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Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

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Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#481

Post by hitarpetar »

adriand wrote: post #266
throw0101d wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s reflective of people losing hope in the system’s ability to make their lives better. Kyla Scanlon (?) coined the term "financial nihilism" to describe this feeling: * https://kyla.substack.com/p/gen-z-and-financial-nihilism She thinks it's why things like cryptocurrencies/BTC have taken off: it's a chance to 'hit the jackpot', as many folks don't see another way to (financial) success.

I’m genuinely curious to what extent the hardships younger people face economically are related to wasting huge amounts of time on screens. The average Gen Z person spends nine hours per day on screens. The average 18-24 year old American spends more than three hours per day just on social media. I recognize all the various societal and structural factors that disadvantage younger people. At the same time, people hav…

> there are teams of psychologists working to make these products as addictive as possible

> is this just victim blaming?

seems like you answered your own question

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#483

Post by tietjens »

piva00 wrote: post #301
adriand wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m genuinely curious to what extent the hardships younger people face economically are related to wasting huge amounts of time on screens. The average Gen Z person spends nine hours per day on screens. The average 18-24 year old American spends more than three hours per day just on social media. I recognize all the various societal and structural factors that disadvantage younger people. At the same time, people hav…

We both lived through an era where there was a sense of community, even online, I would also spend boatloads of time learning how to program in my youth some 20+ years ago but that was around the same IRC channels, the same forums, with people who were in those spaces for years. I would bond with them through this shared hobby, make acquaintances, even friends, people who you could recognise even if it was just a nic…

Great comment. I agree.

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#484

Post by Shocka1 »

spike021 wrote: post #73

It's become very toxic in baseball. just google "baseball player", "threats", and "gambling" and you'll see what I mean. edit for examples: * https://www.newsweek.com/sports/mlb/red-sox-pitcher-confront... * https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/giants/article/mlb-threat...

This kind of stuff is repulsive to me. I'm sure it's similar elsewhere too, but my local radio stations in the Midwest have been running ads about not harassing athletes over sports betting. The whole thing is comical to me, since they are collecting massive amounts of tax revenue from the whole thing to begin with and paying for the ads with it.

They are great things coming from it, like school funding, but the whole concept doesn't really sit well with me.

https://casinocontrol.ohio.gov/home/news-and-events/all-news...

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#485

Post by programjames »

addicted wrote: post #465
whateveracct wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $10MM Ah, so they are just basing their life decisions on falsehoods then? lol I know the world is different now, but I graduated high school in the wake of the 08 financial crisis. A lot of this Zoomer doomerism sounds like what people said about millennials. But I (and my future wife) just went to a state school with in-state tuition. Got tech/eng degrees with some debt (5 figures). Have worked in the industry wi…

Any anecdote will suffer from survivorship bias (and also negative anecdotes). The data on the other hand are very clear that people are not doing as well as their parents. Unless you have a theory as to why Americans simply became more lazy, etc. a starting point should sensibly be a systemic explanation. Also, just speaking about your anecdote, let me add my own. I am also doing fine. Not particularly rich but midd…

As someone in the Gen Z age bracket, I believe that they really do have a worse economy than their parents/grandparents due to no fault of their own, and that they're also much lazier than their parents/grandparents generations.

1. Social Security and housing has turned into a huge transfer of wealth from Gen Z to the Boomer generation. I don't believe I will ever receive Social Security benefits, and yet nearly 15% of my salary goes into Social Security. Also, people who own houses vote to keep their housing prices high (through zoning laws), which is... not how "investments" are supposed to work. It'd be like the US government hoarding all the gold when prices get too high. If a house is a place to live (in which case, zoning laws are perfectly fine), property taxes should be high enough that renting out a house is a much worse investment than say, government bonds. If a house is an investment, the protection racket needs to stop.

2. On the other hand, I've seen so many of my peers just... not study. Kids who easily got a 36 on the ACT, but would do the bare minimum in and outside of school. Now they're working pretty normal, white-collar jobs that pay about a median starting salary, but I know they could have easily made $150k+/year in tech if they'd just studied at any point between middle school and college. They probably won't struggle financially, but they won't ever really "make it" ($10m?) either. And, if this is the top of the class, you can imagine what it's like for those without the same natural ability.

So, on the one hand, I absolutely agree that Gen Z should have an easier time with housing, and shouldn't have to pay for their ancestors' unwise debts, but on the other hand, part of the reason they're struggling so much now is because they didn't spend the first twenty years of their life doing the only thing they were asked to do.

