This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »
Graylight · 51-55, F
[quote]One of the major factors that caused the Laziness Lie to spread throughout the United States was the arrival of the Puritans. The Puritans had long believed that if a person was a hard worker, it was a sign that God had chosen them for salvation. Hard work was believed to improve who you were as a person. Conversely, if a person couldn’t focus on the task at hand or couldn’t self-motivate, that was a sign that they had already been damned.
This meant, of course, that there was no need to feel sympathy for people who struggled or failed to meet their responsibilities. By lacking the drive to succeed, they were displaying to the world that God hadn’t chosen them for Heaven.
When the Puritans came to colonial America, their ideas caught on and spread to other, less pious colonists. For many reasons, a belief system that judged and punished the “lazy” was about to become very popular—and politically useful.
https://lithub.com/on-the-insidious-laziness-lie-at-the-heart-of-the-american-myth/[/quote]
This meant, of course, that there was no need to feel sympathy for people who struggled or failed to meet their responsibilities. By lacking the drive to succeed, they were displaying to the world that God hadn’t chosen them for Heaven.
When the Puritans came to colonial America, their ideas caught on and spread to other, less pious colonists. For many reasons, a belief system that judged and punished the “lazy” was about to become very popular—and politically useful.
https://lithub.com/on-the-insidious-laziness-lie-at-the-heart-of-the-american-myth/[/quote]