61–70 of 243 posts
Maybe I'm missing the bigger picture, but how is the author not just another one of the squirrels she describes?
Motivational essays are this are great for some people. Others, on the other hand, are persuaded to avoid seeking help for medical (mental health, hormonal, etc) problems that are wrecking their lives. Overmedication is a problem, yes, but this particular field is catastrophically underdiagnosed because its problems have come to be seen as moral failings and the fault of the sufferer. If you are so "lazy" that you ha…
Did you read the article? Or are you adressing a comment I missed? The article is a letter to an advice columnist wherein a person describes herself as lazy, and the columnist literally says: "Doing the bare minimum at the last minute isn’t lazy. It’s simply a choice, devoid of moral weight. It’s a strategy that’s mostly worked for you, up until this point." So I'm finding it hard to understand: > You aren't qualifie…
I believe not, or given the length of the thing and current attention span trends, GP skimmed over it (!= genuinely read), because the following is a direct quote from TFA:
> Get a therapist
Also,
> You aren't qualified to condemn every "lazy" person on the planet, so quit it with the victim-blaming.
The essence of the column is precisely the opposite. The columnist directly says that the person should not blame herself like she does and that she shouldn't call herself lazy.
When I was failing classes in college, I had a conversation with a dean who suggested that I subconsciously didn't want to be there, and that I was committing academic self-sabotage as a result. This struck me as an extravagant, bizarre theory. (Cynically, I also wonder if she was trying to convince me to voluntarily leave the college so that I wouldn't ding their graduation rate.) I tend to be suspicious of this kin…
Absolutely not. Self-sabotage is psychology 101.
> why can't she just be lazy
Because laziness, like demonic possession and telepathy has not been identified by any medical science.
> we're too eager to accept such explanations because they are more comforting than more straightforward, harsher ones
Or maybe one explanation is backed by decades of research while the idea of "laziness" is backed by nothing more than popular culture and some religions.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did you read the article? Or are you adressing a comment I missed? The article is a letter to an advice columnist wherein a person describes herself as lazy, and the columnist literally says: "Doing the bare minimum at the last minute isn’t lazy. It’s simply a choice, devoid of moral weight. It’s a strategy that’s mostly worked for you, up until this point." So I'm finding it hard to understand: > You aren't qualifie…
> Did you read the article? I believe not, or given the length of the thing and current attention span trends, GP skimmed over it (!= genuinely read), because the following is a direct quote from TFA: > Get a therapist Also, > You aren't qualified to condemn every "lazy" person on the planet, so quit it with the victim-blaming. The essence of the column is precisely the opposite. The columnist directly says that the…
> I see this shit every day in other parents: “She hates to read!” “He’s lazy!” “She’s bad at math!” You are imprisoning your kid with your words, fuckers! That's spot on. It's really upsetting to hear people say that about children, especially people with authority (parents, grandparents). DON'T DO THAT! Or, if you have to do that (!?!) at least be positive. Don't tell a kid she's bad at math, tell her she's good at…
If we only comment on how inherently good they are they might get lazy as whenever they get bad grades excuses like "I wasn't trying" works. It doesn't matter if the parents continue being surprised of the bad grades, the answer can also be "I was just lazy".
This is exactly what happened to me and I'm still trying to reprogram myself.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Modern psychiatry has infinitely better cognitive tricks than the moralizing platitudes in motivational essays. Please name two such tricks.
Amphetamines, get enough exercise, get enough sleep, SSRIs if you’re depressed
The crux of the problem here is trying to conform to some ideal of what a good person is and using drugs to get there. Then you will be happy and all is good in life. Until something else comes along and back to square one again.
It seems a little ridiculous that the author of the response would know that the "Sloth" isn't actually lazy but really afraid. Especially when the author also tells the "Sloth" to ignore what other people have said about them. Maybe I'm missing the bigger picture, but how is the author not just another one of the squirrels she describes?
I'm actually a bit surprised so many people here are quickly falling into conclusions about what was and wasn't said when it doesn't seem like it has been explored enough to have anything conclusive determined from it..
But then it's also just an essay meant to speak to certain people and not for everyone in a popular magazine, so eh.
When I was failing classes in college, I had a conversation with a dean who suggested that I subconsciously didn't want to be there, and that I was committing academic self-sabotage as a result. This struck me as an extravagant, bizarre theory. (Cynically, I also wonder if she was trying to convince me to voluntarily leave the college so that I wouldn't ding their graduation rate.) I tend to be suspicious of this kin…
> extravagant, bizarre theory Absolutely not. Self-sabotage is psychology 101. > why can't she just be lazy Because laziness, like demonic possession and telepathy has not been identified by any medical science. > we're too eager to accept such explanations because they are more comforting than more straightforward, harsher ones Or maybe one explanation is backed by decades of research while the idea of "laziness" is…
Laziness is preserving energy, which seems pretty vital to survival for me. Have you ever seen a "lazy" lion just laying there, doing nothing most of the day? The reason why he's not running around all day doing active stuff is because of survival, energy preservation. He will put his energy where it is most important, food and sex. He's even so lazy that he lets the ladies hunt for him.
So I don't understand in what kind of world you are living where laziness is not a real thing.
> You’re choosing a lifestyle of avoidance and low expectations. What's wrong with that? Some people have laid their heart open to the benign indifference of the universe and are just like: "what's the point?"