Because I totally have every right to demand her to go to all those conventions so I can stalk her whenever I feel like it, goddammit!!!
I included this, even if I don’t really know if I could classify it as a genuine logical fallacy, but I may as well discuss it because it is certainly rooted in mistaken assumptions taken to their (il)logical conclusions.
An entitlement complex is rooted in the thinking that for some reason, someone, something, or the whole ruddy world owes you. It doesn’t matter if this doesn’t make any sense (Because we came into this world with a negative balance: an infinite boon of life for no payment whatsoever!), or if we never earned a bloody thing: we feel entitled to it.
Key examples of these: bloggers who feel that they must be at every single blogger event, no matter if nobody invited them. Bloggers who will raise a fuss about being invited to an event late, when a simple “no, thank you” will do. Bloggers who expect nothing less than special treatment, or else you will feel the wrath of a scathingly bad review (Whether or not it’s just the grammar and spelling that’s bad about the review, though, is another story...). Alodia fans who believe they have every right to dictate how she should live her life and insist that she should give all of her time to every single fan who approaches her because they apparently think Alodia is their property. Alodia fans who insist she must be pure for them, for reasons that creep me out just thinking about them. Alodia haters who believe that they deserve every good thing Alodia is getting and now resent her for these good things. And of course, indie hipsters who believe that once their favourite artists go mainstream, they’re traitors and sellouts.
My goodness! How dare these artists want to make money to feed their families? I found them first, and they’re mine, mine, mine! Even if it’s a pirated CD I’m asking them to sign, I still love their music, right? I just don’t love it enough to pay for it!
We tend to raise an eyebrow when a politician uses their power to get some kind of special treatment. Remember when candidates like Loren Legarda cut in line during the 2010 elections? We resented the special treatment that they felt they were entitled to.
So why is it that when it’s our turn, we expect this kind of special treatment? What is it about being a blogger/cosplayer/politician/whatever else that makes us think that petty things like the law, rules, and propriety are so far beneath our station that we shouldn’t pay attention to them?
Look: you don’t deserve every gift pack an event organizer throws your way. You don’t deserve all of Alodia’s time just because you’re her fan. And you sure aren’t entitled to dictating to your favourite indie band that they should starve to death so that you and only you can appreciate their music. If you’re a true fan, you’re supposed to want them to grow and become better, even if it could mean that they could outgrow you over time, because hey, you yourself should grow and become better, too, right?
On both sides of the Alodia debate, a lot of entitlement complexes have been flying about, whether explicated or otherwise. Most fans, especially the white knights, internally feel entitled to Alodia’s eternal gratitude because they chose to defend her from the “nefarious schemes” of her antagonizers. Some of the haters are hating because they feel betrayed that Alodia decided to make money and become famous through cosplay. How dare she profit? How dare she want to gain attention? I mean, I totally wear my costumes in a gigantic convention in order to stay anonymous, yo! I’m not craving for attention at all by wearing a garish costume that makes me lose ten pounds in sweat every single time I put it on, hey!
The commenter in Facebook felt slighted that Alodia was no longer “hanging out with the normal people,” to paraphrase. This assumes that there is anything wrong with someone wanting a little privacy in their life. You, being her fan, does not entitle you to owning her, and you will see this in any overzealous fandom. Just ask Kim and Gerald, who had a segment of their fanbase riot the minute it turned out that they weren’t together in real life.
Does it not seem strange to you? The fans love Kim and Gerald because their love story is about them choosing to love each other no matter how bad the circumstances are, but the minute they choose someone else, the fans turn on them? How does this even make any sense? “Wow! You showed us that you can truly choose to love anyone, and arranged marriages are totally bad. What? You’re not together! No! You must be together! You can’t choose anyone else!”
How about people who had misfortunes in life? Like maybe, they’ve been so down on their luck, and things haven’t gone their way. Maybe they have to look after somebody on their own, and they simply have to make do with whatever means are available to them. Why do these people feel that the world owes them big-time? Why do they think that every single bit of good fortune ought to come their way because they believe they deserve it?
The world isn’t a fair place. Grow up, stop acting like you live in your own fantasy world where you will magically come out on top without putting in any hard work to earn it. There’s a saying in the vernacular that goes, “kung gusto, may paraan. Kung ayaw, puro dahilan.” Quit finding excuses, start finding ways, and maybe, just maybe, you’d actually surprise yourself.
Never forget: the world doesn’t owe you anything. Expect to reap only what you have sowed.
I still don’t know exactly what kind of logical fallacies fall under the entitlement complex, but it does seem pretty illogical to me. Welp, what do you jabronis think?
With that, I conclude my six-part series on Logical Fallacies 101. I hope it has proved at least enlightening, if not earth-shattering.
An entitlement complex is rooted in the thinking that for some reason, someone, something, or the whole ruddy world owes you. It doesn’t matter if this doesn’t make any sense (Because we came into this world with a negative balance: an infinite boon of life for no payment whatsoever!), or if we never earned a bloody thing: we feel entitled to it.
Key examples of these: bloggers who feel that they must be at every single blogger event, no matter if nobody invited them. Bloggers who will raise a fuss about being invited to an event late, when a simple “no, thank you” will do. Bloggers who expect nothing less than special treatment, or else you will feel the wrath of a scathingly bad review (Whether or not it’s just the grammar and spelling that’s bad about the review, though, is another story...). Alodia fans who believe they have every right to dictate how she should live her life and insist that she should give all of her time to every single fan who approaches her because they apparently think Alodia is their property. Alodia fans who insist she must be pure for them, for reasons that creep me out just thinking about them. Alodia haters who believe that they deserve every good thing Alodia is getting and now resent her for these good things. And of course, indie hipsters who believe that once their favourite artists go mainstream, they’re traitors and sellouts.
