's wearing hip clothes and driving a gorgeous car while he does them. The visual language is all screaming "this guy's great!", and it ends up overwhelming the message the story is trying to tell. If you want to know what most people will think of a character in a movie, watch the movie…

Such movies should not show the person until the very end, just a series of shorts of the victims lifes becoming worser by one phone call. Absence of moral should be depicted as the absence of a person and decency it is.

I probably would not pay to see movies directed by you.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if it's a matter of the protagonist looking cool. When Breaking Bad was on the air, I had a surprising number of friends who identified with Walter White. He did not look cool, he did not act cool, and the writers of the show did everything in their power to communicate "This man is a moral monster and a horror of a human being." Yet some people that I otherwise respected still identified with him. They…

The interesting realisation for me about Walter White came when I started watching the season through for a second time. But first... SPOILER ALERT! I mean the first time around I had some sympathy for the guy - he was a disappointed and somewhat embittered middle aged man still trying to do his best to support his family, and then he's given this crappy cancer diagnosis. I felt bad for him. Fair to say that by the t…

I think that's right. I recently heard someone argue "Power doesn't corrupt, but rather it reveals who you really are." I think that applies to Walter White. He was morally corrupt from the start, but that became more obvious as he gained money/power.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#164
post #79

I am always amazed by how many people get into this "Beat the system and make tons of money" mindset. If there's anything that has proven itself time and time again, it's that people who seek immediate wealth, and who fantasize about their "million dollar idea", are absolutely not the kinds of people who become successful and wealthy. The people who become devoted to a field or a technology - who make the business th…

> people who seek immediate wealth, and who fantasize about their "million dollar idea", are absolutely not the kinds of people who become successful and wealthy.

Replace "absolutely not" with "almost never". It's relevant because that vanishingly small percentage of people who do manage to become wealthy get an absurd amount of attention, which inspires others to mimic them, and so the cycle continues.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#165
post #79

I am always amazed by how many people get into this "Beat the system and make tons of money" mindset. If there's anything that has proven itself time and time again, it's that people who seek immediate wealth, and who fantasize about their "million dollar idea", are absolutely not the kinds of people who become successful and wealthy. The people who become devoted to a field or a technology - who make the business th…

"The people who become devoted to a field or a technology - who make the business their passion, and focus on filling a need - these are the people who earn a fortune."

Let's not leave out the sympathetic wealthy father. It's always played down, and left out of, "How I made my wad" speeches.

I can go through my high school year book, and pick out the wealthy kids. They are all wealthy now, and honestly, would be most likely homeless if not for that family money. Money to risk. That's what the poor/middle class never have--money to risk.

And it's more than dad's money. It's less stress in college. Hell, most of the rich kids I grew up with thought college was boring. It's dad's wisdom over money. Dad's connections. Dad's free lawyer. Dad's wisdom. Dad's low interest loans. Loans--that's a laugh.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nonsense! Anyone can become rich if they just want to! For those who don't buy the OP's argument and want to get rich quick, I'm looking for investors for my ICO. It's like bitcoin but for people who like to eat pizza. \s

Pizzacoin - tie the unit price to a 12" stuffed crust from dominos. Minor units are "Slices". I mean dogecoin was a thing.

> stuffed crust from dominos

I realize people play fast and loose with reality when it comes to *coins, but calling Dominos 'pizza' is fraud.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#168
post #79

I am always amazed by how many people get into this "Beat the system and make tons of money" mindset. If there's anything that has proven itself time and time again, it's that people who seek immediate wealth, and who fantasize about their "million dollar idea", are absolutely not the kinds of people who become successful and wealthy. The people who become devoted to a field or a technology - who make the business th…

Does anyone remember the "million dollar homepage" guy? There are certainly legitimate ways to make a good chunk of change using what is basically just a neat marketing idea.

But, typically, they only work once, or a small number of times, and then then copycats don't attract money anymore.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#169
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pizzacoin - tie the unit price to a 12" stuffed crust from dominos. Minor units are "Slices". I mean dogecoin was a thing.

> stuffed crust from dominos I realize people play fast and loose with reality when it comes to *coins, but calling Dominos 'pizza' is fraud.

Agreed, I'd sooner eat the box but Domino's is well known.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kinda think Buffett's way of investing is obsolete these days. Every single analyst is studying the fundamentals and financials of companies now. Every single analyst has access to the same information he had. It was different decades ago when we didn't have BloomBerg, Thomson Reuters, FactSet, etc. Now everyone does. His advantage now is just that he has boatloads of money to buy companies and turn them around.

you dont understand his strategy if you think it is out of date. 1) he buys equity in the private markets not in the public markets 2) he has capital to buy entire companies 3) he can evaluate a company based on the people, not based on financials 4) he commits to not meddling in operations. Today's tax structure forces entrepreneurs to sell because of huge tax implications of passing down a privately held company. 5…

People are forced to avoid tax on their profits? Oh the humanity!
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