Gambler

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A gambler is a person who takes incalculable high risks and in doing so surrenders his security less to his own insight and ability than to a benevolent fate. He puts factual analyzes of the real danger situation and considerations about the consequences of his actions behind and thus plays recklessly with his and other people's lives or belongings.

Origin of the term

The term Hasard (French. [Jeu de] hasard ) is derived from Old French Hasart for "dice game", which is of Arabic YASARA for "Dice" is derived. As early as the 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales mentioned an old English game called Hazard, which was played with two dice . Over time it became such a popular game that it became synonymous with gambling in the 17th and 18th centuries . Today the English term Hazard is written (with z instead of s). In outdated editions of the German Brockhaus encyclopedia the spelling "Hazard" can also be found.

Characteristic

The gambler is considered a daredevil with little sense of responsibility. He loves risk as an end in itself and does not seek to achieve values ​​beyond risk. He is a gambler who makes daring adventures his maxim in life and takes little care of his own life and that of others. Gamblers can be found in such diverse areas of life as gambling, finance and banking, politics, the military or extreme sports . Dictators, but also greedy managers, sometimes drag their peoples or companies with this character trait into the vortex of ill-considered, dangerous actions driven by ambition, greed for money or power, which are carried out in excess, mostly in chaos, state and company bankruptcies and the destruction of many livelihoods ends.

From the area of ​​gambling, the term also found its way into psychology, philosophy and today's risk and venture research , where it characterizes a mentality and behavior similar to that of lucky knights. According to the language of Marvin Zuckerman , the gambler follows, from a physiological point of view, as a “ sensation seeker ”, an emotional state that is designed to maximize stimuli. According to the typology of Siegbert A. Warwitz , the gambler differs from a psychological point of view as a “ thrill seeker ” who strives for a mere thrill, and differs significantly from the “ skill seeker ”, whose risk is based on building skills appropriate to the threatening dangers, on a sense of responsibility and Value alignment based. The tendency to take ever greater irresponsible risks is promoted by the high media presence that can be achieved with it. It is often seen as a specific feature of our time. However, it is a phenomenon that has been present in contemporary forms in all times and societies.

Examples

  • The nurse Mathias Rust , who became known as the “Kremlin aviator”, can be seen as a prime example of a gambler: In order to create a worldwide sensation for himself, in May 1987 he undertook the flight with a small plane through the Soviet radar surveillance and a publicly effective one, technically only by chance possible landing on the Great Moskva Bridge not far from Red Square in Moscow . He not only risked the plane of his flying club, but also the high probability of being shot down by the air defense, of ending up in a Siberian prison camp or of creating considerable problems for German diplomacy for his release. In addition to the short-term success of the company, which was mainly due to the enormous fortune, he received a prison sentence, high compensation claims, an inglorious expulsion from his flying club and a life-long revocation of his pilot's license due to immaturity.
  • In the Cavalese cable car accident , two US jet pilots tried to fly under a cable car near the town of Cavalese in the Dolomites on February 3, 1998 and to document this daring act on video in order to recommend themselves to their aviation circles as daring pilots. The company failed. There was an accident : the machine cut the cableway of the mountain railway and dragged 20 people with their gondola about a hundred meters into the depths and killed them. The pilots had deliberately given false information to the aviation security authority for their project and violated a number of other regulations. The pilot and navigator were arrested and dishonorably discharged from the army, also for having destroyed evidence.

rating

Colloquially, the term “gambler” has a negative connotation . In general understanding it is combined with characteristics such as ruthlessness towards oneself and others, with a lack of risk assessment and lack of value awareness. The gambler is understood as a gambler who, as David Le Breton has already explained, largely leaves his fate to foreign factors such as chance because of the “lust for risk”.

See also

literature

  • Apter, Michael: In the intoxication of danger. Why more and more people are looking for the thrill . Munich 1994 (Original title: The Dangerous Edge. The Psychology of Excitement . New York 1992)
  • Bennett, John G .: Risk and Freedom. Hazard - the risk of realization . Chalice, Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-905272-70-9
  • Le Breton, David: Pleasure in risk . Frankfurt / Main 1995.
  • Opaschowski, Horst W .: Xtrem. The calculated madness. Extreme sport as a time phenomenon . Germa-Press Verlag 2000. ISBN 3-924865-33-7 .
  • Warwitz, Siegbert A .: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings. Explanatory models for cross-border behavior . 2., ext. Edition, Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1620-1 .
  • Warwitz, Siegbert A .: Gamblers and Seekers of Meaning , In: Ders .: From the sense of the car. Why people face dangerous challenges. In: Berg 2006, ed. v. DAV, Munich / Innsbruck / Bozen 2005. pp. 96–111.
  • Zuckerman, Marvin: Sensation Seeking. Beyond the optimal level of arousal . Hillsdale 1979

Web links

Wiktionary: Hasardeur  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Hasard, das. In: duden.de .
  2. ^ Brockhaus encyclopedia in 20 volumes, keyword Hazard , 17th edition, Wiesbaden 1969, p. 264
  3. The risk must be worth it (PDF file; 622 kB). Interview with the venture researcher SA Warwitz in bergundstieg.at. October 2011
  4. Bennet, JG: Risk and Freedom. Hazard - the risk of realization . Zurich 2005
  5. ^ Zuckerman, Marvin: Sensation Seeking. Beyond the optimal level of arousal . Hillsdale 1979
  6. Warwitz, Siegbert A .: Hasardeure und Sinnsucher , In: Ders .: Vom Sinn des Wagens. Why people face dangerous challenges. In: Berg 2006, ed. v. DAV, Munich / Innsbruck / Bozen 2005. pp. 96–111
  7. Apter, Michael: In the intoxication of danger. Why more and more people are looking for the thrill . Munich 1994
  8. ^ Opaschowski, Horst W .: Xtrem. The calculated madness. Extreme sport as a time phenomenon . Germa-Press Verlag 2000
  9. Warwitz, Siegbert A: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings. Explanatory models for cross-border behavior . Verlag Schneider, 2nd edition, Baltmannsweiler 2016
  10. ^ The luck of the adventurer Rust
  11. ^ Warwitz, Siegbert A .: Thrill or Skill. What separates the daring from the stimulus and risk fanatic . In: Ders .: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings. Explanatory models for cross-border behavior . Verlag Schneider, 2nd edition, Baltmannsweiler 2016, p. 296
  12. ^ Investigation report Dru. XXII-to n.1 of the Enquete Commission of the Italian Chamber of Deputies , p. 14
  13. Le Breton, David: Pleasure at risk . Frankfurt 1995