"There was a whole chain of seperate departments dealing with proletarian literature, music, drama and entertainment generally. Here were produced rubbishy newspapers containing nothing except sport, crime and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes, films oozing with sex, and sentimental songs which were composed entirely by mechanical means. The Lottery, with its weekly payout of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the Proles paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some millions of Proles for whom the Lottery was the principal, if not the only reason for staying alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant. Where the Lottery was concerned, even people who could barely read and write seemed capable of intricate calculations and staggering feats of memory. There was a whole tribe of men who made a living simply by selling systems, forecast and lucky amulets."
The above is an extract from George Orwell's 1984. Hauntingly reminiscent of some aspects of society today!
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