why should anyone get entitlements?

[jeninflorida]

why are we rewarding people for bad behavior?

by forgiving home loans....now they want student loan forgiveness....

we reward people for buying bull shit consumer goods ... racking up credit card bills....

so these people don't work, we give them money, free housing ....free food....

this is what happened in Detroit and we must stop them!

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

The High Entitlement Mind
Deborah C. Tyler, Ph.D.
American Thinker August 18, 2013

Recently, a thirty-something daughter wanted me to evaluate her fifty-something mother for disability. She wanted her mother to leave her job at a bank. "I don't want my momma slavin' in no bank." The mother worked as a supervisor, and she seemed proud of her position. Her worst stress came from her 16-year-old grandson who was living with her. He had been expelled from school for fighting and had recently pushed her into a wall because she refused to drive him to the mall.

I reflected on the young woman's formulation that going to work was "slavin'" and the significance of that term to her as an African-American. Did she feel entitled to turn her mother into free in-home supervision for her son? She had felt entitled to have a son whom she could not afford to raise. When the fatherless boy grew into a violent teenager she responded by trying to get her own mother on disability. Coincidentally, the older lady's job called her while she was in my office. She instantaneously transformed from a slumped, tearful huddle to a professional woman. She said crisply, "I have to take this," and walked out.

The ego is a prolific pulp fiction writer that churns out countless volumes, This is Why I Am Special and This Is Why I Am More Deserving than You. That is the ego's job, and it serves a survival purpose. Egos also tenaciously adhere to other egos spinning similar yarns. A new form of group grievance has arisen in America, which I call the "high entitlement mind." The "high entitlement mind" results from a self-image of victimization based on identification with a group grievance narrative. These group narratives are much stronger than individual narratives because group members reinforce each other's fictions. The high entitlement mind claims restitution not for actual suffering but for indoctrinated identification with the "borrowed" group suffering of others; it hungers after pay without work as compensation for imaginary injuries.

Most mental illness results from chronic false valuation of a self-important ego trying to get what it wants rather than what it needs, and Americans face a challenge within a challenge regarding special entitlement. The assumption that human beings originate in God-given, unalienable equality is a protection from the machinations of man and places American egos under an extra duty to question the rightfulness of one's wants, especially if somebody else has to pay for them.

Historically, intergroup exploitation was rationalized on assumptions about group superiority: "Because my group is superior to yours I can exploit and abuse you." Since the 1960s, American entitlement fallacies have reversed: "Since I was a tyke I've been taught that your group abused mine in the past so I deserve special rights to exploit and abuse you."

Attaining goals against the odds is a tempering process in which the mind moves beyond anger -- which provides energy for the struggle -- to acceptance, forgiveness, and gratitude. When people's lives are defined by counterfeit victimization and unearned emoluments, like the young woman in my office, there can be no growth. The mind becomes stuck in permanent hostility. This is why the high entitlement mind is always angry and has difficulty forming a relationship outside its false narrative. It is why the young woman in my office could not recognize the needs of her mother.

Alfred Adler is a psychological theoretician who transformed the way modern man views himself. He was considered the dummkopf of Freud's circle, but he may be the most influential of the founders of depth psychology. His theories about inferiority set the stage for the modern understanding of the importance of self-esteem, and they are the best psychology for understanding the high entitlement mind. Adler theorized that the unconscious perception of inadequacy forms the basis of a sense of inferiority. At every developmental stage the healthy unconscious mind works to convert feelings of inferiority to healthy superiority or "completeness" by successfully achieving developmentally appropriate goals. Mental disorder develops as a retreat from developmental challenges into the discouragement of inferiority, or as an overcompensation of neurotic superiority. Adler stressed the individual's need for progressive developmental achievement: "As long as this striving is expressed in work it does not lead to false valuations, which are the root of mental disease."

Adler's ideas help explain how groups aggregate into inferiority/superiority relationships. Low entitlement groups project inferiority on high entitlement groups, and high entitlement minds unconsciously experience feelings of inferiority or "compensatory superiority" as they struggle to justify special privileges and as their achievements dwindle. This dynamic has been exacerbated by progressive indoctrination, especially of our children. American childhood is no longer sugar and spice and puppy dogs tails, but helpless worries about racism, gender bending, and the whole world burning up. Our children are taught to live in futile reaction against prejudices that no longer define American life. They are indoctrinated to see America as a place where some groups have always been hated and others always privileged. This mental abuse is not just on Harvey Milk Day but every day, in school, on television, everywhere. High entitlement youth (Blacks, Hispanics, illegal aliens, and sex minorities) are taught they are victims of inequality and deserve special privileges. They should not have to work as hard or follow the same rules. Low entitlement children (that is, Whites) are taught that they are perpetrators of inequality. They are publicly punished for expressing their identities, for vigorous masculinity, or for loving Jesus.

