FUCKERS!

[Weltall]

Y'know, it's not as if anyone puts a gun to anyone's head and forces them to buy a scratcher ticket or play a slot. Free will does exist, contrary to reports. I can tell you, having worked in a place where lotto was a large part of the business, most people, even the clearly poor ones, played the games simply because it was something to do. It was a hobby for most of them. I almost never came across anyone with the mentality that it was some kind of investment--being poor doesn't mean you're stupid. Hell, I used to see retired guys come in and play a hundred bucks worth a night simply because they had nothing better to do with their time and money, and when they won even a few thousand dollars, it was more a matter of satisfaction than excitement.

I gamble on NFL games periodically for the same reason. Sure, there's the chance that I could double my money, and I won't lie and say that I don't care about that, but the real reason I do it is because the games are far more exciting when I have a personal stake in the outcome, and I never bet more than I'm willing to lose.

Honestly, the only people I ever encountered who took the idea at face value were the people who played only because the jackpot had grown enormous and it enticed them into blowing five bucks on a longshot. That's not to say that I didn't come across some people who really did spend more money on that stuff than they should have been (usually they were the same people using foodstamp cards to buy milk), but on the whole, the people I witnessed tended to approach the whole concept pragmatically.

As I said, there are those who desperately cling to outmoded concepts. Thing is, those people have finite lifespans. Ever since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, progressivism has increased in every succeeding generation, and that's not a coincidence. You look back prior to those times, and you'll see only gradual change in social customs, political systems and (most importantly) technology. With the Industrial Revolution came the two most important elements of human advancement: the ability to spread information en masse to a literate population. Thus, the rate at which we advance, in all areas, grows exponentially, and the returns accelerate rather than diminish thanks to all the wonderful things computers can do. Information Technology was the driving force behind every major social event in the last several hundred years, be it American patriots or later, abolitionists distributing literature, the Civil Rights movement reaching everyone through the medium of television, or the countless processes driven by the Internet.

That's why there's all the reason in the world to be optimistic. Ignorance is largely bred by lack of exposure to information. Sure, there are some who retain their ignorance even with the capabilities at their disposal, but most people really aren't like that. An issue like gay marriage is being tested in many ways, for example, and it makes you think "fuck, why do people have to be so ignorant?". Thing is, twenty years ago, within all of our lifetimes, it wasn't considered, even by its staunchest supporters, to be a cause worth fighting for in any substantial manner, because in 1990, there was no chance whatsoever of gay marriage being legalized anywhere. Ten years ago, it was a far from certain thing, too. Yet, here in 2010, it's either legal, or the subject of serious discourse. In little of western civilization is the idea firmly shackled . . . and even then, their time will come.

Years ago, I had very different views on matters like this, so if you need a good example of how minds can change by exposure to information, I give you myself.