The American Hard Work Fallacy

Misconceptions and prejudice backed into the American glorification of “hard work”

If I watch TV for twelve hours straight while lying in the couch, am I doing hard work? No, most would say I was a lazy bum. What if I played computer games for twelve hours straight? Would that make me a hard worker? I mean that is a lot of hours and I have to actually pay attention and click on the controller at the right times?

Most people would still say that I am not working. I am just enjoying recreation. Let us mix up this simplistic image to complicate things. What if I add a screen recorder and talk while playing? What if I am streaming my gaming on social media and getting paid for people watching me play?

hard work

a great deal of effort or endurance

— Oxford Dictionary

Suddenly bumming around is a job. However the question remains: Am I doing hard work? Before answering this question, let me give some context. Some years ago I wrote a story called: Stop the “Hard Work” Obsession America!

What I was talking about in that piece was how a lot of people doing back breaking hard labour, are not necessarily very successful economically, while many of us…