Entitlement

An entitlement is a just claim or right, usually granted by some authority to an individual. Entitlement may also refer to a personal attitude. This usage is common in therapeutic circles.

The attitude of entitlement is seen as an unconscious, narcissistic sense of being owed a certain deference without any rational basis for that belief. It is often a defense against self-loathing, but it can be the result of poor socialization or poor parenting. Part of healthy human development is the achievement of an understanding of the basic worth and commonality of all human beings. Added to that understanding, a rational, socialized human being realizes that respect and consideration are earned by respectful behavior and responsible action. The entitled person, in the psychotherapeutic sense, enters human interactions and social situations with a demanding or emotionally needy attitude which has no real or socially accepted basis in objective reality.

In the current American political landscape, legal entitlements, such as social security and unemployment benefits, are decried by The Right as frivolous waste of public funds. Their adamant railing against these social benefits imply that the recipients are milking the public treasury unnecessarily and unjustly. Ironically, this reflects an attitudinal entitlement in the holders of these views, who are often fortunate to be wealthy enough, while holding these opinions, to not need the benefits themselves. They feel entitled to live in a safe and comfortable society without paying for the social infrastructure that creates the conditions they obviously take for granted.

The iPhone and Blackberry seem to enforce this sense of general impatience and entitlement. Mesmerized by the power of a portable, compliant slave, which offers up demanded information with the flick of a thumb or finger, people could tend to be less patient with human servers and coworkers, whose clocking times tend to be less immediate and require a certain amount of social prompting to get the best result. Having slaves of any kind, historically, has bred the worst form of entitlement in their masters.

The culture of "we are all special" has contributed to entitlement in many who are not special and who are perhaps are not even average. This is the entitlement of the bling-encrusted felon, now a rapper, whose knowledge or understanding of the human condition is minimal. However, this individual strides from talk show to talk show and dispenses the wisdom of the ignorant with great hubris. The echo effect of this media barrage breeds entitlement in similar listeners, who feel themselves ordained by their rough-shod role model.

The pathological attitude of entitlement, in my opinion, is a reflection of the inequality and lack of education in society. I believe the most basic human entitlement, in a legal or ethical sense, is the birthright to a safe, well-nourished, properly housed, maximally educated and justly employed life span from cradle to grave. Who would be responsible for granting this birthright or entitlement? The state? No. I believe it is the responsibility of every person who brings a child into this world to provide this basic birthright to each and every child.

"It takes a village to raise a child!" I hear the frequent refrain. Yes, I agree. Just as no one of us has the ability to build a television set, a car or an iPhone, no one person has all the tools to provide that basic birthright to a child from cradle to grave. However, this does not excuse propagating the mindless reproduction by those who have absolutely none of the tools to provide that basic human birthright. Nor does it justify Tea Party or Libertarian rantings about denying any social benefits paid for by tax money.

The best treatment for pathological entitlement is the provision of the basic legal entitlement of universal rights to a quality lifespan to each and every human being who is born. This cannot be attended to exclusively with legislation or religious doctrine. Experiments in enforcing these ideals from the top down have failed miserably. This must come from educated and properly socialized individuals who decide to procreate and participate in a just society. The way to that ideal is not every-man-for-himself, the populist battle cry in America, covertly funded by corporate dollars.

The current humanist movement for universal human rights worldwide is an important first step to providing the most basic human justice for all human beings on the planet. Until all human beings are entitled to a quality life from cradle to grave, the plagues of war, greed and injustice will flourish.

Ignorance

The greatest obstacle to human progress is simple human ignorance. Ignorant human beings are more prone to have children for whom they do not provide adequate education. Breaking the cycle of ignorance is extremely difficult, because it inevitably necessitates addressing family planning and reproductive rights in society. The sacred cow of universally encouraged and unquestioned human reproduction, as seen everywhere in media, is counterproductive to alleviating poverty and ignorance in society.

