The Culture of Entitlement

Michelle Malkin links to a couple of pieces written by one Franklin Schneider. They're a hoot, that's for sure. The first piece I'll link to is a nice, hateful rant about the different places he's worked. Now granted, I've dealt with my fair share of bullshit in the workplace, but you know what? If I didn't like it, I FOUND ANOTHER JOB.

That's not the worst of his writing, though. Oh no, the worst of it is where he complains that he didn't get enough unemployment.

When the federal economic stimulus package hit the news in January, my latest run on unemployment was just going dry, and the mere prospect of getting another job was enough to make my testicles retract into my body. When reports surfaced that a three- or six-month (!!) unemployment extension was going to be part of the package, it seemed like government was finally doing something for the little guy, instead of just the fat cats and whiny Christians. I spent the next two weeks Google News-ing “unemployment extension economic stimulus” every 10 minutes.

When the package including the extension failed by one vote, I was so fucking pissed at the United States government that if an al-Qaeda recruiter had pitched me at that moment, I’d be in the Afghanistan desert as we speak, screaming Arabic at the top of my lungs while bayoneting an Uncle Sam mannequin.

What a nice guy, eh? He's going to stop getting my tax dollars, and he's pissed about it.

Not only do I feel no guilt whatsoever about sucking from the state’s teat, I feel that I’m absolutely entitled to it. First of all, the employer that fired me pays for half of my unemployment, and fuck them.

Mr. Schneider then goes on to prove that he has absolutely no knowledge or idea of economics.

Second of all, it’s really my money in the first place. See, your employer never pays you what you’re worth—there’s a surplus, some of which goes toward overhead and various other business costs, and the rest of which is kept as profit. (This is what Marx was referring to when he talked about “exploitation of the workers.”) A tiny fraction of this surplus—which, again, has been skimmed off of my labor—is put into a government-mandated account to go toward unemployment checks for fired workers. So yeah, it’s my money. Give it back. And since most people’s lives are so devoid of meaning that they’d rather go directly into another shitty job than be forced to confront the sheer emptiness of their existence, most of that money never even gets distributed.

This guy has no clue. And from the sounds of it, he's never HAD a clue. Does he know how much money a company is forced to spend on every employee? Does he know how much money in various taxes a company has to put out for each employee? Obviously not, or he would not have penned that mind-numbingly stupid screed.

And reading even farther down, you see that this guy does not want to be a contributing member of society at all. He just wants us to give him our money so he can do whatever he wants:

Another friend of mine—also an old hand at unemployment milking—tried for months to get fired from a local movie theater. After witnessing shenanigans that at most work places would not only get you fired, but would also get you arrested, he realized they had him in check. After much hand-wringing, he walked out mid-shift.

We saw each other in the grocery store a few weeks back, during the economic stimulus debate. He’d read about the wrangling over the unemployment extension and said he’d thought of me.

“The best part,” he said, chuckling, “was when one of the senators supporting the extension was like, ‘These people want to work, they want nothing more than to work but through no fault of their own, they just can’t find jobs!’”

“Yes, I want nothing more than to go into an office for eight hours a day and get ordered around by inferior people. It’s not about the money! I’ll do it for free!”

“My life is empty if I can’t man a cash register. Please, I want to contribute!”

“Goddamnit, why can’t I find a job? It’s almost as if I’m not trying at all!”

We amused ourselves in this manner for several minutes.

Ha ha fucking ha, you worthless fart-sniffer.

When I was laid off in Seattle, I had another job in a month. ONE MONTH. And thanks to the fact that I didn't blow my cash on too much stupid shit, I didn't apply for unemployment. I made it without any help. But then, I was raised to believe that you had best not count on anyone else for your life. To do so makes you little more than a slave to someone else's whims.

Mr. Schneider willing places the chains on his own wrists. Notice that the option of running his own business never even crosses his mind. I know people who hate the 9-5 bullshit. I know people who would rather slit their own wrists than work in a cubicle in some office where the HR assholes demand every little PC motto be enforced.

These people find non-office jobs, or they start their own businesses. And they couldn't be happier. But they also are self-reliant people, not sniveling little parasites like Mr. Schneider.

Let's face it; if Mr. Schneider the teat-sucking tick wants to do nothing but lay on the beach and bad-mouth his former employers, that's his prerogative. But nobody should be forced to pay for it. And if he thinks he has a right to my tax dollars, he's got another thing coming.