In the fall of 2017, I began to record the use of the word deserve as it appeared while reading, watching videos, and listening to others. I started pairing the quotations I found with a collection of littered lottery tickets I found while walking. We say, "you deserved it” to friends who don’t get the opportunities they went after and we say the same things to ourselves when we feel unrecognized. Through this word we congratulate ourselves on winning out over others. But in truth why do we consider the deserve-ed to be a zero-sum game? I began to see the use of the word deserve as linked to a feeling of American entitlement and compliance with the competitive system of capitalism. The lottery on the other hand rewards randomly and although everyone who plays believe they deserve know that it is all based upon luck. The politics of the lottery are ones I cannot dip into fully in this brief synopsis. However, I see this project as related to the place of the lottery in immigration into the United States. Both the Mega Millions lottery and the Diversity Visa (“Green Card”) Lottery can contribute to gaining permanent residency through an incredibly competitive draw of people who all deserve.
people with the hope of permanent residency.
What does the word deserve really mean: is that what I am trying to say though, I think the question is really how do you weigh out who deserves.
Participating in the lottery, to me, illustrates your belief that you deserve, and in addition the understanding that whether or not you receive only pertains to luck.
I picked up the tickets in good and bad condition. My favorite tickets to find were those that are all ripped up when I can find all the pieces of a ticket that someone ripped up. Manipulated tickets, like these, add emotional context for me.
In the same way, the lottery choses the deserved. But randomly and only one can win after many have played. The lottery is also is about hope.
How does the feeling of entitlement relate to the lottery. Because the lottery is kind at odds with the word deserve. I le
I deserve lifestyle
I also began to think of the lottery more and more in relationship to the DV (green card) lottery. The randomly selected winners are given a green card. Even after this selection is made, of the 100,000 winners of the DV lottery, only 50,000 will actually get their citizenship.
However winning the mega millions lottery does not grant someone citezinship.
If a winner invests 1M in a business that creates at least 10 jobs for US citezins they can permenently reside in the US. However, even in doing so, many immigrant will still be refused a greencard.