My goodness! How dare these artists want to make money to feed their families? I found them first, and they’re mine, mine, mine! Even if it’s a pirated CD I’m asking them to sign, I still love their music, right? I just don’t love it enough to pay for it!
We tend to raise an eyebrow when a politician uses their power to get some kind of special treatment. Remember when candidates like Loren Legarda cut in line during the 2010 elections? We resented the special treatment that they felt they were entitled to.
So why is it that when it’s our turn, we expect this kind of special treatment? What is it about being a blogger/cosplayer/politician/whatever else that makes us think that petty things like the law, rules, and propriety are so far beneath our station that we shouldn’t pay attention to them?
Look: you don’t deserve every gift pack an event organizer throws your way. You don’t deserve all of Alodia’s time just because you’re her fan. And you sure aren’t entitled to dictating to your favourite indie band that they should starve to death so that you and only you can appreciate their music. If you’re a true fan, you’re supposed to want them to grow and become better, even if it could mean that they could outgrow you over time, because hey, you yourself should grow and become better, too, right?
On both sides of the Alodia debate, a lot of entitlement complexes have been flying about, whether explicated or otherwise. Most fans, especially the white knights, internally feel entitled to Alodia’s eternal gratitude because they chose to defend her from the “nefarious schemes” of her antagonizers. Some of the haters are hating because they feel betrayed that Alodia decided to make money and become famous through cosplay. How dare she profit? How dare she want to gain attention? I mean, I totally wear my costumes in a gigantic convention in order to stay anonymous, yo! I’m not craving for attention at all by wearing a garish costume that makes me lose ten pounds in sweat every single time I put it on, hey!
The commenter in Facebook felt slighted that Alodia was no longer “hanging out with the normal people,” to paraphrase. This assumes that there is anything wrong with someone wanting a little privacy in their life. You, being her fan, does not entitle you to owning her, and you will see this in any overzealous fandom. Just ask Kim and Gerald, who had a segment of their fanbase riot the minute it turned out that they weren’t together in real life.
Does it not seem strange to you? The fans love Kim and Gerald because their love story is about them choosing to love each other no matter how bad the circumstances are, but the minute they choose someone else, the fans turn on them? How does this even make any sense? “Wow! You showed us that you can truly choose to love anyone, and arranged marriages are totally bad. What? You’re not together! No! You must be together! You can’t choose anyone else!”
How about people who had misfortunes in life? Like maybe, they’ve been so down on their luck, and things haven’t gone their way. Maybe they have to look after somebody on their own, and they simply have to make do with whatever means are available to them. Why do these people feel that the world owes them big-time? Why do they think that every single bit of good fortune ought to come their way because they believe they deserve it?
The world isn’t a fair place. Grow up, stop acting like you live in your own fantasy world where you will magically come out on top without putting in any hard work to earn it. There’s a saying in the vernacular that goes, “kung gusto, may paraan. Kung ayaw, puro dahilan.” Quit finding excuses, start finding ways, and maybe, just maybe, you’d actually surprise yourself.
Never forget: the world doesn’t owe you anything. Expect to reap only what you have sowed.
I still don’t know exactly what kind of logical fallacies fall under the entitlement complex, but it does seem pretty illogical to me. Welp, what do you jabronis think?
With that, I conclude my six-part series on Logical Fallacies 101. I hope it has proved at least enlightening, if not earth-shattering.
Stop! Stop having fun!
7 comments:
Is this like an Easter egg hunt? Hahaha! Win!
An egg hunt? Like how? Talaga? TEXT me what you mean. ;)
I read the entire blog. I learned something new from you, kinda some sort of enlightenment. Keep it up!!!
lol....how did i get here? I was searching for Fallout MODS
but your blog title sort of caught my attention...and i managed to read the whole post...and because i had no idea who's who on it i made some quick research on the people mentioned
for starters though....the post was well written, I for one share the same sentiments, people today especially kids to teens have this false sense of self-entitlement, they are arrogant as hell and believes everything the mass media feeds them.
People don't question things these days...and just accepts the same B.S they are being forced if not made to believe.
so I tell you that people will always be the same...everybody is just another carbon based douche bag.
I remember the line from.... Men in black
"A person is smart, but people are dumb panicky dangerous animals"
or something like that...
again it was a good read
Peace...
@Anon: That's a loooong leap from Fallout Mods, but I appreciate you dropping in on the blog, and actually doing even more research on your part just to keep up with the post. That's a rarity, to say the least.
I'm glad that a lot of people recognize Entitlement Complexes for what they really are: an over-inflated sense of self-worth. Maybe it was brought about by a coddling environment. Maybe it was brought about by selfishness. Regardless, it's a kind of thinking that innately says "you, man on the street, I'm better than you, and I don't need to prove it."
One hopes that even if some people can easily shatter your faith in the human race, the decent people out there can stem the tide of douchery, if I may coin such a word.
a good read time well spent. nice touch with the comic analogies and real life samples. must have taken time and effort.
@VDB: Took me a while, true, and I'm not even 100% satisfied with the comic strips I used.
But then, I couldn't find a single good Archie Comics strip online that I could use, so yeah, I went with Shortpacked more than anything else, because for some sad reason, it's the only long-running webcomic whose entire archive I've personally gone through already.
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