buffet vs. nba star

W

windsurf

Recycles dryer sheets
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Mar 31, 2005
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Last weekend W. Buffet was front row sideline at a CAVS game. For the NBA challenged, the Cavs feature 22 year old phenom, LeBron James. Today's Beacon Journal (Ohio.com) featured Lebron's 35,000 square foot abode that is under construction featuring a theatre, recording studio, bowling alley, barber shop (:confused:), etc., etc. My recollection is that Warren lives in a nondescript abode and lives way below the radar. I understand that a 22 year old with unlimited funds can live out any fantasy but, nevertheless, I feel a pang that one of my (sports) heroes is so uncosnscious (my presumption) about his message. Conspicuous consumption, drives a Hummer, "see me use it up . . . ." See the irony?
 
windsurf said:
See the irony?
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No.
εἴρων (eiron), is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says, and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history). Irony may also arise from a discordance between acts and results, especially if it is striking, and known to a later audience. A certain kind of irony may result from the act of pursuing a desired outcome, resulting in the opposite effect, but again, only if this is known to a third party. In this case the aesthetic arises from the realization that an effort is sharply at odds with an outcome, and that in fact the very effort has been its own undoing.

More generally, irony is understood as an aesthetic valuation by an audience, which relies on a sharp discordance between the real and the ideal, and which is variously applied to texts, speech, events, acts, and even fashion. All the different senses of irony revolve around the perceived notion of an incongruity, or a gap, between an understanding of reality, or expectation of a reality, and what actually happens.

There are different kinds of irony. For example:

* Tragic (or dramatic) irony occurs when a character on stage or in a story is ignorant, but the audience watching knows his or her eventual fate, as in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet.
* Socratic irony takes place when someone (classically a teacher) pretends to be foolish or ignorant, in order to expose the ignorance of another (and the teaching-audience, but not the student-victim, realizes the teacher's ploy).
* Cosmic irony is a sharp incongruity between our expectation of an outcome and what actually occurs.

Ironically, the majority of people will not notice this irony on a day to day basis.
 
I can see the irony.

22 year old who shoots hoops for a living has a 35,000 sf mansion.

No. 2 richest man in the world has a house 1/10th the size and a much more modest lifestyle/demeanor.

You would expect the No. 2 richest man in the world to live to much greater excesses than he does, whereas Lebron, a man of much more modest means, would be expected to live at a lower standard of living.

The wealth of these two gentlemen differ by a few orders of magnitude. The lifestyles would presumably differ to a similar extent. The irony is in the unexpected outcome.
 
Warren's compensation is $100,000 a year he draws as a salary.

When asked why he didn't take more, his reponse:

"I live in Omaha, and that's ALL I NEED to live comfortably on"............ :D :D
 
justin said:
I can see the irony.

22 year old who shoots hoops for a living has a 35,000 sf mansion.

No. 2 richest man in the world has a house 1/10th the size and a much more modest lifestyle/demeanor.

You would expect the No. 2 richest man in the world to live to much greater excesses than he does, whereas Lebron, a man of much more modest means, would be expected to live at a lower standard of living.

The wealth of these two gentlemen differ by a few orders of magnitude. The lifestyles would presumably differ to a similar extent. The irony is in the unexpected outcome.
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I've never understood the excitement about Buffet's lifestyle. As Bob Brinker likes to say "Money isn't a collectable" so you should do something with it.

Mr. James is a terrific talent, and should enjoy his home whatever the size. He can probably afford several of them.
 
windsurf said:
Last weekend W. Buffet was front row sideline at a CAVS game. For the NBA challenged, the Cavs feature 22 year old phenom, LeBron James.
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Give the man a break-- he's sought out Buffett for advice and presumably he'll eventually come around. They can't all be David Robinson (USNA '87).

It used to astound Buffett that Graham would analyze securities in his Columbia class and yet never invested in them. Maybe Graham felt it crossed the ethics line, but the teacher passed up dozens of opportunities that the students profited handsomely from and probably used to pay their tuition.

So right now maybe Lebron is taking Buffett's advice to not save sex for old age...
 
I find it ironic that Dex cited an encyclopedic explication of irony (without attribution) and missed at least two instances of irony in my post and even more ironic that I will be cheering for the Young Man to score 30 or 40 tonight as the Cavs seek to gain home court advantage for the playoffs.
 
dex said:
* Cosmic irony is a sharp incongruity between our expectation of an outcome and what actually occurs.
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Seems a pretty good fit when in fact the world second richest man lives a simple life while the world's 5 millionth richest (guess) spends 100 times more. This is a "sharp incongruity between our expectation of an outcome and what actually occurs."
 
bbuzzard said:
Seems a pretty good fit when in fact the world second richest man lives a simple life while the world's 5 millionth richest (guess) spends 100 times more. This is a "sharp incongruity between our expectation of an outcome and what actually occurs."
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They are from two DIFFERENT ERAS..........Buffett was born during the Depression, and Lebron was born in the "age of entitlement"................ ;)
 
Apart from the environmental impact, which is a whole 'nother issue, I don't think there's anything entitled about James's house -- at least he earned his own money. What I do find amusing, though, is that he has talked about wanting to be the first "sports billionaire" -- this doesn't seem like a good start, because I'm not sure how much a multi-million dollar home in rural Ohio will appreciate given the low resale demand.
 
S said:
Apart from the environmental impact, which is a whole 'nother issue, I don't think there's anything entitled about James's house. What I do find amusing, though, is that he has talked about wanting to be the first "sports billionaire" -- this doesn't seem like a good start, because I'm not sure how much a multi-million dollar homes in rural Ohio will appreciate given the low resale demand.
Click to expand...

My bet Tiger will beat him there...
 
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