22 Dec 13

Speaking “loserese”

“I think everyone should go to college and get a degree, and then spend six
months as a bartender, and another six months as a cabdriver. Then, they
would really be educated.”

Al Mcguire

I don’t play the lottery. I refuse to, because I think the lottery is a
disgusting and inherently fraudulent way for government to extract money from
stupid people who can ill afford it. However, beyond the moral issue
noted above, I am precipitous enough to see that the odds of me winning the
lottery are exactly the same, whether I play or not. My chances are zero, ei
ther way. That being the case, I can save a lot of money by not playing,
and still be confident of the identical outcome!

At the poker table, you’ll hear, “I just about broke even,” or “I came
out a little ahead.” Both, loosely translated, come out to, “I lost money.”
Both are examples of “loserese,” and you hear it from the lips of
losers, more or less continuously. These are the same people who buy lottery
tickets naively entertaining the ridiculous notion that winning is a real
possibility. Liberal politicians love these clowns!

What they’ll never honestly confront is the fact that lies and
self-delusion represent a source of comfort for them, and have thus imbedded
themselves in their lifestyle. Accordingly, they look like losers, act like losers,
play like losers, and, as noted above, invariably sound like losers. In
fact, these are the people you want at the poker table, because you’ll
unfailingly go home with what used to be their money. Simultaneously, they’ll
go home yammering and whining about their “bad luck!”

“Loserese” is actually taught to children by our “educational system.”
Try talking with a typical American juvenile, and you’ll think it is a
second language! Far from preparing children for productive citizenship and
fulfilling adulthood, our educational system manufacturers losers, sniveling,
whining, excuse-making losers, who can’t even put together a complete
English sentence, invariably play with “scared money,” are habituated to
self-deception, constantly have their hand out, and are thus destined for short
and miserable lives.

“Luck” is nothing but a normal, bell-curve distribution of outcomes. You
don’t get any more, nor less, than anyone else. “Luck” is like a blush.
It cannot be summoned, and it cannot be commanded to stay away. It comes
unbidden and goes unbidden. And, there is nothing inherently wrong with ”
good luck,” just as there is nothing wrong with “bad luck.” However,
there is a great deal wrong, in either case, with thinking you deserve it, and,
even worse, thinking you can somehow make it happen at a particular
moment! “Believing” in luck, a foolish dependance on luck, an attachment to
luck, will cause you to “bet on the come” and will thence sabotage your game,
and your life.

“Lucky” poker players go home broke. “Lucky” Operators don’t go home at
all!

Among the first things we do when teaching people how to use guns for
serious purposes is help them to repent of loserese, repent of their loser
attitude and habits, and start playing, and living, like a champion, a champion
who thinks, sees, and plays clearly, courageously, and honestly.

That is the beginning of wisdom!

“Disconnect from ‘luck.’ Imagine that it won’t be present in your game,
won’t help you at all, and that the only way you’ll ever manage to win is
on sheer skill alone. Because, that’s the way it truly is, and if people
don’t know that by now, then I guess they’re just unlucky!”

John Vorhaus

/John