Wednesday, June 8, 2011

CONSEQUENCES of "ENTITLEMENT"

In this post, I humbly share a portion of my conversation with a long-time friend.  Your comments are welcome.

The following is a series of message exchanges between myself and a long-time friend, in chonological order, oldest to newest:



Message 1:


Dear ... ,

I hope you interpret this message as I intend it: an expression of admiration and respect for your in intellectual integrity, because that’s what it is!

I challenge you to read this book about a fellow who has led an
amazing life inside the belly of the Hollywood and Broadway beasts:

If you wish, I’ll gladly buy the Kindle download version for you, but only if you promise to read it within the next 60 days.



Message 2 (response to 1):

I appreciate the sentiment.  I am sure it is interesting.  You don't need to buy it for me. 

I do get the whole left=evil, right=good thing.   My position is: left = evil, right = evil. 

Each side tries to outdo the other, and then use the media to fling crap at each other like monkeys.

All of this left vs right crap is coming from the "street magicians" or global media manipulators, who use it to distract us from the really bad shit that is going on.

You frequently mention Judeo-Christian values.  One thing I find kind of funny are the politicians that refer to themselves as Christians.  In no way whatsoever are they like Christ.  You can take any random statement or action from a Christian politician, and then ask yourself, "Would Jesus have said or done that?".  This is a topic I can't even begin to properly cover right now.

I have to fly today, I will chat with you again this weekend.

Message 3:

Dear ...,

Excellent response!

RE, your comment: “In the US, we have lost our compassion and respect for our fellow man. We are no longer able to objectively listen. There isn't any such thing as actual communication anymore. Once this is lost, all is lost.”

Agreed.  This phenomena appears even more true in western Europe, where the “cradle-to-grave” entitlement notion has grown far beyond what we have in America (so far). Dennis Prager is one of the most well travelled people on earth. No honest person must share his belief in God to see that much of what he says is absolutely demonstrable! Over the last 40 years, Dennis has visited every country and continent on Earth for extended stays. He has re-visited most of those countries multiple times. He and others have observed the overall quality of compassion and sense of interpersonal responsibility in the so-called “civilized” cultures of western Europe. From this experience, Dennis recently described what is almost certainly a fact, because I’m seeing it happen more and more each day in America:

Any ideology that empowers the notion of
“entitlement”, makes the whole society meaner!


 After all ... 
“Why should I care about voluntary charity,
if so much of my earned wealth is confiscated
to ‘care’ for the ‘less fortunate’?
I say, let government care for them.”

(Notice the implied absolution for failure to choose the admitted greater value.)


Until I learn otherwise, I am pretty sure that’s the dynamic behind a very interesting statistic that has been confirmed over and over by numerous research groups, both “liberal” and “conservative”:

The total number of after tax dollars voluntarily
given to charities, is vastly greater among
self-described “conservatives”,
than it is among self-described “liberals”.
(The average of the various studies shows a discrepancy of more than 80%!)

In other words:

 Those who reject the alleged virtue of entitlement
tend to be far more generous to their fellow man,
than those who embrace it!

Somewhere, there’s a lesson in that. What do you think it is?

On another issue, I agree that We are no longer able to objectively listen.” However, most people have not “lost” that ability, because they’ve never had it to begin with. The ability to think logically, dispassionately, with one’s mind (as opposed to “heart” OR “feelings”), is a learned skill – it can be taught. With very rare exceptions, objective listening, observation and analytical skills are no longer taught in most of our so-called, “public schools” – probably because that institution has been co-opted by a “Progressive” agenda. That agenda stresses “compliance”, “self-sacrifice”, “equality” (of outcome), “groupism” and a host of other, equally pernicious notions.

However, to the salvation of humanity, some of us can be objective when and where it really counts!   If not for a tiny minority of disciplined thinkers, we would all still be living as tribes of migrant hunter-gatherers and most human technology would not exist. I suspect, at least 90% of all humans depend for their very lives, on the wisdom, insight and creative impulses of a tiny minority of intellectual giants. Motivated by enlightened self-interest, that minority figures out how the universe actually works (as in Quantum Mechanics, the laws of Physics, Microbiology, et. al) then the rest of us just copy them like so many monkeys.

Unfortunately, since the dark days of 1908 – 1913, America has been grotesquely twisted into a culture where those intellectual giants are literally punished for their gifts to humanity. IOW, the monkeys are whipping the goose that lays the golden eggs on which they depend!   Go figure!    That, dear friend, is a direct result of the Collectivist (“Progressive”) ideology behind “Entitlement”. Use whatever labels you wish in place of mine, but the effect is the same.

The Law of Identity: A = A.
“A” is never equal to X, simply because
some of us “feel” like it “should” be!

As I’m sure you know, Objectivity is a learned skill in which one first acknowledges the human tendency to be subjective about everything. To offset that tendency (and thus master the physical world), we must apply the rules of logic and clear, rational analysis. The Empirical Method is just one of several time-tested disciplines that empower diligent, honest people to filter out subjective perceptions. Maintaining and enhancing this skill is a lifelong task that requires, among other things, constant, brutally honest self-examination. All of this comes under the heading of ”Epistemology” – my favorite hobby! Naturally, no one is 100% consistent in applying objective perception. This is why an honest scientist wants his theories disproven more than anything else.