Personal Critique of Leisure Concepts - Essay Example

PERSONAL CRITIQUE ON DARK SIDE OF LEISURE Name: Course Instructor’s name Institution Date Personal critique Gambling Leisure is a very crucial activity that involves a person abstaining from his or her routine activities to have enjoyment and relaxation (Golja, Dovjak, & Kukec, 2015, pg387). During this time one has to keep his or her mind off demanding things in life like studies and work. It is time to feel free, happy and excited. This is not the case when it comes to other leisure activities like gambling, it can be stressful and discouraging to some people and this is a negative impact. However, people have different ways in which they view things in life. There are those who cannot have an issue with both the negative and positive sides of an activity and there are those who get affected with either side. In life one should expect several outcomes. For instance, there situations in life where we emerge winners in a competition and there are other situations where we do not win. This implies that we should be ready for any of these situations. But others do not like losing. Activities like gambling can cause more stress and pain, contrary to what is expected (PišOt, 2015, pg. 48). This is the dark side of them. For my case, I chose to reflect on gambling especially among youths and highlight what wrongs are connected to it. Society as a whole depicts leisure to be a concurrent of events meant to bring joy and happiness to people. The leisure theory developed by Thorstein Veblen confirms this and expound on the same. The current society has changed rapidly and leisure activities have been turned to be profit generating avenues. The reasons behind the change are mirrored to economic struggles and the aim of eradicating poverty. Nevertheless, high unemployment rates in some countries make people to rely on betting as a mean of survival (Yakovenko, 2016 p. 183). There are lots of benefits an individual can reap from this activity but risks cannot miss as explained by John et al., (2016, pg 405). Betting is a lucky scenario and nothing like skills or knowledge are involved. Actually it is a dream come true or failure, as the process of winning or losing lies on the unknown outcome. Sporting activities such as football, athletics, horse racing, rugby and table tennis just to mention a few are the core gunners for betting. These activities on the other hand, are attributed to leisure and people enjoy them whenever they have free time, however, the negative impact has proved much of a problem more so among youths (Schellenberg, Mcgrath & Dechant 2016 p. 14). Personally, this activity has more demerits compared to merits. Thus I am basing my arguments on demerits. The activity can be fascinating and enjoyable when the expected outcome is achieved (Yakovenko, 2016, pg. 178). Nevertheless, stress and disappointment comes in when the contrary expectation turns to the real outcome. Gambling has made people, especially youths to constantly monitor games in which they have placed bets. According to Golja et al. (2015 pg. 386), docility comes in as a result of being dormant leading to low levels of innovations and inventions. Young people who are the most esteemed when it comes to generation of brilliant, ingenious ideas are now involved a lot in gambling. They have no time set aside for constructive work. Their mind is fixed at one end and they are always up to what is going on with sports. Although this happens across all countries, research clearly depicts that developed ones have strict rules and policies governing and controlling the gambling industry as opposed to majority of developing nations (Ashley, et al. 2011 pg.41). The result expected from the activity is none other than addiction and dissatisfaction. The winners smile back to their homes as losers regret and even complain of information leakages and collusion. But this cannot be the case as no one can predict what is to come. There is no hope for recovery as economic levels in developing countries is still wanting. Gambling causes total disability and there is no day developing nations will advance if they would not enlighten their youth on the importance of hard work as opposed to sheer luck (Derevensky, et al. 2011 53). Leisure may at times cause idleness; on the other hand, Idleness is associated with wrong and unworthy decision making. Scholars argue that “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” This to some extent is true. In many of the gatherings full of only gamblers, fights erupt due to lack of trust and the fear of losing huge sums of money (Tanner & Mazmanian 2016 pg. 101). For instance, leisure places in Las Vegas are full of gambling looking to make a soft kill in terms of winnings, at times deaths crown the day as injuries are reported too. To my surprise, the same venue where fights occur is always fully packed day in day out to gamble despite the happenings. Many rhetorical queries linger in my mind with much worry. Is it that money is more crucial than human life? What comes to an individual’s mind when making a step to bet? Human life and integrity should be given priority in any place at any given time. If only sound minded people have the guts of respecting humanity and the values corresponding to a right of life, then gambling could have been a celebrated activity. As it is the norm of gambling, people need to gather at common places where they will be watching games live or on a screen. Nowadays due to advanced technology and communication people can also bet online. Currently there