*quality *doublepromote

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by blankfist.

Double-Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Friday, June 18th, 2010 5:06am PDT - doublepromote requested by blankfist.

This guy is an idiot and uninformed. And not well read.

I don't think schoolroom performance is so closely correlated to intelligence, but in this guy's case, he is both stupid and low performing.

Two silly items in the beginning turned me off to the rest of his talk:

MBA programs do have entrepreneurial programs. In fact, they are rated on such programs. (Not that you have to get an MBA to start a business.)

Ayn Rand? Seriously? That's the only book that makes the entrepreneur the hero? He is definitely not well read. It occurs to me that many unexceptional people use Ayn Rand to bolster their delusions of grandeur.

^ I hereby create Crake's Law: "any mention of Ayn Rand or her works on the internet must immediately be followed up by a liberal (who hasn't read any Rand), citing her poor literary qualities and personal flaws as arguments against her philosophy"

Seriously people, it's just a book, it won't hurt you.

When did I comment on her poor literary qualities or personal flaws? And how do you know what I have read? How do you know my personal political affiliations?

I merely said that it's not the only book that makes the entrepreneur the hero. And that people use her works to support their delusions of grandeur.

Now that's 2 examples of uninformed and willfully ignorant Ayn Rand fans.>> ^Crake:

^ I hereby create Crake's Law: "any mention of Ayn Rand or her works on the internet must immediately be followed up by a liberal (who hasn't read any Rand), citing her poor literary qualities and personal flaws as arguments against her philosophy"
Seriously people, it's just a book, it won't hurt you.

^Hey I never said I was a fan.

But fair enough, your knee-jerk reaction to that book we shall not name was not the standard one of ad hominem attack, at least not on the author.

The animosity is displayed without fail, though, every time i've seen Ayn Rand mentioned.

I only read it because it was so controversial, so I don't know if the attempts to suppress it are so successful.

My turn off is that the speaker makes a gross and obvious untrue statement: that Ayn Rand's book is the only one that makes the entrepreneur the hero. It has really nothing to do with the content of Ayn Rand's book, but only reflects on the speaker's ignorance.

And who is trying to suppress the book? I see alot of critique of the book and the author, but that is not the same as suppression. Ayn Rand can stand (or fall) on her own.

I think worse than any of that is that the talk is boring and hopelessly self-involved.

I have to admit, the self-directed nature of his talk was something else that turned me off, but I could not put my finger on it.

While there are talks where the speakers are also the subjects, the ones I tend to enjoy are about people doing the extraordinary (e.g., refugee of horrendous war, survivor of major disaster, explored a wild and dangerous part of the earth, etc). What this speaker has done is quite ordinary. While not every kid on the block has a lemonade stand, enough are entrepreneurial so that his stories don't stand out too much.

His idea that kids that have aptitude for business or raw business sense should be tracked and encouraged is a good one. I was expecting to see a study where this idea was actually put into action. Or at least some discussion of that idea with some depth, even if it hadn't been implemented. But all the speaker did was talk about himself and his kids. And, to top it off, he inundated his presentation with the most clichéd slides imaginable.

>> ^crotchflame:

I think worse than any of that is that the talk is boring and hopelessly self-involved.

Does anyone else find it really sad that he has his 7 and 9 year old kids worrying about money already? Shouldn't our kids have the fantasy that anything is possible without having to worry that they might not have enough money one day? Yes entrepreneurs are often villianized; all they think about is money and there are surely more important things in life.

Internet haters invoking Crake's Law!

>> ^Skeeve:

Does anyone else find it really sad that he has his 7 and 9 year old kids worrying about money already? Shouldn't our kids have the fantasy that anything is possible without having to worry that they might not have enough money one day? Yes entrepreneurs are often villianized; all they think about is money and there are surely more important things in life.


Worrying? How about teaching. Why we try to keep kids in a box is beyond me. I heard a great analogy about raising kids comparing them to kites. Give them all the room you can, when they start to crash, that is when you step in. Learning the most skills you can at the youngest possible age is what some kids want to do anyway, foster that!