From Enlightenment to Entitlement

The late 17th century brought an intellectual movement that focused on qualities of reason and individualism rather than tradition. It was heavily influenced by people who saw beyond the conventional means; those who aimed in transforming the individual into something new and unique rather than maintaining the status quo of tribal conformity.

Great literature was written, scientific innovations popped just about everywhere and the glorious industrial revolution took place. A new world was built that had no resemblance to the mundane past. Manual labour was not so manual anymore. People became liberated. The human life span just about tripled. In a sense, the material challenges were conquered. The spiritual ones on the other hand morphed into something peculiar. Somehow, the very challenge of the religious authority brought a new kind of existential crisis.

Going through two world wars, the western advancements spread across the world almost instantaneously. As a result, a century later, 15% of the planet's population has food, water and shelter on a daily basis. If you think this is not much, think again. The phenomenon is unprecedented. Never in history were we so lucky. Having only 75% of the planet struggling daily to survive, with most not even reaching their 35th year, is a massive accomplishment. We just don't realize the struggle because we are the 15%. In the same way a spoiled Beverly Hills child will never know how people with no pool, ponies and a personal butler can go through their day without killing themselves.

Somehow, us, the 15% with all the technology, food, water, shelter, basic education and medical help, lost track of what is really going on around us. Perhaps it was the bombardment of social media. Perhaps it is our addiction to television, games and themes that have nothing to do with reality. Perhaps it was the positive thinking movement from the 1960's when we started brainwashing ourselves that if we envision something, it will magically manifest.

We convinced our kids that just because we exist due to a random sperm sample, the world owes us something. We believe that a chaotic universe made out of trillions of celestial events works just for us. Our head is so far up our asses we don't even dare to go through simple statistics to falsify our delusions of grandeur.

We did everything in our power to reinforce the positivity dogma that crowns us with entitlement. From positive thinking movements to personal improvement seminars and books, we reprogrammed ourselves with self-fulfilling prophecies. We elected politicians and leaders that ensured us all the goodies under any means possible, even if we were screwing 3/4 of the planet in the process.

Our feelings became more important than reason. We started protesting in the streets about equality with t-shirts made from 5-year-olds in China. Somehow our brains' capacity rolled back to the Dark Ages while we continued enjoying the toys that the Enlightenment has given to us — or at least the handful few that were kind enough to build them. We have first world problems. Somehow the universe is not responding to our wishes. Someone has to pay and in the meantime we are popping pills like M&M's to cope with the oblivious.

At the place where we are supposed to get our education, we cry and complain about how others should treat us. We elect representatives that bomb the shit out of people who speak against our planetary atrocities. We condone individuals that disagree with us in the name of safety. We speak with a carefully catered lingo and expect others to respond in the same way. We turned free speech into the monstrosity of safe speech. We blame everyone else for our mistakes but never ourselves. We are entitled as fuck.

When I was a child my father taught me to take responsibility even if it was not my mistake. While I was upset about this many times, I slowly learned through various life examples that he was actually right. From the moment we assume responsibility, we are given the unique opportunity to control our immediate environment. We gain a substantial control of our life. On the other hand, when we blame others for our shortcomings we become weak, defensive and passive to just about everything. It becomes some other guy's job to make it better (and they better do it fast).

We are living in the age of irresponsibility that breeds Entitlement. If history will be a thing in the future, this is how we are making our mark. Westerners love the idea so much, other cultures are joining by any means possible, even if they end up dying in the borders. We are enslaving ourselves to each other without even realizing it. We coerce each other through politics and we call it "agenda". We are forgetting that if everyone blames everyone else, we are all likely to be fucked.

We are not special. Nobody owes us anything. We are the same carbon-based decaying matter as everything else. The people of the Enlightenment remained in history because they fostered ideas that were bigger than themselves. We are doing the exact opposite. We believe that we are the best thing that ever happened to this planet and that others' ideas and accomplishments owe to serve us. The cold sad truth is that most of us are the same copy-pasta'ed spoiled shitting machines, wandering aimlessly, trying to find meaning in life through the accomplishment of others.