An Anatomy of Modern Day Failure

[root-fu.livejournal.com]

The following news article elaborately portrays everything wrong with politics, economics and human civilization in this day and age.

Read carefully humble reader and see if you can spot it.

NY court says strip club's lap dances are taxable

ALBANY, N.Y. – Getting a lap dance isn't the same as taking in a ballet, so an alcohol-free strip club will have to pay the tax man, a New York state court has ruled.

Four Appellate Division justices agreed with a state tax appeals commission's earlier finding that dances onstage or in private rooms at the club Nite Moves in suburban Albany don't qualify for a state tax exemption as "dramatic or musical arts performances."

Still, the club tried to bolster its artistic argument with testimony from a cultural anthropologist who has studied exotic dance and visited Nite Moves, and who said the lap dances should be considered choreographed performances.

http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110611/ap_on_fe_st/us_lap_dance_taxes_2

...

Its taxes? No!

Its lapdancers being taxed for sharing 'love' that should be free to give and be considered intaxable? No!

The reel and trufax problem of the entire world...

Everyone. Literally: everyone, has an "expert" stashed away in their left pocket enthusiastically willing to whore out their academic and educational credibility for dollars and cents.

Even a strip club can hire a cultural anthropologist and "leading expert" in their respective field to spin a web of half-truths and politicized scientific propaganda intended to circumvent paying taxes.

How does one believe a word a purported "expert" or "academic" in their field cares to offer when they are demonstrably willing to sell out their academic integrity and ethics to the highest bidder on an open market?

Indeed, finding economists and bankers willing to justify Bush's or Obama's economic policies is merely a matter of paying them. Finding educational experts or other "accredited professionals" willing to support an educational policy or initiative is merely a matter of money. Likewise with "expert opinion" on healthcare, taxes, defense and every other issue in the world.

The experts we rely on to provide us with clear and unbiased commentary on important issues are thus revealed to have a conflict of interests between what they would say as unbiased and objective parties and the difference of opinion associated with being paid to substantiate special interests politicized agendas.

The chain of information and media people rely on are only as strong as their weakest link. In an era where a strip club can hire an athropologist to falsify a political campaign we should take heed and be aware not only of failings inherent in religion or older historical sources, but newer failures inherent in science and our own educational standards as well.

We probably won't being that people are hard wired to blindly believe everything and anything an official institution tells us. Whether it be religion, science, politics its generally much easier to believe blindly in the mechanics of the process trusting in others to do the dirty work associated with mincing details for us.

Therein lies our main potential for failure and the carrot and pole with which public opinion can be manipulated and exploited towards serving pre-existing agenda.

Blah, blah. /Boring, old and obvious stuff everyone knew millennia ago.

I wasn't going to say anything here for awhile, but Underlankers made me feel like posting again. Thanks for that, buddy.

Comments

[mrsilence.livejournal.com]

What is your actual argument here?

That lap dances aren't choreographed? As a blanket statement I find that a dubious proposition.

Although whether or not they are choreographed I find difficult to relate to whether they should or should not be taxed.

[root-fu.livejournal.com]

1. Lapdances should be taxed. Classifying them as "dramatic or musical arts performances" does nothing to suggest the inverse opposite. Musical arts performances: taxed. Dramatic performances: taxed also. There's no precedent which suggests they should not be aside from having a purported "expert" and "anthropologist" whore out their academic credibility in arguing otherwise.

2. "The reel and trufax problem of the entire world...

Everyone. Literally: everyone, has an "expert" stashed away in their left pocket enthusiastically willing to whore out their academic and educational credibility for dollars and cents."

[msretro.livejournal.com]

In your original article, it says that dramatic or musical arts performances are tax exempt.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

I'm friends with people who are competitive strippers; they're work is definitely choreographed (they train five nights a week too). What they do is beyond just "getting your tits out for the boys".

[root-fu.livejournal.com]

So? Do you know of any dancers, performers or musicians who are not taxed when they are paid? Obviously: no. Obvious answer is obvious.

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

I'm joining the chorus that what many of them do is art.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

So you thing exotic dancing has no cultural value. Why is your opinion valid and not the opinion of someone who studies cultures for a living?

We all know that there is no higher form of evidence than the crap you make up.

[root-fu.livejournal.com]

1. Cultural value doesn't equate to a precedent whereby they are not required to pay taxes.

2. There's nothing reasonable about blindly believing anything and everything a person with a title says. Whether said title be it pope, bishop, doctor or expert -- blindly believing everything and anything they say without evidence is foolish.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

1. I don't know what you're saying here; there are plenty of precedents where things of cultural value are given tax exempt status.

2. I agree, that's why we go to school and learn how to participate in academic discussions, so we can tell which experts are BS and which aren't; this is your problem, you have no method of separating wheat from chaff other than what appears to be intuition. Trust me, a university degree (any) will far better equip you to make sense of the world than spending time lurking around conspiracy websites.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

1) So you want churches taxed, then?

[root-fu.livejournal.com]

3. Don't stereotype me. Kthx.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

Where did I do that? You have consistently denied evidence from experts from many fields, preferring to substitute your own unsubstantiated theories.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

Lap dances are essentially a luxury good, and I'm of the opinion that luxury goods should be taxed. I'm not married to this idea, but this topic is the first I've heard of such a thing so that's my gut reaction.

I have no idea what the rest of his post is talking about. More rage against academia. The paranoia about experts is very peculiar, did someone molest you with a rolled up diploma or something?

[paedraggaidin.livejournal.com]

^ This.

[mikeyxw.livejournal.com]

And a night at the ballet is a necessity?

I'd say that almost all tax exemptions should be done away with. I'd be willing to go with all if that makes it easier to implement.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

And a night at the ballet is a necessity?

If the guys are built, yes!!!!!!!!!!

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

In all seriousness I agree with you, I just took umbrage with Root Fu deciding to be the arbiter of what is and isn't culture.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Why he be hating on the free market, man?

[root-fu.livejournal.com]

If you're going to use "academic" terminology try to distinguish goods from services please.

Also, if you fail to realize the difference between goods and services it shouldn't be a big surprise that you don't understand what I'm talking about.

[deborahkla.livejournal.com]

Can someone please post some clips of men giving lap dances to women?

[mrsilence.livejournal.com]

That is an awesome idea.

[root-fu.livejournal.com]

There's no market for it. Men will pay big bucks for women to do sexual things. It doesn't imply the opposite is true, unfortunately.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

And we are to take this as so here but not with Austrian economics, which is deliberately skewed away from any real world application how and for what reason?

[root-fu.livejournal.com]

Socrates would probably get a lapdance every night if he were here.

So would Jesus, Buddha and Mohammad.

Because of course, there's only 1 possible closed minded view on everything in the world and anyone who disagrees should be punched in the face, right?