In Defense Of Poor People

Just saw this depressing clip on the Daily Show with Jon Steward. He can't even make a joke about it at the end:

The Daily Show - World of Class Warfare - The Poor's Free Ride Is Over
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After watching the clip I did a quick Google search on the "moocher class" and came up with this:

Syndicated radio talk show host Neal Boortz says the moocher class is made up of people who are "perfectly content to live at the expense of others."

"I have a right to health care, you provide it to me. I have a right to a place to live, you provide it to me. I have a right to food, you provide it to me," Boortz says to describe the moocher class.

I didn't know this. People don't have the right to food or shelter? You mean people don't have the right to live, that they have to earn it? And how do you earn it in the first place?

I've posted before about how living in the rich Turkish community I felt like entitlement complexes were indeed a real problem for the spoiled wealthy, while in the past I assumed that the "welfare queen" was a Republican invention to cut programs. However, this attitude doesn't transfer broadly to the poor and working class; it's not general human nature to feel entitlement but instead a difference of class culture. Poor people, I've found through my research at NYU, feel like they have to struggle for everything they earn, and instead of feeling like rights belong to them they feel they have to earn them, tooth and nail.

But even if this weren't true, it's unethical to deny basic rights to people just because they believe those rights exist. I can't believe people can publicly say something so blatantly greedy and still be taken seriously.