You mean for the poll? I'm talking about the number of people on this forum in the past month or so who've gone full-on "any bad thing that happens to you is your own damn fault, you should have been more prepared" combined with "And anything the rich HAVE they EARNED and you're a PARASITE if you don't AGREE WITH ME."
Better?
Yup. I just wanted to know where you were coming from.
To expand on the point: A lot of bad things that happen to people are, to some degree, self-inflicted. Most of my problems are, one way or another, I freely admit.
However, it isn't always so. Some people are poor because they put family obligations ahead of maximizing their income; some are poor because of health problems they did nothing to bring on themselves. Accidents happen; you could get laid off, be unable to afford to COBRA your insurance, then get in a car wreck the next week.... the hospital costs could wipe you out even if you were otherwise financially well-off.
In short, most people bring
most of their **** down on their own heads, but not always. If there's one thing I've learned in life, it is that there's plenty of trouble to go 'round... if you don't have any right now, fear not: it will get around to you. You can do everything "right" and life can still throw you a monkey wrench. It happens.
I have all the sympathy in the world for people with non-self-inflicted problems. I can even sympathize and have compassion on people who made a decision that turned out to be "bad", but was something that didn't seem unreasonable at the time.
I tend to get impatient, though, with people who refuse to take responsibility for the troubles they brought on themselves, or who think others OWE them something "just because".