Great post-- and timely, considering our recent thread w/ "ideaguy", who thinks his idea is worth millions.
Ideaguy is like most of society; he thinks that having a great idea will somehow make him a fortune. Instead of taking our advice and trying to execute his idea he believes that someone else will do it for him and give him money just for his idea. He should look to the examples of pretty much every self-made millionaire or billionaire; they went through a lot of hard work before they finally succeeded and made a fortune.
Bill Gates for instance spent hours every day working on his software and he never missed a single day of work, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for the first decade of his companies existence; that's the kind of dedication it takes to become the world's richest man. The same goes for a star athlete as well; the casual observer might think that they're getting paid millions without having to work for it, but they put in years of workouts, practices, conditioning sessions, etc. from the time they were kids so that they can elevate their game to the level where they could make millions.
I think this article strikes at the heart of what is wrong w/today's media/movies-- that ignorant, outrageous, trashy behavior is rewarded, and skillful, learning (and polite) behavior is vilified.
Exactly. And, this is because most people believe in get rich quick schemes; they don't want to have to work for it. That's why society is more likely to think highly of someone who does outrageous things to get rich quickly than someone who does it the hard way, by starting a business.