Amid the headlines we’re living through as United States citizens, and particularly as Minnesotans, one thing is clear: The internet and our culture are fundamentally unserious in the face of making history. 

We’ve endured a month of restless nights, bloodshot eyes and a state of blue-light-induced limbo. How could anyone get any real shuteye when hordes of LRAD-carrying law enforcement, protesters and green chemical irritants are just blocks away from their residence, in clear view just outside their bedside window?

I can’t be the only one who’s sat for hours in bed wide awake, crunching numbers, reading headlines and putting pieces together. In the wake of Operation Metro Surge, life feels markedly more precarious, where any next action taken could lead us stumbling through the floor. 

Late-night doomscrolls are compulsory now. 

On one of these, I came across what, in my opinion, is one of the most jarring social phenomena as of late. This particular short-form video featured a platform called Polymarket. It showed a poll for public opinion, not unlike those one might share on an Instagram story, asking what color to dye their hair or what restaurant to stop by for lunch. 

It was the subject matter that caught my eye alongside the betting prices. 

Right now, there’s a bet meant to gauge the exact date the U.S. will strike Iran. As of Feb. 9, about 3% of users have placed their bets on the present day.

Users of the platform are also predicting whether Jesus Christ will return before 2027. 

I might be old-fashioned, but the unabashed, public placing of bets on major foreign policy conflicts leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It feels like a satire of a bad dystopia. Following the inundation of bad news we passively witnessed in our formative years, I cannot believe this is where we have ended up. 

I remember watching casualty-counting news tickers in the early 2010s, knowing there was a big, terrible world out there. During the past decade, we’ve morally reckoned with the sheer amount of bad news in our culture, as well as our responsibility regarding its consumption. 

So why is it we’re choosing to throw our hats in the ring now? We’ve not only given into the dissociation but are choosing to reap a profit from it, no matter how small. 

This is just downstream from sports betting, which was legalized in 2018. Since then, it’s skyrocketed in popularity, but not without its glaringly obvious problems as a result of the practice ultimately being just another avenue for gambling. 

Assistant professor at the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication Carolina Velloso said the reasoning for its legalization ultimately came from media companies and state governments realizing what had previously been relegated to the underground posed a real opportunity to increase revenue. 

“It’s out in the open and not operating in this underworld,” Velloso said. 

In under a decade, footballs have somehow morphed into bombs, and we’re still lining up to place our bets. 

A clear throughline can be traced. Polymarket was founded in 2020, and political betting reached its current prominence during the 2024 presidential election after a steady ascent through the 2010s. 

Velloso said bets on non-sport or non-game-related events are not unusual in sports betting itself, where spectators might bet on elements like national anthem duration. 

“It’s no longer taboo or even illegal to bet on sports, so it’s just sort of become the more prominent feature in the sports broadcasts themselves,” Velloso said. “We see a lot of commercials for these sports betting companies, sometimes even broadcasters will mention these companies if their station has a partnership with one of them.”

But who exactly is using this technology?

University second-year sport management student Josiah Johnson has a degree of familiarity with Polymarket, which calls itself the world’s largest prediction market. The controversial site just recently reclaimed its place in the U.S. market on Nov. 12, following a ban placed back in 2022. 

Johnson said not all bets are overly consequential, in his experience. 

“You can bet on stupid stuff like whether or not Trump’s gonna say airplane, or if JD Vance is gonna trip,” Johnson said 

The site doesn’t just deal with life-or-death, history-page-making phenomena. The site also includes sportsbetting and Bitcoin price predictions. 

“I have used Polymarket before to bet on how many tweets Elon Musk will tweet within a given set of days,” Johnson said. “Because honestly, in my opinion, that’s just free money.” 

It makes sense this market popped up. The notion of a fortune teller without a profit incentive lands squarely in the fantasy realm. The false sense of omniscience that comes with seeing public opinion change in real time is enticing as well. 

In a democracy, though, it’s hard to ignore that the masses are flooding to make quick returns on investments instead of feeling the power vested in us to sway history ourselves through civic duty. 

Have we sold out?