Fools And Hypocrites

According to what I just heard on the radio, tomorrow's Power Ball jackpot is up to one and a half billion dollars. Quite a bit. It's approaching a billion dollars more than the highest jackpot to date. As of the moment that's more than the budgets of six nations, and in all likelihood it will exceed more before the drawing.

You're not likely to win (the odds are over 292 million to one against you) but someone, or several people, probably will. But with the payoff far greater than 292 million to one, the odds are in your favor. All it takes is “a dollar and a dream.” (Actually I think the cost of a ticket is two dollars, but the risk/benefit ratio, if you can afford it, is in your favor. Even if it's three.) Fantasy conquers reality.

Let's forget about the odds, though. The nation has invested a billion and a half dollars in fantasy. And for what? The individual states decide how to use the profits and, for the most part, it's funneled into a variety of state needs. Various states tout the use for education, but the reality is that America doesn't educate all that well (in a survey of math and science grades – the ones that tell us how we'll do in our future development as compared to other countries – we ranked 28^th) despite the fact that we spend the most per pupil. Mostly, though, I suspect the money is used to cover a range of budgetary shortfalls and pork-barrel projects. And since lotteries are popular among those with a lower income (it's not all that hot among the fabled one percent who know better) it's a tax on those least able to pay it (of course no one forces them to buy tickets).

Also in the news is the latest installment of Star Wars. It's gross, after only three and a half weeks, is approaching two billion dollars world-wide. And when you consider the “franchise” of Star Wars movies you're close to seven billion. So far. That, however, isn't the record for either a single movie or a franchise – Avatar leads in the former category and the Harry Potter series in the latter. More examples of the triumph of fantasy.

And fantasy also takes precedence over human needs. I heard an advertisement this morning – a solicitation for a charity that claimed to help children with cleft palate and other facial deformities. They stated that they can bless such a child with a smile for about sixty dollars. People, however, would rather look at imaginary monsters with hideous faces than help those with real problems. Seven billion dollars would go a long way in easing the lives of the unfortunate.

But people are concerned with reality in some ways. Their own appearance is worth spending money. The Coen brothers released a movie entitled Burn After Reading that told the story of the lengths that a woman went to to get the money for surgery that would improve her appearance. Several people died as a result of her quest. The movie may have been intended as a farce, but Americans enriched the cosmetics industry with more than sixty billion dollars last year. (That doesn't include the costs in money and time spent on plastic surgery.) They did it in the belief that they could look younger or better with the help of some concoction available in their pharmacy or other store. Fantasy.

And that is where society finds itself. Rather than deal with real problems which others may face, we focus on ourselves – physically, financially, and in terms of our imaginations. We consider the chance of winning for ourselves rather than the chance of helping someone else. Our own amusement and our own appearance are paramount. Our imaginations and our fantasies are our primary concerns.

We're fools if we believe that. And hypocrites if we demand that others help the afflicted while we don't do so ourselves.