If all your friends jumped off a bridge – would you?

The video footage was graphic and scary. Five people plunging downward at 60 miles per hour, their bodies smashed into the waters of Tampa Bay. They jumped off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge linked together by a bungee cord, believing all would be well. A video team waited in boats below filming the stunt to sell to thrill-hungry TV producers. True story; they all jumped off the bridge together, the bungee cord broke and plunged them to a near death experience. Their injuries have changed their lives forever.

Were these the only five kids in history to never hear their parents say: “If all your friends jumped off a bridge would you?” The five jumpers were actually grown-ups. They proved once again that gravity is real, safety cords are still fallible and jumping off a bridge just because all your friends are doing so can get you badly hurt.

Peer Pressure is a Funny Thing
It can affect grown-ups, even those who are sworn to be leaders, not followers. Recently a leading Ohio newspaper wrote a front-page story on casino gambling. The paper cited the surrounding states that have legalized casino gambling and tax revenues being created from those casinos. The paper quoted gamblers who mocked Ohioans for not embracing casinos. The point was pretty clear: Ohioans are really stupid for not legalizing casino gambling.

It’s a familiar argument. Everybody else is doing it. So familiar in fact, that two casino speculators, hoping to open a casino monopoly in Ohio, are running TV ads on the theme. They have recruited a few old TV stars to shame Ohioans into voting for a casino. The ads chastise Ohio as the only state in the Great Lakes region without a casino. They defame the foolishness of Ohioans for standing alone. Even Dobie Gillis is taking Ohio to task for being so out of touch with reality. The ballot measure is scheduled for November. Only problem is, MyOhioNow (the telling name of the casino campaign) is only presenting part of the story. It’s true that several of Ohio’s neighbors have jumped off the casino bridge. But not many are telling the whole story about the impact of legalizing casino gambling.