h a l f b a k e r yQuis custodiet the custard?
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Lottery tickets are sold in the usual way at a fixed price. The purchaser must also give a confirmed and verifiable name and address.
Once a week, the lottery is drawn. The winner receives the jackpot, less expenses.
Another draw is held secretly. The "winner" is painlessly assassinated within
three days. Their name and details are published before the next draw.
This scheme would neatly illustrate the negative side of gambling.
better
http://www.enotes.com/lottery
"painlessly?" Where's the violence? [mouseposture, Feb 02 2010]
Similar idea
http://www.associat...t_story.html?cat=38
Short story with just the volence bit [kodabar, Feb 05 2010]
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You need to study humans more seriously. Tell someone
they have a one in 10 million chance of dying and they won't
bat an earlid. Tell them they've a one in 10 million chance of
winning the jackpot and they'll be pretty sure it's worth a
shot. |
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Of course this is sick, illegal etc. but if it did exist I think it would be fairly popular. It is an appealing mix of chance, danger and fatalism. Although no one wants to die, I think people find some comfort in the certainty that death brings. |
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I could see this being popular amoung the deeply depressed. It wouldn't be a matter of 'risk'; it would be a matter of two possible desirable outcomes - an end to their problems through death, or an end to their problems through the sudden means to start over. |
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[gisho] I was about to say how wrong you are, but actually
there would be that appeal. |
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In a similar vein, perhaps there could be some sort of morbid
game show where contenders take a gamble to either lose
their life and leave all their possessions to the next
contender, or live and get all the previous contender's
possessions. If this were iterated through several rounds,
the final round could be very lucrative. |
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[MaxwellBuchanan], I'm not sure that 'all somebody's stuff' would be enticing enough to make people go on a game show where they might die - the 'Lottery with Violence' isn't any less dignified than a normal suicide. But given the strange things people will do for money on reality TV, I might be wrong. |
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However, I agree with you that this wouldn't have the intended outcome of highlighting the dangers of gambling. Maybe if it were scaled down and spread around? One in a million people gets a million bucks, twenty of them get their arm broken by a mysterious masked figure? They then live to warn other people not to gamble. |
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Now there's an idea, [MB]. You should post that, |
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I don't understand how:
//This scheme would neatly illustrate the negative side of gambling.// |
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I thought the negative side of gambling was the possibility of getting addicted or spending more than you can afford. Your comment seems to imply normal gambling = small chance of death. |
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I'd bun this idea, because people who buy lottery tickets shouldn't propagate their genetic material (IMHO), but methinks you are fishing, [8th]. |
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If we were fishing, we would expect fishbones ... |
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This reminds me of The Long Walk by Stephen King. Basically, each participants cost to society is tallied up and the last person left walking at the end gets what society would have spent on the lot of them. |
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//Although no one wants to die, I think people find some
comfort in the certainty that death brings.// |
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So true, I think it's the most valuable piece of text in this
post. |
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[kodabar] //similar idea// Well, yes, in formal logic "similar"
does include "same." |
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I could back "slap-off" tickets instead of scratch off tickets. |
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I occasionally buy a lottery ticket, so I get slightly irked when I hear sanctimonious opinions that gambling is only for people who can't do math or "shouldn't propagate their genetic material". |
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Gambling doesn't (usually) have a tangible outcome for the participant, but nor do a lot of other 'wholesome' activities; e.g. donating money to charity. You pay your money, you get a buzz. You hope for a better future for yourself and for others. |
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//You pay your money, you get a buzz//
With this idea, you may get a buzz-saw! |
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//Their name and details are published before the next draw.// |
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Why publish it? Why even assassinate anyone? People die naturally, and people are naturally paranoid. Let the combination work for you. |
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