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#486

Post by kriops »

BeFlatXIII wrote: post #354
kriops wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is your right as a human to waste your life away. It is also by definition immoral regardless of moral system (so long as 'waste your life away' is an accurate assessment within said moral system), but they are completely separate matters. I.e., no. It counts for nothing.

Did you miss the point about negative impact on others?

No, but you seem to have failed in parsing my explanation as to why it was not a valid point.

As guiding questions: What is the difference between negative and positive rights? And what are the relationship to the concept of “God-given” rights?

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#487

Post by kriops »

soulofmischief wrote: post #332
kriops wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It absolutely does account for that. Your entire comment is a strawman. If that is not intentional (which I suspect it is not, so no offense intended), then I believe a quick search on “God-given rights” should help you make whatever case you want to in a logically consistent manner. It is a well-defined concept that has a specific meaning over a specific domain. I get the feeling “negative rights vs. positive rights…

The Judeo-Christian god does not exist, nor any other god, so I'm not sure what rights you're referring to. Are you referring to human rights? We don't need a religion to justify those. Anyway, you said your argument accounts for it, but didn't actually follow through and demonstrate why that is. How does your argument take into account the aforementioned power imbalances?

God-given rights refers to a certain theory of rights that does not require theism.

It is a well and widely understood term whose usage should not invite “correction”.

Referring to God-given rights invokes their definition, which should make the inconsistency I was referring to clear.

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#488

Post by whateveracct »

tenacious_tuna wrote: post #473
whateveracct wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leading up to me buying my home, the narrative was about how expensive houses are - especially in my city (Seattle). But now on the other side, I got so lucky to buy one when I did (2020) due to interest rates. Savvy also comes into play. The most affordable decent Seattle houses then were like $750k for sub-2k sqft well outside the main parts of the city. But Tacoma had 3k sqft houses for under $600k. 45ish minute r…

> 45ish minute reverse commute to Seattle bustling-est neighborhoods for evening fun What is a "reverse commute"? Is that just going into the city at the opposite time of day from normal work? Also, 45 minutes one day (1.5hr total) is a rather large chunk of the evening to spend in transit for "evening fun." > I got so lucky to buy one when I did (2020) due to interest rates. It's funny, I remember thinking that peop…

45 minutes both ways to the city is just what being in the suburbs is like. I grew up outside Chicago, and that's how long it'd take to go into the city and see a game or show or museum or whatever. Usually I'm spending 6+ hours in the city (we catch an early dinner at 4 or 5 and then head back after our event at 10 or 11) so it feels worth it to me.

And yeah, that's what reverse commute means. Seattle traffic is awful if you're going where everyone else is, but Tacoma to Seattle in the evening is not busy at all.

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#489

Post by nerdsniper »

usefulcat wrote: post #448
nerdsniper wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s rational in the same sense as insurance. Insurance is a small cost to cover the costs of a potential event that you can’t afford. Lotteries are a small cost for a potential event that you can’t afford not to benefit from. The key is that in a well-functioning society and wisely-lived life, you don’t need to spend the cost on lottery because you can afford life/retirement without it’s winnings.

I don't think it's reasonable to compare the risk of suffering a large loss with the risk of missing out on a large gain. If your annual income is $N, missing out on a gain of $N is bad, but not nearly as bad a suffering a loss of $N.

The median American has $8,000 in their bank accounts. Most of the individual people buying insurance generally can't lose $N, because they have Both cases (lottery and insurance) are paying an affordable amount of money for a chance to avoid complete financial ruin.

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#490

Post by kriops »

Retric wrote: post #436
kriops wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. In other words, no one's God-given, negative rights are being infringed upon.

Rights are merely a simplification of complex interactions. Societies are more focused on what benefits themselves than such simplification. The minimal effectiveness of enhanced interrogation plus the desire of the population not to risk being so interrogated means people are generally apposed to such. Tracking down a nuclear threat is considered something of an exception to this stance by the average person.

This is a simple fallacy.

Either you accept the definition of God-given rights, which is certainly not consistent with your opening statement.

Or you don’t, at which point any following argument regarding its proper usage is moot.

You seem to have gone with the latter, which makes your comment irrelevant. And that is regardless of its truthfulness. To be clear I disagree with it, but getting into that would contribute to derailing the conversation.

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