The craze over the Lottery to me indicates that Americans would much rather get their money in a way that requires absolutely no work, rather than working hard doing a job they love. This fantasy of winning the lottery coerces people to buy a lottery ticket. The interesting thing to me is that the odds of winning are so minuscule, yet thousands upon thousands of people still buy tickets.
The odds of winning the Jackpot were at 1 in 176 million. That is such a ridiculously small chance of winning that I would think it would turn some people off from buying the tickets. Boy was I wrong about that. Anyway, I found this hilarious Times article that compared the odds of winning the lottery to the odds of other funny, random things. Here are some of my favorites:
Chances of dating a supermodel: 1 in 88,000
Chances of dying by falling off of a ladder: 1 in 2.3 million
Chances of drowning in the bathtub: 1 in 840,000
Chances of dying by getting hit by a vending machine: 1 in 112 million
Despite these odds, Americans don't cease to buy a ticket for a chance to win. This tells me a couple of things about Americans: Like I mentioned earlier, they would rather have to do no work to get an absurd amount of money that they have no need for. Second, that they care more about money than doing what they love.
Do you think this is the case with all Americans - do they worship money? Or is it just a craze due to the lottery?
I think that the idea of the American Dream plays a large role in the lottery. Everyone wants to have money. I'm not saying that everyone is materialistic, but so much of society depends on money that it's necessary for almost anything. Anything that can help people achieve the goal of more money becomes justified. In addition to that, the return is amazing. Sure, the odds are never in your favor, but you could win $580 million for only paying under $10. I wouldn't call it "worship of money," but that's definitely the reason for the craze around the lottery.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with Sean so far as to say that there is a craze surrounding the lottery, but I would also say that Americans do worship money due to the capitalist nature of America. While I agree with some of your questions, I have some qualms with some of the conclusions that you draw in the second to last paragraph. I think your first conclusion is almost a given - I mean, it's a question of why not prefer to have a lot of money? It's human nature, I don't think it's specific to Americans. I also disagree with your second conclusion. Many Americans pursue careers they dislike because of the money, but I would argue that just as many pursue a career they are passionate about. I agree with Sean that it comes down to the odds, and it's worth sacrificing 5$ to possibly make 580 million $.
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