Why is it in American culture, if you value time more than money you are considered lazy?

[Merkavar]

i dont see how wanting weekends off from work makes you lazy. people should only have to work around 40 hours a week to be able to live and be happy. if you have to work more than 40 hours just get by i think there is something wrong with the system in your country.

life isnt about money, you dont win the game by dieing with the most money. you win at life by living the best life and that involves have fun and relaxation every now and then.

 

[Peteron]

I don't know what America you live in, but I haven't seen anything of that sort.

 

[SidheKnight]

Why? Simple:

Because everybody knows that money is more important than silly stuff like friends, family or love.

 

[SD-Fiend]

the people that are calling you lazy are obviously not in the same situation as you so it is easy for them to think that you are lazy because they can't see it from your point of veiw.

 

[Ghaleon640]

I admit, I am very new to the workforce. My first job has just been as a residence assistant for my college dorm, (I'm a sophmore) and I have to say that this was the worst half year of my life. The best of times were the times that simply sucked less. Then again, I could have done better, with maturity my failures could have been ironed out. With that said- I can see where you're coming from. It would be nice, though right now I have no idea how to avoid the long hours ahead when I get a job outside of college.

 

[Woodsey]

There does seem to be a rather odd attitude when it comes to Americans and work. The amount of times I've seen people tell Occupy protestors (even on here) that they "should stop being lazy and spend the time actually looking for a job" is quite staggering. And anyone who says they don't want to have to work 3 jobs just to scrape a living is derided as lazy too.

If 'lazy' is wanting to have a life then I'd hope we're all fucking lazy.

 

[Warforger]

Dunno how I got dragged into this one, but I'll bite

It is true that one of the best predictors of wealth is the economic class you were born into. That is worrisome. If you were born in the lower class, does that mean working within the system is for suckers?

Working how they want you to is. You see Universities and Colleges in America have close ties to corporations since their graduates are going to be inventing things or improving existing things, thus they gear themselves to conform to that, trickling down that way into High School. You're supposed to be unique and brilliant if you want to get to places like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs (although he was more clever at least a good ceo, he didn't know how to code at all, his longtime friend did it all) and I don't hear too many success stories from people who graduate #1 from top Universities that dwarf these guys.It's always some poor dude who worked up because of something he invented.

And the race is not won by the swift. We all know, as you reference, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. But do you know the names of the people that invented packet shaping? IPV4? If you are a geek, maybe, but they aren't house hold names, but they helped change the world.

Did the inventors graduate top of their class?

Seems a little off topic.

I am certain TC is correct. Too many people see the desire for quality of life as "lazy". Fortunately, a growing number of people are fighting for work/life/family balance. This was supposed to be aided, a lot, by women, particularly mothers entering the work force. Instead, too often, women simply became workaholics themselves.

erm ok I was reinforcing what he was saying.

I think there does need to be balance. I gave up my dreak of becoming a top Batman illustrator because 1) I stink 2) even if I was pretty good, the odds of being able to provide for a family in that line of work are minimal. Supporting a family is important to the balance.

Of course the same argument applies, if you don't have enough free time you won't be able to spend time with your family.

One can still look for rewarding work even if it isn't at top pay.(such as teacher, lab tech, emergency ward nurse) I wouldn't call those lazy professions. Money isn't all to motivation. Check this out:

Erm yah that was the point I put forth in my argument to my mom.

 

[Angry Camel]

Right with you there, OP. This rat race is getting insane. We're told money isn't the most important thing in the world, but they tell anyone coming out of high school or tertiary education that they must work as hard as possible to secure a future. What kind of future? So we have all this stuff to show our success? To show to the world we're not lazy? Personal satisfaction? I'd rather live in a shack in a forest and be totally self reliant than work at a desk.

This would be somewhat related: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r11YaT3NjYs

 

[Angry Camel]

Whoops, double post.

 

[gorfias]

One can still look for rewarding work even if it isn't at top pay.(such as teacher, lab tech, emergency ward nurse) I wouldn't call those lazy professions. Money isn't all to motivation. Check this out:

Erm yah that was the point I put forth in my argument to my mom.

I hope she listens. Money is important to sustaining a standard of living,(something I don't think I could do illustrating Batman comics) but it is a means to an end (having time and money to enjoy Batman Arkham Asylum over a beer with a good friend) and other rewarding stuff like supporting a spouse and kids. BTW: some teachers are doing pretty well all considering especially when you factor in benefits. Its a worthy pursuit. Hope you make it.

 

[Glass Joe]

Being lazy doesn't mean not working. It means you make yourself comfortable and become defeated by your problems. When I play Skyrim for six hours instead of going to the gym, I'm being lazy. When I neglect my financial issues because having a job requires thought and exertion, I'm being lazy. When I work fewer hours so I can study evolutionary psychology I'm not being lazy. When I retire so that I can spend time with my family and enjoy my decline, I'm not being lazy.

Just stay driven and disciplined, and serve the interests of others and yourself.

Those are my thoughts on this

 

[Warforger]

No, it's those with a high demand, that's why doctors and lawyers are so rich because their job security is probably the highest there is since hell people are being prosecuted all the time and they also have medical problems too, and what it takes to get an effective one is a bunch of hard work.

I would disagree with the claim of these occupations having the highest job security out there. There have been teachers and maids much longer and in more varied economic environments than there have been doctors or lawyers, at least in the modern sense.

Well the idea is that there's always going to be a demand for doctors and lawyers everywhere, maids and teachers? Perhaps not as much.

Our opposing points really meet each other halfway. For one thing, I consider medical careers to be a service, and such services operate differently from the economy at large. Sure, they are compensated in a rather capitalistic way, but the philosophy, overall structure, and prestige of such careers have a different flavour.

Yes, thus they have a bigger control over their work than other professions.

Also, the majority of lawyers work in patents or for similar business interests. No, seriously. They are just as much enslaved to those controlling the means of production as the person cleaning the toilets, they just get a much fancier title and a larger paycheck. And 80-hour workweeks. Which brings us to the same problem the original post put forth: tireless work impeding on one's ability to live a fulfilling life.

That's fine again, but they don't have to work for someone if they don't want to if they've worked hard enough, and they can have more breaks. The janitor on the other hand has to work always against his wishes.

 

[Latinidiot]

Don't read Atlas Shrugged. It's a worthless childish commentary from an aristocrat who was so self-absorbed she glorified and justified being rich in her mind to the point where people who were not rich were obviously just lazy terrible people wanting to mooch off rich people.

It's a shame that this book has had so much influence on our society. There was a time when greed was not a virtue.

I tried to read this book, And I couldn't finish it. All the things I didn't just plainly disagree with were so...depressing that at the end, there was nothing making me want to read it other than a morbid fascination. So I decided to read something more balanced. Like Oscar Wilde. I liked that.

 

[GirDraconis]

If you don't want to read Atlas Shrugged, try playing Bioshock. It basically takes what the book says and puts it into a kind of "ripple of evil" idea where every idea was followed to its logical conclusion, which was absolute insanity. At first, I was blown away by how much fun the game was but then I started to realize the message behind the game was deep, really deep. Even if you've played it before, I highly encourage everybody to play through it again with your "observational eyes" wide open. Once again, I thoroughly enjoyed the game, decided it to be one of my all-time favorites. But once I realized how much material was in the game, how much literature and knowledge went into it, my appreciation for it grew ten-fold.