Entitlement Blues
Oct. 11th, 2006 10:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anigoOk, so is it just me, or is anybody else getting tired of all the whining in the world today. (Oh wait now, I'm a whiner, aren't I. Ok, let me rephrase that) Is it just me or is anybody else getting tired of all the whining about entitlement?
On my way to work this morning I heard a news article that said that the power company was going to raise its rates for the third time in three years. OUTRAGE! Apparently one of the rights in the declaration of rights is that everybody in the world is entitled to a reasonably priced access to electricity. WOW! Now, I've just looked it up and it does say this:
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
And this too makes me think WOW.
Yanno what? My first thought is that this is a stupid rule. My second thought is that maybe it's not a stupid rule, maybe my interpretation of it is stupid. You have a right to a reasonable standard of living. You have a right to it. You are not ENTITLED TO IT. Or are you. I guess... I guess that it annoys me to no end when people whine because electricity is so darn expensive. Yes, I know it's expensive. So stop whining and do something about it. Turn off the lights. Get a job. Yes, ok, I know there are people out there who aren't capable, but I'm sure that there'd be a whole lot less people who wouldn't be capable if we didn't enable them to be incapable.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying "Down with social safety nets", I'm saying that things like... I heard another thing on my way to work this morning. It was for a concert or something. They were giving the prices. $10 for general admission, $5 for students and (get this) the "wage impaired". PULEEEEASE! What in god's name inspires you to work if the rest of the world is going to accommodate you because you're "wage impaired"
Another thing that I'd heard was that there were some military men who had been injured in Afghanistan and were being medivac-ed out to a nice safe hospital somewhere. In doing so, however, they wouldn't be entitled to receive danger pay anymore - since they weren't in an area that was dangerous. They were protesting this $2000/mo TAX FREE cut in pay. Um... hmm... Guess what. YOU'RE NOT IN DANGER ANYMORE, WHY WOULD YOU POSSIBLY GET DANGER PAY? I could see getting compensated for being injured, but.. C'mon people.
Again, I don't want anybody to get me wrong. There are people on my friends list who are in situations that require social assistance of some sort or another. These friends are people who I KNOW would much rather be working. Who have gone that extra mile to make sure that they can stay away from being as wage impaired as possible.
Social safety nets are good. But when does a social safety net become a tool for enabling the lazy whiners of the world?
Discuss. And don't curse at me. It's bad manners.
On my way to work this morning I heard a news article that said that the power company was going to raise its rates for the third time in three years. OUTRAGE! Apparently one of the rights in the declaration of rights is that everybody in the world is entitled to a reasonably priced access to electricity. WOW! Now, I've just looked it up and it does say this:
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
And this too makes me think WOW.
Yanno what? My first thought is that this is a stupid rule. My second thought is that maybe it's not a stupid rule, maybe my interpretation of it is stupid. You have a right to a reasonable standard of living. You have a right to it. You are not ENTITLED TO IT. Or are you. I guess... I guess that it annoys me to no end when people whine because electricity is so darn expensive. Yes, I know it's expensive. So stop whining and do something about it. Turn off the lights. Get a job. Yes, ok, I know there are people out there who aren't capable, but I'm sure that there'd be a whole lot less people who wouldn't be capable if we didn't enable them to be incapable.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying "Down with social safety nets", I'm saying that things like... I heard another thing on my way to work this morning. It was for a concert or something. They were giving the prices. $10 for general admission, $5 for students and (get this) the "wage impaired". PULEEEEASE! What in god's name inspires you to work if the rest of the world is going to accommodate you because you're "wage impaired"
Another thing that I'd heard was that there were some military men who had been injured in Afghanistan and were being medivac-ed out to a nice safe hospital somewhere. In doing so, however, they wouldn't be entitled to receive danger pay anymore - since they weren't in an area that was dangerous. They were protesting this $2000/mo TAX FREE cut in pay. Um... hmm... Guess what. YOU'RE NOT IN DANGER ANYMORE, WHY WOULD YOU POSSIBLY GET DANGER PAY? I could see getting compensated for being injured, but.. C'mon people.
Again, I don't want anybody to get me wrong. There are people on my friends list who are in situations that require social assistance of some sort or another. These friends are people who I KNOW would much rather be working. Who have gone that extra mile to make sure that they can stay away from being as wage impaired as possible.
Social safety nets are good. But when does a social safety net become a tool for enabling the lazy whiners of the world?
Discuss. And don't curse at me. It's bad manners.
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-12 07:07 pm (UTC)