“We live in troubled times,” writes Jody Rosen of the New York Times. “The young, in particular, may feel that they are peering over the edge, economically and existentially. [The] message for them seems to be that the social compact is ruptured, that the old ideals of security and the good life no longer pertain.”
“What’s left are moonshots, big swings, high-stakes gambles. You might bet a long-shot parlay or take a flier on Dogecoin. Maybe someday you’ll hitch a ride on Elon Musk’s shuttle bus to the Red Planet. The [advertisers] holds out the promise of ‘fortune,’ but what it’s really selling is danger, the dark and desperate thrills of precarity itself — because, after all, what else have we got?”
What we have in this case, are humans preying on other humans for personal gain, by promoting hopelessness and despair that stimulates a named/encouraged, reckless, behavior. This is no better than advertisements for smoking tobacco.
This is not the way of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:8: whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Jesus presents a better way to live, with hope and eternal life:
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’