Quote:
Originally Posted by Hero Value
While I understand this analogy, it doesn't quite work.
The Catholic Church and what it is/does is already known to the general public, prior to hearing about news for it. This isn't the same with poker.
Generally for poker, what's heard about by the general public or what's broadcast in the wider media are just bad things. So because of this the general populace gets a skewed view of poker and the industry, as they almost never hear about any of the good. And don't care about the tens of thousands of successful stakes and transactions from trustworthy members of the community. That stuff just doesn't get reported (as it isn't interesting to the media, and doesn't make "news").
So because of this people outside of poker general only get the really ****ty view of it, and that's all they think and know of it. So I can understand wanting to try to skew the sample that's exposed to them a little less.
It's the exact opposite of what you're saying, not even close, and you'd have to be deeply dishonest or a bit slow to say otherwise.
Tournaments by nature show the fun side of gambling because it's always a final table where everyone is winning. Casinos don't want to show the losers. The people who lose don't want to be revealed. The sites that pay for advertisements on the tv shows don't want to. It's in everyone's interest to put on a big smile and pretend like everythings peachy.
There're also charity events that get publicity, famous people playing poker that get play time on major networks, and large tournaments that get attention from local newspapers or stations that want to celebrate a hometown hero.
The only time the dark side of poker gets aired is when it's an enormous scandal like AP/UB, or it's an article about problem gambling more generally but poker is used as an example. This is a tiny fraction of the air time poker gets.
