On May 23, 2014, Elliot Rodger killed six people near the University of California, Santa Barbara. What made his case unusual was that he came from a highly affluent background and left detailed video and written manifestos explaining his actions. He was angry because women refused to swoon at his wonderfulness. Ironically, four of his six victims were male. That probably makes sense because he pictured them as unfairly getting all the action.
I like that posters are using the "entitlement" label about this case
because that's what the problem really is. Arthur Chu (the Jeopardy
guy) had another good one over at Daily Beast. It's not guns, because
every home in Switzerland has a military rifle and we don't see this in
Switzerland. And it's not sexual frustration, egged on by
hyper-sexualized media. Porn is far more available in Europe and we
don't see this in Europe. It's the feeling "I'm entitled, and if I don't
get it, someone has to pay."
Forget welfare recipients. They may have a sense of entitlement, but they're small potatoes. The problem is the sense of
entitlement everywhere else. Like the people who do lackluster work but
think they're entitled to a good job, and who harass people who actually
do do a good job. The people who merely occupy a house for thirty years
and think they're entitled to sell it for a huge profit.
We see
it whenever there's a story about a bank making a huge error in
someone's favor and then wanting the money back. All the enraged
comments about how the recipient is "entitled" to the money. Or someone
finds a large amount of money and turns it in, and all kinds of anger is
directed against him for being so dumb. See, they'd keep the money if
they were in that position, and by turning it in, the finder is
offending their sense of entitlement.
Of course that
bikini model I met on line wants to date me. Of course that Nigerian
prince wants to share money with me. Because I'm entitled to have
wonderful things fall into my lap.
There's a story about a guy who prayed desperately to win the lottery, but he didn't win that week. Next week he prayed again, even more fervently. No go. Finally, on his last legs, he beseeched God from the depths of his heart. Again no luck. So he cried out "God, I've prayed to you and trusted you, and you let me down. Why?" And God answered: "Work with me on this, pal. Buy a ticket."
That's why nerds take so much
flak. Here you have a whole school full of people who think they're
entitled to coast and blow off their courses, and nerds ruin it all by
taking things seriously.
It's been a persistent thread
throughout U.S. history. We're entitled to all that land. We're entitled
to find gold and plunder resources and clear-cut and dump our waste in the rivers. Cliven Bundy is
entitled to graze his cows on public land for free. In fact, he's
entitled to take your public land because he's entitled, that's all. But
you can bet he'll shoot at you if you trespass on HIS land, because
he's entitled to. We're entitled to wear our guns in public. We're
entitled to have more rights and privileges than that other group. Then
there are people who think they're entitled to carry a gun and go out
and interrogate people who are just walking down their street. Or stop
some other driver for violating their concept of road etiquette. Or
correct other people's kids. Or go ballistic on teachers or police when
their kids are lawfully corrected. I have a right to kill people if I
get "disrespected."
Elliott Rodgers is newsworthy only because he killed six people, but it happens in onesies and twosies all the time, every time some guy can't deal
with the fact that he's not entitled to own his ex body and soul, or his
girl friend comes to her senses and wants to get out. For at least 50
years people have been warning about an emphasis on rights without
responsibility. You get a culture of entitlement.