are others who have already placed their bet on the candidate who will the USA elections come November this year. (Cnn poll 2016). Gambling addiction leads to drug use; drugs are considered as a remedy for gamblers in order to forget their losses and hope for a better tomorrow. Young people are the ones mostly involved in drug abuse as a result of gambling due to the minimal funds at their disposal (Derevensky et al. 2011 pg 71). When asked of the benefits of using drugs, their responses are often rude and challenging for instance, they will encourage you to try and experience the benefits of the drugs on your own if you dared ask or advise them. It is so sad and hurting to see a productive generation getting deep into drug and substance abuse in the name of relaxing and enjoying. Actually, there is no connection of leisure and drug misuse. Studies show that, 56% of young people have been swayed to gambling in the whole world. Among these, a larger percentage is involved in drug trafficking to raise funds for the activity (Schellenberg, Mcgrath, & Dechant 2016, pg. 14). This is an affirmation on how people lose millions of dollars in casinos and yet keep on gambling like nothing happened. It is a bit difficult and challenging to swallow the idea of having a lot of cash within minutes and losing it in a matter of seconds. Beside, those mostly involved in gambling are the youths and retirees who basically are unemployed. This convinces my conscience to fully believe my theory that drug trafficking and money laundering is the sole reason that propels gamblers on a daily basis. Drug trafficking being the major source and the easy way of making money is mostly done at most leisure destinations where most dealers engage in selling drugs to revelers (Schellenberg, et al. 2016 pg.9). Even though this is a risk, there is a loop of cartels, connected all over the world. They control the world and thus no fears can arise of being caught and jailed. Research shows that 70 % of countries all over are affected by this menace, among these, majority are developing ones, whereby top officials are the ones having a control of these cartels (Yakovenko 2016 pg. 186). Beyond imaginations comes another shock. A game like football attracts fans all over the globe, and everyone is focused to virtually support a team of his or her choice. Majorly, the Barclays premier league has been recorded as the most respected football league, having fans all over the world thus companies like bet way and bet365 have capitalized on this leisure activity to market and advocate for gambling (Schellenberg, et al. 2016 pg.10). The total number of fans exceed one billion as highlighted by a number of studies carried out hence a global football gambling menace. Betting for ones beloved team to win is just considered a normal leisure activity and harmless however, the negative impact has proven a social menace. But when it gets to their nerves, and getting money turns to be a challenge, robbery and drug abuse cases are reported (Ashley et al. 2011, pg. 476). This is not a positive way of ensuring gambling continues but a wrong methods of getting cash. Most youth and people in general prefer easy earned cash as opposed to hard earned money and thus betting companies have instigated these problems without considering their adverse effects because their sole motive is profits and sustainability which is unethical in nature. Statistically, according to Tanner, & Mazmanian (2016, pg.106-115), many activities have been ranked to cause more evils than good aerated morals in the society, with gambling being at the top. The chances are rare for someone involved in such an activity to have time for working or being with family. Many of those addicted to gambling look for means to make quick cash as opposed to working for it (Derevensky, Shek, & Merrick 2011, pg. 35). Youths who are the majority and are unemployed invest the little cash they get in such an industry in the hope of getting good returns. Finally, scholars agitate for measurable and effective enacting of policies which will control and govern the gambling industry. As seen from the discussion in this paper, people’s lives are been destroyed by these epidemic of gambling. Sanity has to be restored in the society lest it plunges into utter destruction. Therefore, motivational speakers should be encouraged to hold seminars and sensitize the youth on the effects of gambling as well as the sole purpose of leisure time. Leisure should not be viewed as a way to kill boredom but rather a way to socialize and come up with sustainable ideas. Church services, watching match competitions, street cleaning are some of the activities that can be used to keep most young preoccupied and a way from inappropriate acts associated with leisure like drug use, gambling and pornography. Bibliography Ashley, L. L., Pierce, M. E., Peterson, F. L., & Golden, R. N. (2011). The truth about gambling. New York, Facts on File. Derevensky, J. L., Shek, D. T. L., & Merrick, J. (2011). Youth gambling: the hidden addiction. Berlin, De Gruyter. Golja, A., Dovjak, M., & Kukec, A. (2015). Sustainability development of the river space for recreational leisure activities. Environmental Protection of Urban and Suburban Settlements. 385-392. John B. Saunders, Katherine M. Conigrave, Noeline C. Latt, David J. Nutt, & E. Jane Marshall. (2016). Gambling. PišOt, S. (2015). Running and serious leisure perspective. Contemporary Kinesiology. 184-191. Schellenberg, B. J. I., Mcgrath, D. S., & Dechant, K. (2016). 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