The very idea that people have to EARN rights makes them not rights. The idea that human beings have to earn even a base level of dignity is the same sort of thought that created slavery and put women, minorities, and other groups at a lower level. These ideas have no place today.
That’s not to say there isn’t an issue with entitlement today, unclear expectations, and a number of other things, and to a certain degree I think some of it is due to not putting in some hardwork to earn things, but part of growing up as a society means that we don’t have to repeat the same mistakes every generation.
However, the resentment of older generations is not going away. What I had to do, everyone must do. There’s no rationale that can touch that. That is how mistakes get repeated every generation. That basic jealousy that someone might have it easier than we ourselves - as individuals - is becoming a societal groundswell.
I think a big part of the issue is that we continue to blur the line between rights (that which is due to anyone by just claim) and privileges (a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to one person or group of people and based on specific criteria).
Arguably, the only “global” human right is the right to life. No one should be able to take that from anyone else. One can forfeit that right via suicide or, arguably again, by taking the life of another. In the US, we extend our rights to include liberty, the pursuit of happiness (too often wrongly interpreted as “guarantee of happiness”), voting, bearing of arms, free speech, etc. By definition, rights apply to all. In this case, “all” means citizens of the United States of America. Also by definition, there is no such thing as women’s rights, smoker’s rights, gay rights, white rights, black rights, etc. There are only US citizen rights - each one due equally to anyone who is a US citizen.
There is no just claim right in the US to wealth, housing, food, health care, or transportation to name a few*. These are all privileges to be earned by meeting specific criteria (like possessing the means to afford or procure, knowing someone who is willing to procure for you or qualifying for a program to provide one or more for you). Harsh, perhaps, but true.
People feel entitled when privileges come to be seen as just claim rights.
*Whether any or all of these are moral rights is a whole 'nuther debate. I strongly suspect we could not among us come to a standard definition of what is moral, let alone debate moral rights.
Yes, the distinction between natural (inalienable) rights and legal rights is diminished. Some rights are inherent and others are revokable. Neither are all rights equivilent. My right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is not commensurate with my right to paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarty.
There’s a term for believing that people don’t inherently deserve to be treated with dignity, and I’m pretty sure it’s “being a monster.”
A quick edit: not to say that anyone in this thread is a monster, but that I don’t believe that “people don’t get a baseline of respect and value” is a very well-thought-out philosophy.