This thought came to me recently on the subway, as I watched an adolescent mother being cruel and abrupt with a toddler, whom she was loudly encouraging to eat an ungodly meal in a box from Burger King. The smell of the box's contents caused me to gag, yet the teen mom was threatening the child with repercussions if he did not immediately gag down a portion of toxic french fries which would have sated a truck driver. When I looked over to the mother to suggest the child may be full, she shot me the kind of violent look I associate with gun-toting gangsters. I decided to be quiet, since the child would most likely bear her anger for anything I might have said. Instead, I focused my benign energy on the child, who smiled and waved at me. That innocent wave shot a pain through my heart. If this had been a rare experience on my subway line, I would not have been as deeply affected.

The issue of family planning is seen as a "women's issue". This is understandable, since the presence of men in the lives of their offspring seems to be dwindling, rather than growing. Single motherhood is a growing trend among the educated. It is vehemently defended by educated and more privileged women. What are the repercussions of these trends for the undereducated, when media promotes these behaviors in the educated? Is it really exclusively a women's issue?

The recent reactionary outrage over expanding health care in the U.S. is stunning in the face of increased fertility services and more enabling of adolescent girls who do become pregnant. And, the fall in public education quality in the face of large immigrant populations with large families does not bode well for the future. The recession of the U.S. economy will only worsen these situations.

As long as it is politically incorrect to frankly discuss the role of reproduction in the cycle of ignorance and poverty, the undermining effects of a growing undereducated population will erode the quality of American life for every citizen of America. The truth is often unpopular. I would strongly encourage women to open the conversation with media, government agencies and other women about these issues. It is as important an environmental issue as the failing oil economy.

Reproduction

At the core of all the problems facing the human species is its inability to examine and effectively deal with human reproduction. Reproduction is considered a human right, but dealing rationally with reproduction has not been treated effectively by most societies as a human responsibility.

The result is the ever-growing problem of overpopulation, which lies at the root of all the planetary problems of our age. Do you doubt this? If so, I would suggest that you are either ill informed or naive.

Industrialization, based in petroleum, has developed as a means to support population, as well as a means for the most aggressive and wily of our species to ensure their own progeny's survival and dominance . This petroleum based industrialization is the cause of global warming. It is the basis of corporate agriculture, which is stamping out biodiversity and producing food which can maintain an overpopulated planet at a huge cost in nutritional and cultural value. The processing of human waste in industrialized, urban population centers produces a sludge, which is used as fertilizer on millions of acres of land. The heavy metals in that sludge have already rendered thousands upon thousands of acres permanently useless for food production, due to the heavy metals from pipes and pollutants in it.

Educated people in industrialized countries look to the underdeveloped world and shake their heads at the lack of family planning there. Well motivated couples adopt children from those countries, as opposed to having children of their own. These people are perhaps the most rational and courageous planetary stewards in our times. However, corporate capitalism preaches the values of overpopulation, which is considered 'growth'. More cookie-cutter developments, more widgets for more factories to produce more useless junk to fill more landfills. Insanity.

An examination of the Chinese experience with The One-Child Policy illustrates the inability of human beings to address, understand and control their own reproduction for the common good of the species. And, even in a China which is now reaping the benefits of that policy, it is spoken of with condemnation by 'human rights' advocates in China and abroad. How about the human right to have enough space to grow food and enough clean air to breathe?

I hold the opinion that being a truly mindful and compassionate Humanist entails a commitment to fostering and practicing socially responsible reproduction of the human species. It is key. Wars, disease and famine have been the only modifiers of human population to date. With advances in medicine, a growing abhorrence of war, and a growing movement to feed the poor of the world, overpopulation will become a more and more obvious issue. Whether human beings will be able to chose quality of human existence for all people over their selfish choices, based on sexual and instinctual urges, may well determine the survival and continued evolution of our species.

Gaza

Overpopulation is the most critical environmental and ethical issue on the planet. It is also the most ignored. This is simple to explain. Overpopulation is a problem of heterosexuality, ignorance and religion. Heterosexuals are the majority. Ignorance is rampant in a world where personal greed takes precedence over public education. Religion maintains control of women by the men who foster it by encouraging high birth rates.

Gaza is a striking microcosm of this phenomenon.

Women who maintain practice and their personal freedom are especially challenged and especially admirable. They must overcome great obstacles to see past their conditioning and control by men in their lives. Women will either solve the problem of overpopulation or the species will suffer tremendously before becoming decimated by starvation, disease and perpetual war.