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"?
This is grossly simplistic but one could argue that it's the long term bitter fruit of de-industrialisation. When heavy industry was closing down during the 1970s and 80s the people who were made redundant wanted to work and so did their children. Decades of despair and a total lack of jobs following the closure of industry have transformed what was once the working class into the underclass. No government has implemented a clear strategy to counter the ravages of de-industrialisation. Residents of areas that have lost their traditional industries who want to work more often than not have to move to places where there are jobs which unfortunately have higher house prices. They end up having to claim in work benefits even on reasonable salaries.
My mother's background is economics and she says that the overall standard of living was better in the 1960s and it was much easier for children from poor and lower class backgrounds to attain a comfortably well off lifestyle, or enter the ranks of the middle classes, that it has been this side of the millennium.
I lived through the 60s. She was right. Then came the late 70s and 80s, and suddenly all the greedy ******* thought '*** this. I don't care about anyone else. I have a sense of entitlement.'
Edited by Ayshe Mod
Arran
One word: 'Germany.'
Unlike Thatcher Britain they did not close down the mines and destroy that industry and since then something seems to have been lost in the UK.
If you are poor it must be your fault and you must be punished. Or rehabilitated. And the overworked and underpaid can keep on blaming the unemployed. Divide and rule.