While I am very much a freedom person that thinks that people should be allowed to destroy their lives how they see fit, I am not a fan of the government being involved in particular vices and then working in lockstep with the media to convince people that things that are very likely to not work out for them, WILL work out for them even if they aren't trying.
I don't think there are many places where this is more true than the government-funded and government-sponsored lottery system.
In this particular story the tale of a Maryland man (one of the states known for extreme poverty) went to casually get some fried chicken and while he was "enjoying his meal" he casually decided to get some lottery tickets. He won $50 on the first $50 on the second and a cool $1 million on the third.
I don't want to focus too much on the statistical impossibility of this happening and since I have a profound distrust of the media generally speaking, I'm presuming that this situation is completely made up.
The winner said he has been playing the lottery for more than 30 years, and has previously collected two $50,000 prizes, as well as a $10,000 prize just a few weeks ago.
Bullshit!
The odds of you ever coming out on top in the lottery is astronomical. The system wouldn't work if that wasn't the case just like all casinos are rigged in favor of the house so that the people who are there are constantly losing money. The business or the lottery simply wouldn't work if it functioned any other way.
To me these are obvious lies, especially since they do not talk about who the man actually is. In times past they have mentioned a name but when you search for it there is nothing there. You would think that if someone was this fortunate with the lottery that other news stations would be all over it. What are the chances that someone wins this frequently and isn't paid attention to? I believe that if someone was winning this often that they would also be investigated for fraud. Yet, none of these things happen.
The lottery is known by almost everyone to be a fool's venture and a sure-fire way of pissing your money away. Do people win every now and then? Sure! But more often than not these people spend a great deal of money in order to win a lower-tier prize and if we did the math, we would find out that a vast majority of people lose huge amounts of money in the hopes that they are going to hit bit one day. It's like a guy at a roulette table that just keeps doubling down on red because he "knows" it has to hit soon.
The lottery in all US States sells a pipe dream and even if you do win, the government is going to take nearly 50% of the winnings back from you anyway, which is just another form of bullshit. How are you going to tax me on something that you sold me?
The claims that the winnings go into improving school systems also sounds like a bunch of hogwash to me as well.
The media presents the lottery as some sort of casual thing that you can fall ass-backwards into winning huge sums of money and honestly, this simply is not the case. The lies that are told constantly cannot be confirmed and therefore they continually get away with it.
I don't think that any sensible person is going to fall for this and this is what makes me even more upset. Articles like this prey on the weak-minded and perhaps the elderly and these are our most at-risk segments of society. It's not enough that they are already poor, the government themselves seek to take what little they have left away from them.... and the media helps them to do it.
