[Neurons] 2020 Neurons #60 BEWARE OF ENTITLEMENT

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall   

2020 Neurons #60

November 2, 2020

Reflections on Politics #15

 

 

BEWARE OF ENTITLEMENT

 

There are some people walking around on this planet who feel entitled to
certain benefits.  They operate from the assumption that God or government
or family or maybe you owe them certain rights and goodies.  To get an image
of the entitled, think of a spoiled child who thinks that he is owed
whatever he wants.  "If I want something, I should have it.  In fact, you
owe it to me to provide it.  If not you, then the government, the world,
God."

 

This makes obvious the psychological nature of entitlement- it is a
childish, undeveloped, immature, and at its extreme-a toxic state of mind.
The psychology of entitlement is that it is not a request, it is a demand.
The person who claims to be entitled to something is making a demand for
that thing.  When the person looks at you and says that he is entitled, he
is usually saying that you are obligated to provide what he wants.  

"You owe me.  I am not responsible to earn what I want, to take action to
make it happen, I am automatically entitled to receive it.  It is mine by
heritage.  Now provide it."

              

The entitlement claim is a claim to a "right."  There are no requirements
for it, it comes with the fact that I am who I am.  This brings up the
reasons that entitled people quote for why the world is obligated to give
them what they want.

I am entitled because my family name is X.

              I am entitled because the color of my skin is X.

              I am entitled because of what happened 150 years ago to
distant relatives."

              I am entitled because I am special, unique, extraordinary.

              I am entitled because I have special handicaps.

 

Those who claim entitlement also have a belief about economics.  In terms of
Supply and Demand, the basis of modern economies, they have a simple creed:
"I demand, you supply."  Now one thing entitled people never say that they
are entitled to is to be a provider for others.  You never hear them say, "I
am entitled to provide justice, fairness, love, honesty, truth, etc. to
those I live with."  Why not?  Because that's responsibility, the opposite
of entitlement.

 

This highlights the contrast between the entitlement frame and the
responsibility frame.  If you start from the frame of responsibility- that
you have the ability or power to make basic responses, then responsible
entitlement means, "I am entitled to X or Y because I have met the
conditions."  For example, "I am entitled to the trophy because I came in
first in the race."  This entitlement is an entitlement based on merit.
Hence, "As a mature grown up, I am entitled to serve, to give, to
contribute, to learn, to create, to give value, etc."  Of course, that's
also the formula for success in the world as it is (not the socialist ideal
as it never is).

 

As a human being, what are you entitled to?   Are you entitled to breathe,
eat, or sleep?  Silly questions, are they not?  Breathing, eating, sleeping
are not entitlements but possibilities.  They are potentials that require
effort.  What are you entitled to?  Are you entitled to have friends?  Wrong
question.  The right question is, Are you the kind of person who knows how
to be a friend and to maintain friendship with someone?  If you enter into
the front door of an organization, are you thereby entitled to a job, to a
salary, to an audience with the CEO?  Again, wrong question.  The real
question is whether have earned the right to apply for a job there?  Do you
have the required knowledge and skills?

 

When it comes to the good things of life- we are not entitled to them.  A
great many of the good things of life require effort, learning, development,
practice, discipline, etc.  They are attained through merit.  They do not
come to us automatically.  Even the most wonderful good things of life which
are free are also not "free" in the sense that they require nothing of you.
They do.  To enjoy the beauty of a sunrise, of a blue sky, of a walk on the
beach in the sunshine, the smile of a child, the laughter of children, the
delight of learning a new insight- even these free things require much of
you.   They require mindfulness, effort, personal development, etc.

 

The entitlement frame is actually a pretty sick frame, one sure to make your
thinking and emoting toxic.  It makes you a whining child, a complaining
discontent, a non-contributing member of society.  It's a great way to be
miserable and spread your misery to others.  When you feel entitled, you
feel that the world owes you, which relieves you of your own
responsibilities and that will greatly disempower you.

 

Now whatever it is that you demand of the world or of others, you focus on-
security, happiness, money, job, recognition, fame, ease, comfort, approval,
love, etc.  If you feel entitled because you see that others have certain
things- then you become jealous and envious in your entitlement.  If you
feel entitled because you have some ideal in your head like "fame and
fortune," that you are superior to others, special, and don't have to live
by the same rules as others, then you develop an anti-social and prejudicial
attitude in your entitlement.  Entitlement sickens those who adopt that as
an attitude.  It's a great strategy for giving up your potentials, refusing
to grow up, and becoming a burden on others.

 

Now some political theories and outlook banks on entitlement.  They know
that the more people feel entitled, the more they can promise.  What they
don't say is that it takes a bigger and bigger government to provide all of
the entitlements along with more regulations and more taxes.  And if more
government, then the more their political power.  All of this is a way to
sicken society.  It goes against empowering people to take responsibility
and run their own brains and lives- which is what NLP is about.

 

 

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

P.O. Box 8

Clifton CO. 81520 USA

www.neurosemantics.com 

 

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Humor is a meta-perspective about incongruity, exaggeration, playfulness,
and even absurdity.

For a touch of humor --- see the new book --- HUMOROUS THINKING  (2020)

 

 



 

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