Fun fact! “Laziness” as an idea (the sin of sloth etc etc) was invented by 16th century Puritans, promoting the idea that those who didn’t work as much as the Puritans saw fit were committing a mortal sin. The concept of laziness was used to justify slavery, because they were “just protecting the poor slaves mortal soul from eternal damnation”.
Obviously this isn’t true anymore, but nowadays, if you’re not constantly doing something to contribute to the economy, doing something to make yourself more useful to the economy, then you are lazy. Bezos gets to sail Spain in his private yacht for weeks, but if you take a day off for mental health, then you’re the problem. Our concepts of productivity, while fueled by capitalism, are still built on Puritan ideals.
Fun fact! “Laziness” as an idea (the sin of sloth etc etc) was invented by 16th century Puritans, promoting the idea that those who didn’t work as much as the Puritans saw fit were committing a mortal sin. The concept of laziness was used to justify slavery, because they were “just protecting the poor slaves mortal soul from eternal damnation”.
Obviously this isn’t true anymore, but nowadays, if you’re not constantly doing something to contribute to the economy, doing something to make yourself more useful to the economy, then you are lazy. Bezos gets to sail Spain in his private yacht for weeks, but if you take a day off for mental health, then you’re the problem. Our concepts of productivity, while fueled by capitalism, are still built on Puritan ideals.