I must confess that at times I have felt entitled...much like Cats Eye. My counselor says that entitlement is a hallmark signature among problem gamblers, if that counts as any excuse.
I was at an action meeting for SURJ (
Showing Up For Justice) last week and attended a workshop on "Class" and how "class" is defined by race, by income and by cultural identity as part of the institutionalized racism and classism. How distinctions by economic level parallel those of race, but race ends up lower in the economic class than whites. It was about privilege and assumed entitlements, and how to break those down without stigmatizing other people. Example given was stigmatizing\demonizing Trump supporters as low IQ gap tooth hillbillies living in trailer parks.
The privilege of going to a good school, whether private or pubic, due to the neighborhoods they are in or the students are in, how a better education leads to more privilege and a greater sense of earning an entitlement to more -- going to college and grad school. How getting a good paying job was part of your privilege, your education, your class, your parents class, all in a feedback system that divides people into different classes and reinforces the system.
We each had to tell our story to show where privilege came in and we benefited from it. My dad grew up on a farm, and the GI bill put him through university. My mother came from privilege through the depression as her father worked for the phone company. Both my parents were PhDs. In my junior year in high school I took a statewide math test given in two 4 hour sessions and placed in the top 10% statewide,. That, together with my SAT scores got me into Duke, paid for by my parents, my graduation from Duke got me a free-ride into Grad school, and then the jobs started falling my way, basically getting hired for every job I applied for. I was easily in the upper middle class income bracket and then changed career, starting over at base pay, which at that time was lower middle class for a family of 3. I am now retired with sufficient income from investments to live comfortably.
My counselor says that entitlement is a hallmark signature among problem gamblers ...
I don't think that only applies to addicts in general or gamblers in particular. I think that many CEOs think they are entitled to ever increasing riches, stealing from the poor ... but then they
may be addicted to that greed.
So one way to counteract this systematic classism is by leveling the playing field: free college, universal healthcare, laws about equal pay for work of equal value, minimum living wage, etc.
Enjoy