There is a new buzzword being thrown around my campus and it's Entrepreneurship. I can't count the amount of vacuous discussions I have to listen to about the "virtues" of entrepreneurship. To top it all off the University seems intent on pouring thousands of dollars into various entrepreneurial programs. The only question I have amidst all of this hysteria is whether anyone actually knows what entrepreneurship is? I mean can anyone give me a hard definition for Entrepreneurship? The scary thing is that there are some here on campus who think they can. From what I learned in high school, entrepreneurship is supposed to be something that's undefinable. Anything could possibly be in the realm of Entrepreneurship, that's what makes it so magical and gooey at the center. When we have organizations "teaching" entrepreneurship, unless all they're saying is "do something" then they're distorting the free spirited nature of entrepreneurship.
But who cares? Entrepreneurship in America is probably the most unbecoming part of our history. Yes, I said it. American entrepreneurship, which is often our claim to fame and economic security, is a farce. The entrepreneur isn't the content creator, instead he often takes the ideas from people around him and then forces people to pay for them. Let's take for example one of the greatest entrepreneur's of all time: Thomas Edison. For the sake of time and because he explains it far better than I do, go check out this comic about Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla. It explains how awesome Nikola Tesla was and the true nature of the entrepreneurial spirit in Edison. In fact, this comic has given me a good definition for entrepreneurship today: "the only thing [entrepreneurship] truly pioneered is douchebaggery." So in short entrepreneurship for all intents and purposes is simply the study of douchebaggery.
Entrepreneurs are the one uppers in the world. They want to play the game and they're willing to do what ever it takes to get there. Gone are the days of risk and reward. Entrepreneurs are taught that you make the game as fair for you as you possibly can. This means taking out other businesses. This means being deceitful and deceptive. Entrepreneurs rarely make content. They simply frame it and then ship it off. Let's take a top 10 list of entrepreneurs and see how many of them has actually invented something novel.
list from: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5519861/#.UVL_kjeFX68
1. King Croesus- this is one of the few people on the list who actually created something. He created money. This doesn't surprise me since the only thing entrepreneurs study is douchebaggery and the creation of money for the purpose of putting yourself in a lavish lifestyle (which is exactly what he did) is the most douchebag thing I can think of.
2. Pope Sixtus IV- made people pay for sins. Again sins have always existed. Just making people pay for it isn't novel.
3. Benjamin Franklin- another one of the few legitimate entrepreneurs here. I probably wouldn't even call him an entrepreneur, but give him the benefit of the doubt.
4. P.T. Barnum- created the modern circus. Circuses have always existed, he just commercialized them and made it so that more people payed him for it. A classic entrepreneurial move.
5. Thomas Edison- refer to article above
6. Henry Ford- Ford falls into the same category as Edison. A man who invented nothing, but found ways to streamline everything.
7. Benjamin Seigel- invented Las Vegas, again douchebaggery
8. Ray Kroc- founded McDonalds. Oh wait, no he didn't he, bought them out and then stream lined them. The burger joint to begin with wasn't special and because of him we have scores of obesity within this country (not only because of him, just being dramatic is all)
9. H Ross Perot- hired by two government organizations to do "data processing". While I'm sure that's a critical faculty in American business now, I'm not impressed by him, but impressed by the US gov for jumping on the wagon earlier.
10. Steve Jobs- apple is special, but not all that special. Most of apples success has come from their ardent branding of their product. Sure Jobs created modern typography (through a humanities course by the way), but other than that most of apples achievements are purely that of the aesthetic and profit.
So, we've just proven that the entrepreneurs in our country are mostly ass hats, who probably shouldn't be the people we ask our kids and ourselves to strive to be like. The question then remains: who should we honor and respect? Well should've seen this coming.
But who cares? Entrepreneurship in America is probably the most unbecoming part of our history. Yes, I said it. American entrepreneurship, which is often our claim to fame and economic security, is a farce. The entrepreneur isn't the content creator, instead he often takes the ideas from people around him and then forces people to pay for them. Let's take for example one of the greatest entrepreneur's of all time: Thomas Edison. For the sake of time and because he explains it far better than I do, go check out this comic about Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla. It explains how awesome Nikola Tesla was and the true nature of the entrepreneurial spirit in Edison. In fact, this comic has given me a good definition for entrepreneurship today: "the only thing [entrepreneurship] truly pioneered is douchebaggery." So in short entrepreneurship for all intents and purposes is simply the study of douchebaggery.
Entrepreneurs are the one uppers in the world. They want to play the game and they're willing to do what ever it takes to get there. Gone are the days of risk and reward. Entrepreneurs are taught that you make the game as fair for you as you possibly can. This means taking out other businesses. This means being deceitful and deceptive. Entrepreneurs rarely make content. They simply frame it and then ship it off. Let's take a top 10 list of entrepreneurs and see how many of them has actually invented something novel.
list from: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5519861/#.UVL_kjeFX68
1. King Croesus- this is one of the few people on the list who actually created something. He created money. This doesn't surprise me since the only thing entrepreneurs study is douchebaggery and the creation of money for the purpose of putting yourself in a lavish lifestyle (which is exactly what he did) is the most douchebag thing I can think of.
2. Pope Sixtus IV- made people pay for sins. Again sins have always existed. Just making people pay for it isn't novel.
3. Benjamin Franklin- another one of the few legitimate entrepreneurs here. I probably wouldn't even call him an entrepreneur, but give him the benefit of the doubt.
4. P.T. Barnum- created the modern circus. Circuses have always existed, he just commercialized them and made it so that more people payed him for it. A classic entrepreneurial move.
5. Thomas Edison- refer to article above
6. Henry Ford- Ford falls into the same category as Edison. A man who invented nothing, but found ways to streamline everything.
7. Benjamin Seigel- invented Las Vegas, again douchebaggery
8. Ray Kroc- founded McDonalds. Oh wait, no he didn't he, bought them out and then stream lined them. The burger joint to begin with wasn't special and because of him we have scores of obesity within this country (not only because of him, just being dramatic is all)
9. H Ross Perot- hired by two government organizations to do "data processing". While I'm sure that's a critical faculty in American business now, I'm not impressed by him, but impressed by the US gov for jumping on the wagon earlier.
10. Steve Jobs- apple is special, but not all that special. Most of apples success has come from their ardent branding of their product. Sure Jobs created modern typography (through a humanities course by the way), but other than that most of apples achievements are purely that of the aesthetic and profit.
So, we've just proven that the entrepreneurs in our country are mostly ass hats, who probably shouldn't be the people we ask our kids and ourselves to strive to be like. The question then remains: who should we honor and respect? Well should've seen this coming.
Artist
When I use the word artist, I use it in the most broad sense possible. Artist are the people who explore the unknown. The ones who tussle with new notions and consistently fail. Artists are scientist before their experiments. Artist are inventors and innovators, who are driven by pure knowledge. Writers that work to explore the human condition. These are the people who take risks. These are the people who potentially live their lives in agonizing poverty because they are never fully credited for their work (mostly due to the antics of the douchebag entrepreneurs). They are the claim to fame for America.
Does this mean everyone should be Artist? No. You don't have to take on that herculean task of exploring the unknown. But you should at least respect those who choose to attempt it. More importantly, don't respect entrepreneurs in their current function. If entrepreneurs start doing more innovating and less douchebaggery, maybe they'll be respected too.
nice post
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