DC Trawler

Nothing has any value. No, seriously.

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Via Samizdata.net, here’s a neat summation of a fundamental principle:

Nothing has value unless people agree it does, no matter how much labor goes into it. To use a recent example, a degree in Comparative Semiotics has no value when you’re looking for a job, no matter how much time, effort, and money you put into it, if employers aren’t looking for those “skills.” This holds true no matter how many parks you ruin, how many chants you chant, or how many cop cars you poop on. If anything, your tantrums will probably decrease your value to a prospective employer, assuming you get photographed without your Guy Fawkes mask.

Or, to use a more personal example: All those boxes and boxes of Barack the Barbarian #1 I bought back in 2009, expecting them to skyrocket in value, are now worthless because it’s not 2009 anymore.

Which isn’t to say they’re entirely without value. I’ve been saving a ton on Charmin.