"Ghostlight, can you explain that? Seems to me that sitting in pain to watch a show just to get your money's worth is a lot like wearing painful shoes to get your money's worth. Leaving the show you are in pain watching or taking off the shoes that give you a pain and letting either thing go is very much the same thing. You won't get your money back in either case, but you haven't suffered to get your money's worth. Get it? " Certainly. I get what you're trying to say, and even agree with you. How are you getting your money's worth if you're not enjoying yourself? That makes no sense to me, though I do understand the exception that bway7000 makes. The problem is that you're using bad analogies to express your thoughts. For starters, I have never been "miserable" or "in pain" or wanted to commit suicide while watching a bad show. That seems like silly hyperbole to me to elevate your lack of enjoyment of a show to actual pain and suffering. That may be the kind of thing that Barney Stinsen is talking about when s/he says some people take themselves too seriously.
But we can leave that aside, because the real reason I find fallacy in your second analogy is for the same reason the first one was. A bad meal is almost never going to improve. Ill-fitting shoes will always be ill-fitting and cause pain. These things can't change gears, reveal a surprise turn, become something different from what they started out as. A show you aren't enjoying can, and often does, take a turn and become something you can appreciate.
"If anyone can tell me what on earth happened in that play, I'll buy them [a cheap] dinner" I could, musikman, but it will take more time and effort than a cheap dinner is worth. I also loved Rock and Roll (and Parade, Titanic, Democracy, QED and Copenhagen).
Updated On: 6/8/11 at 12:53 PM
