I've got money. So, screw you, I got mine.
I live in a nice neighborhood. So, Screw you, I got mine.
I have friends in politics or in the local power structure. They ensure that I get what I need and that I never have to worry about little legalities. So, Screw you, I got mine.
(more on the flip)
I don't have any family or friends affected by the war. So, screw you, I'm supporting the war.
I can afford high gas prices. Screw you. I've got everything I need.
The government will evacuate my neighborhood. Screw you. I'm sittin happy.
If my daughter goes missing, I can expect the media to pay FULL attention. Screw you, they like me.
If all this angers you, Screw you. I don't have to listen, since the media will tell me how good I've got it.
Unconciously or not, we all can lapse into this attitude. Whether it's a homeless guy on the street, or somebody wolfing down something disgusting on Fear Factor, the immediate feeling is "hey, glad I'm not that guy."
It's human, it's natural, and it's the worst thing on the face of the world that we can think. It is a disconnection from that person. It is a feeling that whatever happens to the other doesn't affect YOU.
Republicans and other fringe right-wingers have made an entire political philosophy out of "Screw you, I got mine." In their minds, everyone, other than themselves, is the "other".
"Significant Others" are diversions at best to this way of thinking, or near-servants at worst. They are replacable if you get bored with them, under that wonderful thought "irreconcilable differences." A nine syllable word to describe selfishness.
The thought for the poor, is that the poor just need to work harder, if they are thought of at all. Mostly the only thought given to the poor is the thought of notifying the police if they get too visable. After all, they're cluttering up the sidewalk.
They even have a religion supporting this. The words of Jesus, which they lay claim to, are ignored completely in favor of the words of condemnation. Loathe your neighbor, and bask in your own righteousness. Know that you'll go to heaven and they'll go to hell, and you'll get to watch EVERY MOMENT OF THEIR SUFFERING! After all, Screw them, you've got heaven.
At one point in every adult's life, they finally realize that they are responsible. That the freedom they enjoy is enjoyed by all, because of the burdens that they voluntarily take on. To shirk resposibility, and to claim that you are only responsible for yourself, is to put the burden onto another. Whether that other is the government, your workers, or your family, someone will suffer when they must carry the load for those who refuse to do so.
The rich, the Republicans, and the haughty have refused to grow up. They have skipped into their neverland of "free-market" and "personal virtue" but have never accepted the burdens that those ideals would place upon them. If anything goes wrong, they will not go hungry. If it goes wrong, they will not sleep in the streets. They have divorced the consequences of their actions from their philosophies, knowing that everyone else will shelter them, according to the rules that they have made.
I am tired of their game. It sickens me to see the average person in pursuit of that dream of Bling-bling. The true standard of success should not be the amount of people that you inspire envy in, but the amount of people that you relieve of their burdens, and allow to follow their own hopes and dreams.