When the young woman in my office said, in effect, "My mother is too good to work in a bank," she was projecting a compensatory superiority that dishonors her mother's achievement and derails the positive cycle of work and earned respect. Michelle Obama was 44 years old when she said, "For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country." This is a statement of almost psychotic compensatory superiority. She was really saying, "It was only when Barack and I were contenders for the White House that America was good enough for me." She didn't bring herself to this self-assessment. Her ingratitude and self-importance grew in serial false valuations, from a childhood free of institutionalized discrimination, to racial preferences, to an underwritten Ivy League education, culminating in her publicly financed in-your-face opulence.

Adler developed his psychology when the inferiority/superiority complexes were considered neuroses. That term was voted out of the diagnostic manual in the 1970s and replaced by 'personality disorder'. In neurotic states, people often realize they have a problem and seek help. With personality disorders, people don't have a problem, they are the problem. No matter how much harm they do they almost never try to change. The high entitlement mind is a functional personality disorder, unable to question its demand for special privilege, and why high entitlement grievance is so difficult to overcome.

The high entitlement fallacy explains why the Obama administration believes it is above the law, invariably bestows favor on its grievance group, and punishes the B-listers: conservatives, devout Christians, Constitutionalists, and all other low entitled "folks." It explains why our president and first lady cannot form a healthy relationship with many Americans beyond a fictitious racial narrative. The Obama's genuine and unique privilege is to live in a beautiful house Americans pay for. But in the ingratitude and hostility of the high entitlement mind, they slammed the door to the White House in our faces.

 

[MatthewVett]

why are we rewarding people for bad behavior?

by forgiving home loans....now they want student loan forgiveness....

we reward people for buying bull shit consumer goods ... racking up credit card bills....

so these people don't work, we give them money, free housing ....free food....

this is what happened in Detroit and we must stop them!

Isn't there some sort of book that a lot of people read that says we should regularly forgive debts? What is it called...? Oh yeah, the Bible! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_(biblical)

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I've never understood why liberals hate Jesus, he was everything they pray for. Gotta be envy.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I've never understood why liberals hate Jesus, he was everything they pray for. Gotta be envy.

Envy is the root of all evil.

 

[rosco rathbone]

Alfred Adler is a psychological theoretician who transformed the way modern man views himself. He was considered the dummkopf of Freud's circle, but he may be the most influential of the founders of depth psychology.

Ironically, it was once Marxists who turned to Freud and his heirs to explain the resistance of society to their schemes.

 

[jeninflorida]

Isn't there some sort of book that a lot of people read that says we should regularly forgive debts? What is it called...? Oh yeah, the Bible! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_(biblical)

No debts should be forgiven. You made a commitment now you must live through your obligation. other wise your word, and you are a piece of shit.


do you pay your debts/bills?

are you one of those jesus freaks that go out to eat and when the check comes you pass put in a card that says "Jesus will provide you the tip"

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Ironically, it was once Marxists who turned to Freud and his heirs to explain the resistance of society to their schemes.

I think he advised them to get guns...


Lots of guns.

 

[jeninflorida]

I've never understood why liberals hate Jesus, he was everything they pray for. Gotta be envy.

is obama a liberal?

sure, obama is NOT an American.
sure, obama is a socialist nut jobber
sure, obama is a islamic nut slobber

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

You are both misinterpreting the prayer.

 

[phrodeau]

why are we rewarding people for bad behavior?

by forgiving home loans....now they want student loan forgiveness....

we reward people for buying bull shit consumer goods ... racking up credit card bills....

so these people don't work, we give them money, free housing ....free food....

this is what happened in Detroit and we must stop them!

So why give people home mortgage interest deductions? It rewards people for going into debt.

 

[jeninflorida]

So why give people home mortgage interest deductions? It rewards people for going into debt.

those that own their home, keep the home looking good. those that get free housing, well....ends up like Detroit

home ownership is a good thing, turd. not a bad think.

going into debt over a BMW, when you are on welfare is a bad thing

 

[phrodeau]

those that own their home, keep the home looking good. those that get free housing, well....ends up like Detroit

home ownership is a good thing, turd. not a bad think.

going into debt over a BMW, when you are on welfare is a bad thing

That's an accurate example of a double standard.

