LDS Church reacts to sale of free Christmas concert tickets

[myboynoah]

Predictably, I think it's inappropriate.

[wuapinmon]

It's amusing to me in threads such as this to see how predictable certain people are. Cardiac (who is one of my favorite people on this site, btw) fell right in line as well.

How would you guess I feel about it?

[Uncle Ted]

I thought the church had already learned its lesson about trying to live the United Order of Enoch back in the 1830s. Obviously communalist utopian societies still don't work in these latter days. If the demand is greater than the supply then, of course, there will be people that will try to capitalize on it. The church should have just sold them first come first serve to begin with and used the profits to help the needy.

[smokymountainrain]

How would you guess I feel about it?

If I had to guess, I'd say you're okay with people selling the tickets - that said, I don't think it's all that difficult to be sympathetic to both sides of this one, so I wouldn't be surprised if you were somewhere in the middle either.

[wuapinmon]

If I had to guess, I'd say you're okay with people selling the tickets - that said, I don't think it's all that difficult to see both sides of this one, so I wouldn't be surprised if you were somewhere in the middle either.

Unless it's against the law, I have no problem with it. I think it's okay for the Church to say that they don't like it, that it's inappropriate, but if I had tickets, I would sell them and take Mrs. wuap out to dinner somewhere expensive like Ruby Tuesday or Fridays. Unless she wanted to go.

[smokymountainrain]

Unless it's against the law, I have no problem with it. I think it's okay for the Church to say that they don't like it, that it's inappropriate, but if I had tickets, I would sell them and take Mrs. wuap out to dinner somewhere expensive like Ruby Tuesday or Fridays. Unless she wanted to go.

Hey, if you're among the poor and needy Cardiac refers to, more power to ya, I say!

[statman]

Supply and demand.

I had three other words in mind - cheap Mormon bastards. Always on the look out to make a quick buck, regardless of how tacky the methods.

[Surfah]

I had three other words in mind - cheap Mormon bastards. Always on the look out to make a quick buck, regardless of how tacky the methods.

Pretty much what I was thinking too.

[RobinFinderson]

I had three other words in mind - cheap Mormon bastards. Always on the look out to make a quick buck, regardless of how tacky the methods.

Hey, statman, don't pick on tacky. If you were to take the tacky out of the Utah economy, there wouldn't be much left.

[BlueHair]

I fail to see how saying I think it's okay to sell things you get for free is the same as criticizing the church. Back in the Stockton and Malone days, I was given a pair of 3rd row Jazz playoff tickets from a vendor we worked with. They were playing the Sonics and I believe it was Game 7, but might have been Game 6. As we were walking in the game, a guy offered us $600 for the pair. I wanted to take the deal and watch the game at a sportsbar. My wife (ex-wife now) insisted we go to the game because that opportunity might never come up again.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I fail to see how saying I think it's okay to sell things you get for free is the same as criticizing the church. Back in the Stockton and Malone days, I was given a pair of 3rd row Jazz playoff tickets from a vendor we worked with. They were playing the Sonics and I believe it was Game 7, but might have been Game 6. As we were walking in the game, a guy offered us $600 for the pair. I wanted to take the deal and watch the game at a sportsbar. My wife (ex-wife now) insisted we go to the game because that opportunity might never come up again.

It was game 6. Game 7 was on a Sunday in Seattle, the Jazz should have won that game that was a heartbreaker. I think the Jazz lost by 3.

[statman]

I'm trying to understand this statement:



Free tickets doesn't mean that "everyone" will have the opportunity to attend. Do stupid people write this stuff?

And won't the fact that the tickets are being bought by people who are motivated to attend (rather than just going unused by people who aren't big David Archuletta and/or MoTab fans) mean that MORE people will probably attend?


And why should the Church begrudge a small profit to people who need a little extra money more than they need concert tickets during tough economic times?

What's next? Conference tickets? Temple recommends? After all, why begrudge them a profit? If there's a market, no one should be upset by someone selling.

And as to the church's statement, the operant word is OPPORTUNITY. In a lottery system, everyone who enters has an opportunity to win. If entering doesn't cost anything, no one is barred economically from entry and everyone who has interest enough to enter, does in fact have an opportunity. Which begs the question - "Do stupid people write this stuff?"

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

What's next? Conference tickets? Temple recommends? After all, why begrudge them a profit? If there's a market, no one should be upset by someone selling.

You sound like a great defender of capitalism.

[statman]

Hey, statman, don't pick on tacky. If you were to take the tacky out of the Utah economy, there wouldn't be much left.

For a group of people so concerned about the importance of being "classy," they sure don't behave that way as a group. There's nothing 'classy' about MLMs, false health claims from food additives, or fly-by-night real estate investment groups. But I can think of plenty of things about them that are tacky...

A little anecdote from a couple weeks ago - a guy in my ward works for a company in one of the tacky industries above (corporate HQ). They've been looking for a manager of their forecasting & analytics group for some time now, and he knew that's what I do - so he asked. It would be for more money, closer to home, etc. But it would be for a company in which I see no redeeming qualities. They rip people off with a ridiculously expensive product that has none of the claimed benefits. On top of that, because of the sleaziness of the company, they're a Federal lawsuit (or ruling by the FTC) away from non-existence. WAY too high a risk to quit a relatively secure job in favor of that one.

When I told the guy I wasn't interested and why, he was flabbergasted. How could I not love company X? It's an awesome place to work! Awemome maybe, if you like snake-oil salesmen, but definitely tacky. And when you're tacky and big, you draw attention to your tackiness. And you'll soon find yourself either no longer trendy and out of business, or under Federal investigation and out of business.

[RC Vikings]

I fail to see how saying I think it's okay to sell things you get for free is the same as criticizing the church. Back in the Stockton and Malone days, I was given a pair of 3rd row Jazz playoff tickets from a vendor we worked with. They were playing the Sonics and I believe it was Game 7, but might have been Game 6. As we were walking in the game, a guy offered us $600 for the pair. I wanted to take the deal and watch the game at a sportsbar. My wife (ex-wife now) insisted we go to the game because that opportunity might never come up again.

Being Sonics vs Jazz you should have taken the money and run. Only if it was the Bulls vs Jazz in the finals would I have had to think twice about that deal.