THE ENTITLEMENT.

BY Brian Nzomo.

Cultures across the world have polished their stories, myths and beliefs to reflect upon their primitive desire to reign over other groups of people. Humans are socialized to live in groups just like every other beast in the animal kingdom.

This natural instinct has made man to always incline by the social group he relates to in aggravated proximity. Nationalism, ethnic supremacy and even class loyalties have been an epitome of the unchanging trait of our primordial selves.

Co-habiting with those who identify with us closely has been a crucial element in the struggle for existence even as our intellect burgeons and proves to us that it is possible to survive as human beings by being more cooperative. By shunning cutthroat competition that does more harm to the environment.

But human greed has never seemed to lessen at all. More than ever, the world is experiencing heightened animosity between groups who identify differently in terms of race, origin, belief and ideology. Modern man has prided himself in intellectual buoyancy. Inventions over the millennia have proven that his innovative and creative mind has surpassed that of other animals. Yet there is that one element that has refuses to die. The element of entitlement.

What is this element of entitlement? What does it entail and how has it led to the threat of extermination that now faces humanity.

This element has been reflected on all avenues of human expression since man became a Homo sapien sapien. It is in our mythologies, art, literature, politics and even social dynamics.

Cultures across the world have created myths that emphasize on the human-centred aspect. First of all, humans distance themselves from every other species that share our ecosystem. Then the separation continues along these illusions of specialty by creating spheres of superiority that rank races and nations based on very myopic standards.

Modern man has prided himself in intellectual buoyancy. Inventions over the millennia have proven that his innovative and creative mind has surpassed that of other animals. Yet there is that one element that has refuses to die. The element of entitlement.

All ideologies that place nationalism at the center, have to include this element of entitlement. Being entitled stipulates that the world was created or exists because of you.

Humanity in all its religiosities believe that their deities created the earth with them in mind. And this illusion of specialty breeds the idea that ‘we are supposed to be here, because our made up myths tell us and comfort us into believing we deserve it at all costs’.

Nationalist supremacy needs support of every individual who identifies as belonging to that nation. To eliminate the element of guilt, specialty is needed to be infused in them. The primordial greed and desire for specialty is aroused. Then it would be easy for them to oversee the importance of other people who are non-deserving as them.

The current Israeli-Palestine war is as a result of this disease. Religion is just a tool of idealization in this war rather than a cause. The idea of a ‘promised land’ was enshrined in almost all human cultures of the past. That there was a land set aside by gods for a special people. People more deserving of that god’s grace and gift. It was used as a justification for exerting brutality on a people occupied on that land. How modern Christians idealized and still idealize this sick behavior still beats my logic. Every Sunday, millions flock to church to listen to the Children of Israel waging warfare against other occupied tribes in a land that was ‘given to them’.

The same supremacist entitlement was used less than two decades ago by European imperialists to bring the whole world under their influence. The same idea was wrought in their minds. That ‘we are a special race and it is by the heavenly command that we set out across the waves and jungles to civilize those savages’.

But for these mad men to receive support from their People, they needed to ravage the minds of their populations with the idea that they are god’s chosen ones.

But the idea of supremacist entitlement is not just propagated by the relevant religions of a nation. It is also propagated through diverse channels like warped scientific research, age old stereotypes, literature and artistic propaganda. By waging a war on other People, the message is also crafted for the ‘lesser people’. They are reminded that they are insignificant and that the wicked war waged upon then is a necessity of putting them in their place.

The current war in the Palestinian peninsula is a supremacist war. Religion is but a justification reason. But the core of it is this trait evident for long in many other stories and events of humanity’s selfishness and egocentric tendencies.

Brian Nzomo is a second year student at the Kenyatta university studying Journalism. Contact him via e-mail : bryonzoms505@gmail.com