Lately, a few things have been bothering me.  And I am forced to ask: when did this country turn from a group of "can do" people in a land of opportunity and become a land of people expecting handouts, wanting everything for nothing, and having no personal responsibility at all.

There seems to be this attitude, and I've been noticing it more and more recently, that people aren't willing to do any work and still expect something for it.  Did the "New Deal" setup an expectation of something for nothing?  What caused it?  But I certainly don't like it.  Maybe I've just lost my desensitization, as I haven't been watching much TV or reading any of the mass media crap for a while.

I look around, and the common driver on the road EXPECTS that no matter what they do that everyone else will get out of their way and make up for their failings.  I wouldn't presume to be a 'great' driver, or even close.  But I do not expect anyone else to be responsible for me getting to where I need to be.  I was at a stoplight a while back and a lady pulled up beside me and said "You need to wait and block the line for me so I can go straight through the light, even though I'm in the left turn lane."  No.  No, I do not.  If she had said that she was in the wrong lane and asked if she could cut in front of me, then sure, no problem.  But to demand that I take responsibility for her getting to her destination is just insane.  On the roads, you even see this in a lesser sense with turn signals.  If someone uses their signals I am way more likely to accommodate them getting in front of me.  Do not assume I can read your mind and know that you want to fit into the 8ft space between me and the car in front of me at the light.

I see the same sort of attitude regarding credit at stores as well.  If you can't afford the item and put it on a card, then don't bitch and whine when your credit card bill is out of control.  You are the only one who decided to purchase that item.  And often these are the same people who have a fancy new car every 2yrs and a huge TV, but moan that they can't pay their rent any more.

And then we get to colleges.  I've heard radio ads along the lines us "Do you want a job that pays $XXk/yr?  Well come to our school!" that heavily implies that if someone goes to their college that they will be guaranteed a job that pays great.  And I've run into some of these people in the work force... IF they get a decent job after one of these schools, then the majority don't expect to have to do any work at it.  They feel like they can loaf around and since they went to Bob's Tech Emporium that people should throw money at them.   And I also have definite concerns with the level of education gained from some of these tech emporiums.  How better to manipulate a group if they think they are highly educated, have little ability to accomplish things, and unrealistic expectations?

And my personal opinion is that ALL media is spin.  The only way to get real info is to find a publication/broadcast that is attempting to influence a group completely unrelated to you, or has spin that you don't care about in the slightest.  But then we get into the quality of the underlying information that is being presented, spin or not.  And that info is just pure junk any more.  It isn't worth bothering with for 99.999% of the time.  And in the rare chance that the info is complete, accurate, and lacking spin that impacts you; it is still often junk. 

My advice: Give up on mass media.  All they want is to sell ad space, they could care less how they get the eyeballs to see the ads. 

2nd piece of advice: question everything.  Mass media has a motive, politicians have a motive and most people have a motive.  Look at it analytically and figure out what they are trying to make you feel/do and how they are attempting to do it.  That will dissolve the majority of the spell they are trying to weave.  If you are no longer caught up in their frenzy or willing to pay them any attention, then they have lost their power.

Moral of the story: You are in charge of yourself and responsible for yourself.  Don't assume someone else will make accommodations for you.  Question motives and don't buy into the hype of anything just because they want you to.