I came across this old thread on 
. The question brings out the core Conservative belief that some people are lazy or "worthless" and "why should I pay for lazy people" or "why should I have to work for someone else to live off my labor?"
Many, many people on this thread say outright that people who they deem "lazy" don't deserve food or shelter or anything a human needs to live.
Is there a good counter to this talking point? It's pretty disgusting TBH being confronted with this. I know it's what they really believe but it still stings to read it out over and over again.
I don't understand how some people can think humans don't have an inherent right to exist. Not very "pro-life" of these people.
"Lazy" is an opinion and our society is built to treat people who aren't helping a Capitalist make profit or become a Capitalist themselves like they're burdens on society.
Life isn't fair, it never has and it never will be. Maybe some of your money goes to help a person who doesn't "work as hard as you"? There's also people who are born millionaires, people who have investments paying them for no work, people who win lotteries and jackpots or marry into wealth and never have to lift a finger again.
Forcing people to work in order to live doesn't sound fair to me. It sounds like slavery with extra steps. What kind of freedom do we truly have if we can't choose to withold our labor or check out of the system altogether?
I'm struggling a little mentally with feeling guilt around my failing job search. Technically I'm working on building three income streams, maybe four, but it feels like "failure" because I'm not making enough just yet to cover all bills. It's not for a lack of trying but there's ti.es where I have no energy to do much and it makes me feel terrible. This part of Conservatism always drove me up a wall. Hopefully some of you have good ways to fight against it.
If you throw in a bunch of financial capital that the hypothetical person in question subsists on, all of a sudden these same people will rush to their defense, saying that what they "do" is "economically valuable", even if it's a "healthy individual with no disabilities who lives in their parents' house". Add an abstract concept of owning capital, to the same situation of not engaging in any waged or salaried labor, and they'll trip over themselves to justify it.
The level to which Western workers are brainwashed into punching down is unsettling. Just in the past few years I've worked at 3 jobs where I've observed workers, earning close to minimum wage, getting unreasonably mad or indignant at other minimum wage workers not working as fast or as efficiently. Never mind that the company makes $300k per full-time labor equivalent.
I always reply with "I don't give a shit about anyone who's barely getting by, they're not the problem". The problem is with those who stuff themselves! (where are our Mélenchon emotes)
We know who the detrimentally lazy ones are and we should always be pointing the finger.