People who take the home mortgage interest deduction are those whose mortgage is too high for their income level. If your home mortgage interest exceeds the standard deduction amount, you're paying way too much.

Those people are putting our economy at risk by being too far in debt. They probably can't afford to keep their homes looking good, either.

 

[Liar]

home ownership is a good thing

What's good about it?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

is obama a liberal?

sure, obama is NOT an American.
sure, obama is a socialist nut jobber
sure, obama is a islamic nut slobber

He's the Messiah, remember? Except Jesus was better at making loaves and fishes and wine, and resurrecting dead things.

 

[phrodeau]

He's the Messiah, remember? Except Jesus was better at making loaves and fishes and wine, and resurrecting dead things.

Nobody calls Obama a Messiah, except folks like you.

 

[pointless]

because they're entitled to them?

 

[Boxlicker101]

Isn't there some sort of book that a lot of people read that says we should regularly forgive debts? What is it called...? Oh yeah, the Bible! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_(biblical)

You're quoting out of context and misquoting at the same time. It says "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Some sects do say "debts" but they are not referring to monetary obligations and they definitely are calling for reciprocity.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Yes, the reference is to someone who harms another and hasn't performed penance, or owes a favor for a favor received.

 

[Boxlicker101]

That's an accurate example of a double standard.

People who take the home mortgage interest deduction are those whose mortgage is too high for their income level. If your home mortgage interest exceeds the standard deduction amount, you're paying way too much.

Those people are putting our economy at risk by being too far in debt. They probably can't afford to keep their homes looking good, either.

Home construction is a major industry, so when people buy homes, they are helping the economy in general. "Housing starts" is even one indicator of the health of an economy.

Mortgage Interest is only one entry on Schedule A, Form 1040. There are also taxes, charitable contributions and fractions of other expenses, such as medical. Interest is usually the biggest, and all it needs to be is about $1,000 per month for a married couple filing jointly to benefit from itemizing, even if that is the only deduction they can take.

Until the gov. started meddling in home loans, anybody who could get a loan would have been able to afford that much. This is especially so, since people who buy houses also have places to live.

In fact, a home is not so much an expense as it is an investment. Usually, they appreciate in value and, after living in one for years and enjoying the home mortgage deduction, the owners can sell it, frequently at a big profit.

Maybe even more important are the intangible benefits. Home owners are often considered to be solid citizens and people derive great deal of satisfaction from knowing they own their own home.

 

[mdbigdee]

What about" Let he who is without sin cast the first stone?"

 

[Boxlicker101]

Nobody calls Obama a Messiah, except folks like you.

"Messiah" is a sarcastic reference to the way news media and many others fawned over Obama in 2008 and the way they still seem to consider him to be infallible.

 

[tonyroleplays]

I don't normally reply to threads like this because they are usually hot beds for back and forth bitching and moaning by uninformed people, argument that is better off reserved for more appropriate web sites where the conversation might actually be read by someone who gives a shit about working on the issue, rather than just exercising their thumbs and fingers. (After all, do you really think you're going to improve the issue you're talking about or sway the opinion of anyone who counts by discussing it on Literotica? Really? Write a letter to the newspapers or -- better yet -- to your Congress Member.)

But in this case, I will make an exception because I think our "hostess" Jen is a bit confused on "entitlements" and who exactly is acting with "bad behavior".

For instance:

why are we rewarding people for bad behavior ...
by forgiving home loans....

I fully agree that people who took out bad home loans should have lost their homes. Why are my taxes going to save the extravagant home of a person who couldn't afford it when I can't even pay my rent?

But if you read the studies, you will find that most now-homeless former home owners didn't lose their homes because they took out bad loans. They lost their homes after the economy crashed, which was a result of the mortgage industry and banks playing with the numbers and selling worthless (toxic) assets. When these assets proved worthless, those who invested in them -- individuals and organizations alike -- lost their money, amounting to billions of dollars; and while some of these people were home owners who ONLY THEN lost their homes, the loss of the home wasn't due to a bad personal mortgage investment but was instead a bad Wall Street investment, either by them personally or by the investment firm they trusted.

Personally, btw, I lost $3,000+ in the value of my 401K and I did nothing to cause this collapse. I have no say in where that money goes. Should I be compensated? I'll leave that for you to answer.

So, Jen, your question should be more specific: why are the people who fucked around -- took bad home loans or invested in risky get rich schemes -- getting mortgage relief?

... now they want student loan forgiveness....

