Republicans have long complained about entitlement programs in government. All these programs have ever been is a basic safety net so that we, as a society, don't leave anybody behind in such a way that they can't simply survive. But so persuasive was the "entitlement" rhetoric in the 1990's that even Bill Clinton joined a scarily conservative congress in gutting essentials for poor people. They invoked that tacky little feeling buried deep inside of us that cries out if we think somebody else is getting something for free that we don't get. A very tacky feeling indeed. These days, Paris Hilton is detested for seemingly having a sense of entitlement, so much so that a judge, buckling to public sentiment, overrode the normal application of her generic jail term. Even Paris herself is now more afraid of any continued entitlement perception than she is of doing time! Meanwhile abroad, there are heirs to thrones in fabulous countries who are revered for their entitlements. But in this part of the world, that concept is, well, foreign. What isn't foreign in this southern part of the United States is the strange sense of entitlement that accompanies taking. Just plain taking. It could be soft pedaled into bullying. However you phrase it, moral assertiveness, that entitled sense that you know what's right, slips easily into hateful domination. And as scary as that gets, it's about as lofty as the entitlement gets here. You're not going to bump into very many young New England bluebloods stumbling around wasting their trust funds. This is the south. It's poor. And southern hospitality is a dead concept in a city like Atlanta. This is a city of thugs. When you combine poverty and an undereducated, ignorant thug mentality, then blend in some of that pervasive American desire for new, more, better, "gotta get me that" capitalism gone wild, you get crime. There's no other solution here. Sometimes it's blatant, like "the bleeds" that lead our news every night. But often it's that passive aggressive knife in your back that you missed while you were admiring a seemingly friendly southern smile. Go north, young gays. Go north.