This is gonna be the thread where we talk about stuff

Why does anyone have a right to make a living doing what they enjoy? Why is that something anyone is entitled to?

This is an interesting question. Here's what I think:

The first part of my answer is that I'm taking the enjoyment thing as a given. Wiped clean of any other assumptions, a lifeform should have the right to do what pleases it. Lots of caveats and conditions to that, but it's the base I'm working from.

Society should serve that. It should enable us to pursue our individual interests more effectively at the cost of whatever portion of our time and resources it takes to keep that society running. Otherwise, why even have one?

We do have duties to society. It's only right that we should pay our dues and spend time and resources to keep society running, if we benefit from its existence. What should those costs and duties be? At what point do they hamper to an unreasonable extent our ability to pursue our individual interests? I think in an ideal society, the burden should be minimized.

If you assume that "making a living" and "paying debt to society/keeping it running" are one and the same, then no, there's no reason to expect that for any given individual, they should be able to pay those dues by doing something they enjoy. It's nice if it works out that way, but it won't always, and that's just life.

But I think that's a faulty assumption if we're talking about our current society. "Making a living" in most cases seems to mean dedicating the bulk of one's life to things that overwhelm both the duties and the enjoyment. It all too often takes up too much time that could be spent doing important service to society OR pursuing interests, with activities that don't count as either and have little independent merit.
If enjoyment takes a back seat to this cruft, then something's gone horribly wrong. The "enjoyment" part of our lives should come first to the greatest extent possible. (Though "enjoyment" should be read here as broadly as possible, not just to mean mindless consumption of entertainment.)


So in short, I don't think everyone has the right to make a living doing what they enjoy. I think everyone has the right to do what they enjoy, and their need to make a living shouldn't impede that.
If people feel they can't do what they enjoy UNLESS they can also make a living doing it, because the need to make a living is burdensome enough that it requires the greater part of their time and energy, leaving too little for the enjoyment, then I think we have a problem.

EDIT: Supes, I think this is an extremely interesting subject, and I'm glad you broached it. (Aside from where people have gotten sarcastic and unpleasant towards each other. Don't do that, guys.)

ANOTHER EDIT: I think I'm kind of saying the same thing as Granolaman, except he didn't take three and a half hours to write it down.