> I am convinced that there’s a permanent element in our society that has a pathological need to be conned.
I think its simpler than that. I’ve interviewed thousands of people over the years and I’ve come to the conclusion that there are some very gullible, naive, and just plain stupid people who want others to be the responsible people so they can have fun and platy because they are simply lazy by nature.
It is both physical AND intellectual laziness.
I am sure that whole families, for generations, have habituated themselves to indolence and dependence on the government.
In the recent decades, this group has become not only lazy but VERY demanding and surly.
In ‘Revolt of the Masses’, Ortega y Gasset called them the ‘mass man’, and described them most accurately.
What is worse, there is no longer the least stigma associated with living on the dole.