Totally different issue. Students are given loans so that they can graduate and get good jobs and then pay back those loans. But our government panders to the rich -- individuals and corporations alike -- and the rich don't give a rat's ass about students who graduate with $30,000 in debt, debt they incurred with the goal of bettering their country through a life of labor.

If the government is not going to stop practices that rob student loan holders of employment opportunities -- such as sending the good jobs overseas or allowing cheap foreign goods onto our shores and driving domestic companies into bankruptcy -- then the government needs to give relief to these students.

And yes, I mean both Democratic and Republican administrations (so there's no need to turn this into a Party issue because I'm blaming both of them). If Congress and the Administration wanted to do so, they could pass one big bill that would bring a million jobs back to our shores almost overnight. They won't, because thw rich -- who own them -- won't let it happen. We don't have a democracy, after all: we have an auction.

Now, I'm not being an idiot when I say that the government needs to do something about this: I fully understand that that means tax payer dollars are going to need to be used. Those are your dollars and my dollars. Yes, I'm putting responsibility on you to pay up right beside me.

Why? Look around you and count the items made overseas that you, your family, your company, and/or your school purchased. Those items represent lost American jobs, jobs which could have gone to students who then could have begun laying back their loans, rather than asking for loan forgiveness. If you are buying foreign goods that have American-made alternative just to save a few pennies or dollaes, then you deserve to help those Americans who can't find a good paying job. It's that simple.

With the exception of the Tablet upon which I am writing, there is NOTHING in my house that I bought NEW that was made overseas. NOTHING! If I can't buy American-made, I either do without or buy second hand, the latter of which means that my dollars went to an American, not a foreigner.

...we reward people for buying bull shit consumer goods ... racking up credit card bills...

Again, I fully agree. If you are running up credit card debt by buying shit you don't absolutely need, then you should go to a labor camp to work off your debt before any of my tax dollars go to help you. But, what about these people who are suffering by no fault of their own? What about people who lost their jobs and/or homes because of the misdeeds of other people? What about people buying food or paying medical bills on credit because they don't have any money. If they are living on credit cards, should they get relief? If they're buying shit, absolutely not; but if they're just trying to survive and have no alternative ... well, I'm toen on that, so I won't give an answer.

(I don't believe in credit cards -- never had one! Credit cards are the greatest sin ever to befall the common laborer. If you are up to your eyeballs in credit card debt, you have no option but to go to work every day, even if your pay and benefits are being cut or your labor contract isn't being renewed. It's the primary reason labor unions are failing today: you can't strike against an unreasonable employer if everything in your house was bought on a credit card which has a payment due by the end of the month, can you?)

... So these people don't work, we give them money, free housing ....free food....

Again, you need to determine who deserves the aid and who doesn't. I'll give you some personal examples:

My just-short-of-retirement mother lost her hourly wage, labor job when the economy crashed. It wasn't her fault. She owned her own home and had no investments, so she did nothing to cause this. Nevertheless, the stupidity and/or greed of others caused her to lose her job and much of the value of the 401K she had hoped to live on (since Social Security is a joke). Should she get help? Damn straight.

My father had a business that provided luxury goods to people who were -- generally speaking -- "well off". (I'm not going to give specifics on what he did, other than to say that his product was not a "need".) When the economy crashed and people stopped buying luxury items, his industry collapsed. Should he get help? If that same greed and/or stupidity had caused him to lose money, I would have said maybe. But he didn't lose money: he simply stopped making money. So, should he get help? I don't know.

And last but certainly not least, my step-brother -- whose maternal family is well off -- lost thousands, maybe tens of thousands, in investments, land value, stock value, and bank shares. In addition, their industry took a hit and some investments they made went for naught. Should they get relief for having lost that money? They didn't "personally" do anything wrong. But, in some cases, they made investments that were risky with the goal of getting even richer than they already were. If you are going to risk your money on things you don't understand, you shouldn't be compensated for those losses later ... particularly at the expense of people like me who CAN'T PAY THEIR FUCKING RENT!! No offense, Bro, but you lost your dollars, and I shouldn't have to compensate you with my pennies.

...this is what happened in Detroit and we must stop them!

As far as Detroit goes, that town has been dying for decades. The economic collapse was just the final nail in the coffin. Enough said about that: that comment doesn't even belong in this conversation.

Just my opinion. If you got this far, you are welcome to counter me ... but try to be correct and on point when you do.

 

[jomar]

What's good about it?

It can be a good investment.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Google OBAMA MESSIAH and see how many hits you get. In 2008 the MSM and LIT posters pissed down their legs from all the excitement and hope The Magic Negro created.