Primrose Road

"Thus, poker is a game that has often been cited as the expression of all the complex attitudes and unspoken values of a competitive society. It calls for shrewdness, aggression, trickery, and unflattering appraisals of character. It is said women cannot play poker well because it stimulates their curiosity, and curiosity is fatal in poker. Poker is intensely individualist, allowing no place for kindness or consideration, but only for the greatest good of the greatest number -- the number one. It is in this perspective that it is easy to see why war has been called the sport of kings ... Kings can play poker with kingdoms, as the generals of their armies do with troops. They can bluff and deceive their opponent about their resources and their intentions. What disqualifies war from being a true game is probably what also disqualifies the stock market and business -- the rules are not fully known nor accepted by all the players. Furthermore, the audience is too fully participant in war and business, just as in a native society there is no true art because everybody is engaged in making art." --- Marshall McLuhan