This is my take on the herd mentality that is prevalent in the 21st century. It occurs mainly amongst supposedly educated, smart, and exposed young people. They hop on trends, hog puerile issues, mutilate salient matters, and project victim mentality.
I know I may be dragged or canceled because of the veracity of this article but I really don’t care. Someone has got to speak out and condemn the growing infamy of some people in this demographic group.
Just watch me as I unpack this heartfelt missive. These people are massively active and present on Social Media, pouncing on people, issues and events with rabid velocity.
They engage in endless conversations about inanities using convoluted hashtags on different social media platforms.
Their sheer sophistry would have been commendable if positioned towards developmental issues. But No!
The entitlement mentality is off the charts as well.
I will illustrate what I’m on about with just two stories: A coaching client shared the story of a cousin of hers that was chewed out and insulted by a younger acquaintance. She had always supported this person with freebies such as cash, foodstuff, clothes and such like over a period of time.
During the Easter celebration, she got a call from her friend for the usual benevolence. The older lady wasn’t in a good place then to render such service and told her younger companion so in clear terms.
The younger friend would have none of this explanation. She accused the older lady of destabilizing her and putting her own plans in jeopardy. According to her, ‘I rely on you to provide this service for my family. How can you disappoint me at this moment?’.
She then fired off endless chats to the older friend lecturing her about finances, relationships and future conduct.
Another episode involves two colleagues at work who regularly hangout during lunch breaks to gist. One brings food from home and shares liberally with the other colleague. On this day, he came to work without the usual free lunch and told his colleague early enough.
The female colleague berated him for being insensitive and wicked. She said that he should have warned her about his inability to bring food that day! During break, she sensationally walked out of the office to buy lunch for herself alone.
These stories depict pure entitlement syndrome couched in narcissistic behaviour and poor home training.
I identified the following mannerisms of people of this ilk:
Can’t take flak
Don’t think things through
Can’t handle disappointment
Can’t handle pain
Can’t handle tough times
Can’t take No for an answer
Questions authority
Enjoy freebies
Social media savvy but not life savvy
Disrespectful to elders
Dislike structure and order
Weaponise mental health as crutch
Lack social skills
Enjoy leisure more than work
What’s the way out people? Should we blame the government again for this failure of parenting, schools and the people themselves to invest in self development?
Please join this conversation with your comments and feedback on this and other topics to mooborscounsellingroom@gmail.com
By Mubo Okosun
Women’s Editor.
