Originally Posted by darth*winbid*
LOL ...the irony here is that I'm a democratic socialist who understands capitalism as "reality", but certainly not a socialist.
Everyone always wants to simplify things, in order to create some false sense of this=good because I believe it is good & this=bad because it is bad and therefore all bad things that I've deemed to be bad, ever, must be within it.
I have many fond hobby stories to share. I started with cards in 1987 and have been hooked since. I was happy with what I got back then as a kid, and I still have a large amount of Don Mattingly cards from that era. But we were also taught not to expect things to be handed to us, and even though I really wanted the Ken Griffey from the 1989 Upper Deck box, it was more expensive, and my Mom couldn't afford it. I did yard work to save up for cards. I eventually saved enough for the Griffey, while simultaneously learning the value of hard work. There were many, many cards I wanted, but would never be able to afford them all. THAT WAS OK. I did not end up in therapy because of baseball cards not being readily available to me as a child.
My girlfriend helps me look for items to flip as well. She thinks your comments are cute.
Do you pay for music? Or just download for free? I ask, because among other things besides flipping, I write. I write scripts, I write songs. My GF plays music with me as well. Do you pay for music? Or is that owed to you like baseball cards are?
Side note observation: funny that "jcardstore" says he never intended to sell cards, yet his name is "jcardstore".
2nd side note observation: I predict no one who mentions "the kids" actually have kids, and are in their 20's with all of life's actual worries (food, shelter, health care) taken care of. They go to one retail outlet, decide to pass on the plethora of readily available cards that are there because those are not the "hot" ones, and that's the extent of the effort to find something.
Also, the previous comment about "buying a set at much cheaper" made me ponder, where do those sets come from? Flippers? People who buy so much of a product that they can then sell said sets at an affordable price to "collectors" who complain in a baseball card forum about flippers? You would spend much more in buying boxes to find the one card you may be looking for, or to build a set. There are positives to the current state of things for collectors.
I don't currently drive around and clean them out, but I used to, and see nothing wrong with it. Pack searchers suck. Bootleg card printers who steal images suck (search "Aaron Judge Derby card"). There are red lines. I just don't see hoarding as being one of them. It's not medicine.
This thread has been fun. I don't think anyone is a bad person, opinions on the internets are just weird and utterly as meaningless as some hypothetical idolized consumer product.
The joy from dancing around the tree...I know what the true value in the room that day was, and it sure wasn't a stupid baseball card.
|