Entitlement and Causality

When you drink too much, you'll get a hangover. And it's your fault.

Cause and effect, or causality for you smart peeps, is a way for us to explain how the universe progresses. A simple definition of causality is the contribution one process or event has to the production of another process or event. An even more straightforward explanation is that when you do X (the cause), you get Y (the effect).

For example, if you drink too much whiskey, you'll get drunk. And if you get drunk, you'll have a hangover.

Whiskey —> Drunk —> Hangover

A crucial factor in the rampant sense of entitlement in the U.S. is the refusal to recognize the simple cause and effect of our choices.

When we make a decision, there are consequences that we must accept. But we're increasingly ignoring the connection between what we do and the outcome, so we're not being accountable for the situations we create.

When we're blind to how our actions contribute to the position in which we find ourselves, we're apt to look to others to fix our problems. Whether it's our parents or the government, we're quick to blame any convenient third-party then demand someone bail us out.

But when we take a moment to think about how our choices move the world's gears, we're more likely to understand how the world works. And we're better positioned to fix the problems we created with high character and integrity instead of whining like a petulant child.

For an example, check out my latest blog post at Strength and Reason: Idiocracy and Cause and Effect.