Is it ethical to spend money for personal entertainment?

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iamnotaparakeet
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22 Apr 2010, 3:05 pm

Dox47 wrote:

Sand wrote:

Drowning people, (even hypothetical ones) should carry the proper identification documents, properly waterproofed, to ensure possible rescuers they qualify to be saved.

No need for such fancy gimmicks, frat boys are easily identified by their backwards caps, pukka shell necklaces and A&F gear with the popped collars, not to mention the keg cups permanently attached to one hand or the other. Besides, if I inadvertently fished one out of the drink, I can always throw it back, problem solved.

+1 proper profiling win.

CaptainTrips222
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22 Apr 2010, 3:16 pm

jc6chan wrote:

Perhaps many of you (including me) don't usually think of anything wrong with it. However, keep the following in mind...
-The money you spent on entertainment could've been used to help another person struggling to survive (perhaps people in third world countries, or any type of charity)
-There are many ways to entertain yourself without spending any money.

I made this thread after seeing on the news of some people making videos on youtube of smashing iPads and some people putting them in blenders. I find destroying a new iPad such a waste of money. There are many other cheaper ways to entertain yourself.

I don't know what your belief system is, but if you've ever spent currency to seek entertainment, you're probably going to Hell.

iamnotaparakeet
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22 Apr 2010, 3:19 pm

CaptainTrips222 wrote:

jc6chan wrote:

I don't know what your belief system is, but if you've ever spent currency to seek entertainment, you're probably going to Hell.

Perhaps to the same extent that people who pay a dollar for a cheeseburger here will because there are people in India starving?

iamnotaparakeet
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22 Apr 2010, 3:21 pm

BTW, one of my groomsmen gave me an hundred trillion dollars last Sunday. At some point I'm thinking of giving it to the people of Zimbabwe in exchange for a loaf of bread.

jc6chan
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22 Apr 2010, 4:27 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

BTW, one of my groomsmen gave me an hundred trillion dollars last Sunday. At some point I'm thinking of giving it to the people of Zimbabwe in exchange for a loaf of bread.

Thats a lie. Even Bill Gates doesn't have $100 trillion.

iamnotaparakeet
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22 Apr 2010, 4:33 pm

jc6chan wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

BTW, one of my groomsmen gave me an hundred trillion dollars last Sunday. At some point I'm thinking of giving it to the people of Zimbabwe in exchange for a loaf of bread.

Thats a lie. Even Bill Gates doesn't have $100 trillion.

I do have an hundred trillion, so your accusation is false. However, I did not explicitly specify of which nation's currency I have an hundred trillion dollars.

Dox47
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22 Apr 2010, 8:04 pm

jc6chan wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

BTW, one of my groomsmen gave me an hundred trillion dollars last Sunday. At some point I'm thinking of giving it to the people of Zimbabwe in exchange for a loaf of bread.

Thats a lie. Even Bill Gates doesn't have $100 trillion.

I think 'Keet meant Zim dollars, they keep lopping off zeros but the inflationary death spiral continues.

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iamnotaparakeet
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22 Apr 2010, 11:03 pm

Dox47 wrote:

jc6chan wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

BTW, one of my groomsmen gave me an hundred trillion dollars last Sunday. At some point I'm thinking of giving it to the people of Zimbabwe in exchange for a loaf of bread.

Thats a lie. Even Bill Gates doesn't have $100 trillion.

I think 'Keet meant Zim dollars, they keep lopping off zeros but the inflationary death spiral continues.

Correct, it is Zimbabwe currency. I so wish it were British or American currency though. ... how long-term of an investment would it be to buy the planet Mars?

phil777
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22 Apr 2010, 11:52 pm

Joking aside, i think you'd be dead before you could profit from your investment regarding Mars... <.<

CaptainTrips222
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23 Apr 2010, 12:15 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Dox47 wrote:

jc6chan wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

BTW, one of my groomsmen gave me an hundred trillion dollars last Sunday. At some point I'm thinking of giving it to the people of Zimbabwe in exchange for a loaf of bread.

Thats a lie. Even Bill Gates doesn't have $100 trillion.

I think 'Keet meant Zim dollars, they keep lopping off zeros but the inflationary death spiral continues.

Correct, it is Zimbabwe currency. I so wish it were British or American currency though. ... how long-term of an investment would it be to buy the planet Mars?

Zimbabwe is about to become the next superpower, with its massively successful ventures in exports! Hopefully you haven't eaten the loaf yet. If not, return it promptly, get your currency back, and you will be the proud owner of Zimbabwe.

iamnotaparakeet
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23 Apr 2010, 8:26 am

phil777 wrote:

Joking aside, i think you'd be dead before you could profit from your investment regarding Mars... <.<

What if I were able to live for the next 900 years? Or at least 300? Is this madness or Sparta?

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25 Apr 2010, 10:58 am

Being a fan of Kantian ethics, I'd like to apply Kant's categorical imperative in its best-known (and, to my mind, most useful) formulation: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

While Kant defended charity on rational ethical grounds, he would probably have disagreed with the proposition that it is one's duty to give all one's free income to charity and none of it to entertainment. For if this were to become a universal law, the entertainment industry would be extinguished, thereby depriving oneself (and the rest of the world) of a major source of enjoyment - it being a source of enjoyment also to those who need and receive charity in the first place.

In my view, the key to this problem is moderation. Don't spend all your money on DVDs or stuff like that, donate some of your money (like 5 or 10 or even 15%) to charity, and live happily. In Kantian ethics it is a cardinal duty to view every human being as an end-in-itself, but this logically also applies to oneself. And giving everything you own to charity would be to view oneself too much like a means-to-an-end.

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Tim_Tex
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25 Apr 2010, 11:17 am

It's perfectly ethical to spend your own money for personal entertainment. It's only unethical if you're spending taxpayers' money on it.

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ruveyn
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25 Apr 2010, 11:48 am

Tim_Tex wrote:

It's perfectly ethical to spend your own money for personal entertainment. It's only unethical if you're spending taxpayers' money on it.

Precisely! Why is it that some people have trouble understanding the distinction between One's Own and Other People's?

The mark of a Savage is the incomprehension of private ownership and use.

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dddhgg
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25 Apr 2010, 1:00 pm

Tim_Tex wrote:

It's perfectly ethical to spend your own money for personal entertainment. It's only unethical if you're spending taxpayers' money on it.

But that would imply that anyone hired by the government (including the President) should live without entertainment. (Just joking

)

ruveyn
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25 Apr 2010, 3:40 pm

dddhgg wrote:

Tim_Tex wrote:

It's perfectly ethical to spend your own money for personal entertainment. It's only unethical if you're spending taxpayers' money on it.

But that would imply that anyone hired by the government (including the President) should live without entertainment. (Just joking

)

Money earned for services performed belongs to the earner. It is his to spend as he wishes in any legal manner.

ruveyn

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