Freedom mindset
An outlook of humility, gratitude, and non-entitlement
Freedom is the default state of human existence. Elaborate systems of violent enforcement of arbitrary values and nonsensical objectives are outside of the default.
To want to achieve something - with the humility to understand that you are not owed it - grants you peace of mind knowing that nobody owes you those things; you have to earn them from people, and offer them enough value in return so that they will choose to give it to you voluntarily. And if your value offering is not enough to lead to a voluntary transaction, then that’s also fine. You are humble enough to respect people’s decision to not want what you offer. You are humble and mentally stable enough to be able to live without and without external validation and without what you want. You don’t need it; you just want it.
On the other hand, an individual with an entitlement mindset needs things (not wants) because he presumes they are already his - that they are somehow being deprived of him. Socialists and slave owners alike (who presume to own part of someone else’s labour) are the perfect example of twisted entitlement. If they don’t get what they desire, they become violent, and they feel justified in petitioning the arbitrary power structure of violence (the state) to force their will onto others.
And this is what the state is: forcing our entitlements on each other.
Here is a real-life story. When I was younger, I used to work as a bartender. I was good at it. It was a labour-intensive job, and it required ideal coordination and cooperation between coworkers. One establishment I worked at was experiencing trouble bringing people in. In my opinion, its value offering was too posh and too focused on stuck-up wine enthusiasts than the chill beer and cocktail vibe. Regardless, the owners decided to employ the services of a well-known local influencer to act as promote: a stunningly beautiful woman with insane social skills. She appeared to be known by everyone and she knew them all back too. She would work with us behind the bar; not to build complicated cocktails or make long table orders, but to instead talk to the customers, take pictures, and yes, pop a beer or pour a vodka from time to time.
The gimmick actually worked. Every night she was on the roster the bar was packed with high-income males as well as groups of cool kids who seemed to know her well. She contributed to creating a vibe that was self-magnifying. Her social skills and conversation style helped everyone have a good time, and in return, they ordered more drinks and left bigger tips. Sure, she didn’t produce even a fraction of the drinks the rest of us did, but her job wasn’t to measure cocktail ingredients or to remember the different glasses for each type of wine. She was there to bring in clientele. Her value offering was different.
So what does this story have to do with the topic of this article? Bear with me.
This woman was paid more than three times the daily pay of a bartender. She also partook in the sharing of the tips. This didn’t sit well with that one problematic bartender in our team: a useless, arrogant, and entitled dude who always stank of weed, a sleaze who was there only because he was friends with the manager. The irony is that he was the weakest and most untrustworthy member of the bar team too precisely because he felt safe there, instead of being extra hard-working in appreciation for the special treatment he received. He once got an order for an expensive cognac, poured it in a tumbler with ice, and when the floor manager brought it back, this dude pretended he didn’t do it. And I got the blame because I was the head bartender.
Anyway, this dude had a problem with this barwoman of ours. Even though her job was more of a promoter and host rather than a bartender, this problematic dude used to complain about her behind her back. “Why does she make so much money for less work? I’m here working hard and she only talks with customers all the time without breaking a sweat. She doesn’t even do preparation or cleanup. And why do we have to include her in the tips on top of everything?”
This is the classic mindset of the entitled. Notice how the entitled, arrogant, and envious tend to be the weakest people with the most worthless value offering to the world. This dude couldn’t understand that we are rewarded for the value we give, not the unmeasurable fatigue from our work. The laughable “labour theory of value” by history’s idiot Karl Marx basically boils down to rewarding people based on the toil of their work, not the value of their work. Victimhood privilege is also predicated on this sick twisted axiom: that your sorrow (often self-inflicted) somehow qualifies you for people’s sympathy from pity or their hard-earned income.
This dude couldn’t understand that the barwoman was bringing in more work for the establishment, and way more tips for us. She was helping us make more money, and instead of being thankful, all he could think of was his envy because she made more than him. This is how despicable the socialist mindset is. Socialists aren’t thankful for how free transactions enrich us all. They only focus on income inequalities, when, in fully free markets, income accurately represents the value you provide to society. It is absolutely fair for income to be unequal in truly free markets. The only unfairness in income disparities emerges when markets aren’t that free, and when government interventionism and corrupt regulations deliberately create favourable market conditions for specific oligarchs - the same big-corpo scum who lobby and hijack the apparatus of government to oligopolise and monopolise.
The irony here is that socialists look to the government to solve income disparities when it is precisely the government that creates the biggest and most unfair income disparities.
The bottom line is that humility accepts income disparities when they are the result of free voluntary transactions. Entitlement does not. A humble person does not feel envious of people who make more money when that money is made through actual value to society, not through government grifts and scams. The humble even admire and are inspired by people who offer great value to society. They are thankful too because the value offered by others benefits every individual and society as a whole, directly and indirectly. A rising tide lifts all boats.
Conversely, an entitled person - crippled by warranted insecurity - seethes and cringes at the fact that other people are better. He knows he is good at nothing, so instead of trying to become good at something to increase his value offering to the world, he wastes all his energy complaining and demanding and groveling for victimhood privilege, for undignified pity.
What is the opposite of entitlement? Humility, gratitude, modesty, selflessness, unassuming, respectfulness, contentment - all the qualities absent in the mind of the socialist. This includes everyone who believes he is owed the labour and submission of others, so much so that he is willing to petition the state to use its threat of violence to enforce his entitlements.
Yes, all state government is fundamentally socialist. The defining characteristics of socialism and of all coersive centralised government are: collectivism, utilitarianism, blind unfair equity, central banking, arbitrary and lopsided central planning, monopoly of violence, and violently forced and arbitrary redistribution of income.
Check your entitlements. You’ll be a better happier person for it.
Thank you for reading. I appreciate your time. All my work here is free.
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Recommended reading
‘Chaos Theory: Two Essays on Market Anarchy’ by Robert P. Murphy
‘No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority’ by Lysander Spooner
‘For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto’ by Murray N. Rothbard
‘Power and Market: Government and the Economy’ by Murray N. Rothbard
‘Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market’ by Murray N. Rothbard
‘The Enterprise Of Law: Justice Without The State’ by Bruce L. Benson
‘The Machinery of Freedom: A Guide to Radical Capitalism’ by David Friedman
Great post but your use of “humble” and “humility” is misplaced.
Let us put to rest the misuse of and confusion with the words “humility” and “humble”:
To quote, once again, from The Princess Bride, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” (Inigo Montoya)
Humble: “having or showing a modest estimate of one's value or importance; not arrogant or self-important”. (Oxford Dictionary)
Humility is not the antidote to “arrogance” (or having an inflated opinion of one's own importance or abilities). Besides, most people misuse the word arrogance when someone is simply exuding confidence in their talents.
This is just another example of hatred of the good for being the good.
Humility is not acknowledging your weaknesses, it means “having a modest view of one's value or importance”. (See Oxford Dictionary) Honesty is the word (and the virtue) you are actually seeking: it means being “free of deceit; truthful and sincere”. (See “Honest” in Oxford Dictionary)
Sotiris, Another good read, thank you. Have you read the essay, “A Sky Without Eagles” by Jack Donovan? His theory of vertically vs horizontally oriented people (he focuses his work on men, if you are not familiar) aligns to your points here.