Entitlement and displacement

Living in Bay Area is very expensive. I got an apartment in July. That is the time of the year when new grads enter the work scene. Rents go higher thanks to the increased demand, and sudden inflow of people with dispensable incomes. Add to the equation the fact that Google/ Facebook are some of the highest paying employers. The problem is, while the software engineers are earning astronomical salaries, a vast chunk of people still earn minimum wage. There is no way these people can cope up with the increased rents, and eventually move out of the Bay Area to the east bay. This cycle of gentrification continues unabated. What is worse that the people who are now forced to stay in east bay have to spend maybe an hour in commute every day. That is an hour of the time they would have been earning if they were still closer to their workplaces.  

A bigshot of one of the startups here wrote an article complaining about how these no-so-well-to-do people are making his experience of travelling in public transport unpleasant. Now I am not sure whether the article was supposed to be sarcastic. A lot of readers thought otherwise, and were quick to jump on the degrading morals of the too-rich-for-their-age youngsters. 

I am not defending the article here. The least a person can do is be humble, and atleast be aware it's us who are making life worse for them. It doesn’t hurt to give a tip here and there, to shop at local mom-and-pop store or the farmers market, dine at a fledgling restaurant or a food truck, and use the Caltrain. 

As a youngster, I used to wonder why they have actors playing doctors in pulse polio commercials. Why couldn't they just film the commercial with real doctors instead? I was planning to attend the casting call for a Danny Boyle's movie being shot here. The fine print mentioned difference in payscales for hobby actors Vs union actors. I figured it then that acting may be a hobby for some of us, something that you can do while you have your main source of income intact. But for some, it is their ONLY source of livelihood. It needs some age and maturity to develop empathy, and part of the process needs being able to witness how the other half of the world makes it through the day.

What strikes me odd is that our generation is being blamed. A saying in my native language goes that every time you point a finger at others 4 fingers are pointed towards you. This whole country is centred around entitlement and displacement. This country belongs to the Native Americans who are now banished to shrinking lands. So next time an American blames someone else (immigrants, outsourced work, software engineers..) for making his/ her life worse, let them not forget that they laid the groundwork for it.