Published on 12, July, 2020
Why do so many people have a sense of entitlement?
I was discussing this with a friend at the weekend and we couldn't really get to the bottom of it, other than perhaps it's just been a slow erosion of society and work ethic.
They don't work, but are entitled to (net) taxpayers money, so they can have things that taxpayers can't afford, to live in areas that those taxpayers can't afford, to have holidays, to not work a job they don't want to, to be entitled to an easy and well paid job. That they have "rights" that must be treated as gospel, but not any responsibilities that are tied to those rights. That rules are just for "someone else", a whole attitude that everyone else owes them a living etc.
What is the flawed mental process where people decide that they are entitled to things just because they want them? How can anyone even attempt to justify that "want" means "entitled"?
I don't think the sense of entitlement is only to those who do not work. I know many people (mostly living in London) who have embraced the culture of spending all of their money on numerous holidays and meals out trying to give the impression of wealth, whilst they constantly having to ask their parents for money if their car breaks or they need a deposit for a house. These are people in their mid to late thirties.
A lot of people I meet who are trapped in a cycle of living off benefits do this because they are scared of going back to work. They often have low self-esteem and believe they won't be able to cope.
They have low self-esteem and believe they won't be able to cope.
I remember the whole getting-you back-to-work programme as being basically punitive, and that was in the late 80's/early 90's! You were classes as guilty by default. Now th is the real threat of starvation if you are 10 minutes late for an interview if your mother died.
All this in one of the richest countries in the world.