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I wrote yesterday about do-gooders in government and other agencies who tinker with people’s minds and lives.
Perhaps I was too quick to criticise, though possibly not in some cases.
The thought came to me this morning when I realised there has been a tremendous increase in the number of television advertisements publicising online gambling sites and others inviting people to sell their unwanted gold and jewellery.
All these advertisements show smiling, happy people waving their bingo winnings or the wads of cash they have received for their jewellery.
They do not show the misery suffered by some of the poor souls who have logged on to gambling sites and lost their housekeeping money, or the folk who realise to their great regret that they have parted with treasured jewellery in return for a short-term gain at possibly less than the true value of the items sold.
While I am against the sort of ‘nannying’ this government has indulged in since it came into power, perhaps we do need to be protected from ourselves sometimes. And these sort of advertisements are a case in point where, like cigarettes and alcohol, maybe they ought to be accompanied by appropriate warnings.
.
I wrote yesterday about do-gooders in government and other agencies who tinker with people’s minds and lives.
Perhaps I was too quick to criticise, though possibly not in some cases.
The thought came to me this morning when I realised there has been a tremendous increase in the number of television advertisements publicising online gambling sites and others inviting people to sell their unwanted gold and jewellery.
All these advertisements show smiling, happy people waving their bingo winnings or the wads of cash they have received for their jewellery.
They do not show the misery suffered by some of the poor souls who have logged on to gambling sites and lost their housekeeping money, or the folk who realise to their great regret that they have parted with treasured jewellery in return for a short-term gain at possibly less than the true value of the items sold.
While I am against the sort of ‘nannying’ this government has indulged in since it came into power, perhaps we do need to be protected from ourselves sometimes. And these sort of advertisements are a case in point where, like cigarettes and alcohol, maybe they ought to be accompanied by appropriate warnings.
.
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