Post No. 084 - A dangerous sense of entitlement

I recently came across an article by Sydney based Miranda Devine in The Age (copied from the Sydney Morning Herald) which started from a cyclist who attacked a bus driver and progressed to criticising cyclists more generally for arrogance, violence, taking up too much road space (including criticising whoever came up with the slogan "Roads are to Share", etc.

Now, I happen to disagree with Miranda Devine, but there were some good things, in my opinion, to come out of that article. First, however, my disagreements:

1. I think the violence, aggression and unreasonable use of road space shown by car drivers towards other road users (whether they are cars, bikes or pedestrians) is far higher, both as an absolute number and a relative fraction of drivers, the number and proportion of cyclists who are (and they do exist!) a problem.
2. I DO think that roads are for sharing.

I don't extend that leniency to pedestrians: I think the proportion of pedestrians who are aggressive, or stupid, or careless, far exceeds the proportions of problem drivers and cyclists. However, unless they are drunk or under the influence of other mind altering drugs (yes, alcohol is a mind altering drug!), they have a right to be there. We've just grown up in a culture where cars were a status symbol, and some part of too many of us either cringes when a car is around (or a bigger, flasher car than ours), or acts as if one is royalty when in a car.

Having said that, however, the problem of aggressive, irresponsible cyclists does need to be addressed - particularly, in my opinion, the packs who will ride through red lights (one of whom killed an elderly pedestrian a few years ago).

That isn't what I wanted to write about. Still, it's a topic that has clearly generated quite a bit of discussion, going by Miranda Devine's follow up column and a response by a former Road Minister. (The threats and abuse to Miranda Devine don't count as discussion.)

No, what caught my attention was the phrase "sense of entitlement". I think we do have quite a few entitlements - the right to, as another nation's founders put it, life, liberty and freedom; ... the rights expressed in the United Nation's "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and other UN documents; ... love.

However, there are some things we don't necessarily have a "right" to: a "right" to an easy life without growth; ... a "right" to not be questioned in orders and directions we give to others; ... a "right" to behave with immaturity and not have consequences - whether that immaturity is spiritual, emotional, or other.

It made quite an impression on me, that phrase (incidentally, I thought I had read the phrase as "a dangerous sense of entitlement", or "an unjustified sense of entitlement", but I couldn't find that wording in the quick reread of the original article before I wrote this). I think I will use that phrase to check myself and my attitudes from time to time: it could be quite useful.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

Tags: expectations, unreasonableness, immaturity, aggression, violence, society, selfishness, change,

First published: Wednesday 18th November, 2009

Last edited: Wednesday 18th November, 2009