But but but Fourth Base --
You don't understand! I'm going to win the Lotto and BECOME one of those elites!
Or I'm going to sell that screenplay and become one of those elites ....
Or I'm going to get on "Survivor" and win it and become one of those elites ....
It goes on and on .....
One thing that I've noticed in the American media lately is an increasing tendency to promote the notion that "Rich people are people, too", as well as the notion of "if you play your cards right, you'll become one of OUR group, the cool kids who will survive any coming disasters".
I really see it on The Disney Channel. I know it sounds paranoid, but every one of these kids shows on The Disney Channel has a super-rich kid on it. They are almost always harmless and sort of idiotic but ultimately loveable kids, whose fathers are extreme movers and shakers. These kids are basically "Paris Hilton" kids without the decadence (yet). One of them is even a girl whose father owns a huge hotel chain and her name is "London" instead of Paris.
In another show, a middle class black family gets to move to Washington D.C. and mingle with the super-rich and powerful because the father gets a job as the White House Chef. He's just a middle-class black kids, but he gets to hobnob and be FRIENDS with the super-rich because, well, he's lucky. And the super-rich, even though their dads send people to pick them up in helicopters from school? Well, they're just regular kids!
Then there's that other show where the girl leads a secret life as a teenage pop star (i.e. rich and famous). And pretends to act "normal", slumming her way through life so she'll be liked because she's REALLY just a normal kids. (yeah sure).
It's at a really creepy level on The Disney Channel.
So there's that, along with the notion, that's been with us for a while, that we can win the lotto and become the elites. That's what the lotto is all about. Selling that dream, so that for a few hours, or days before the drawing, you can live (in your head at least) thinking that you're going to be "one of them". Ah, shit didn't work, better buy another ticket. Yeah, this will be the one!
I better stop there, I'm starting to freak myself out.
(especially loved his last 2 sentences, since I clearly remember Dubya's first run for the nomination and how he waxed both perky 
)
