Why the "Lazy Jobless" Myth Persists
Friday 17 December 2010
by: David Sirota, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
During the recent fight over extending unemployment benefits, conservatives trotted out the shibboleth that says the program fosters sloth. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., for instance, said added unemployment benefits mean people are "encouraged not to go look for work." Columnist Pat Buchanan said expanding these benefits mean "more people will hold off going back looking for a job." And Fox News' Charles Payne applauded the effort to deny future unemployment checks because he said it would compel layabouts "to get off the sofa."
The thesis undergirding all the rhetoric was summed up by conservative commentator Ben Stein, who insisted that "the people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities."
The idea is that unemployment has nothing to do with structural economic forces or rigged public policies and everything to do with individual motivation. Yes, we're asked to believe that the 15 million jobless Americans are all George Costanzas -- parasitic loafers occasionally pretending to seek work as latex salesmen, but really just aiming to decompress on a refrigerator-equipped recliner during a lifelong Summer of George.
Of course, this storyline makes no sense. From liberal Paul Krugman to archconservative Alan Greenspan, economists agree that joblessness is not caused by unemployment benefits. With five applicants for every one job opening, the overarching problem is a lack of available positions -- not a dearth of personal initiative.
Why, then, is the myth so resonant that polls now show more than a third of America opposes extending unemployment benefits? Part of it is the sheer ignorance that naturally festers in a country of cable-TV junkies. But three more subtle forces are also at work.
First, there's what psychologists call the Just-World Fallacy -- the tendency to believe the world is inherently fair. This delusion is embedded in our pervasive up-by-the-bootstraps, everyone-can-be-a-millionaire catechism. The myth of the lazy unemployed can seem to make sense because it connects those ancient fables to current news, effectively alleging that today's jobless deserve their plight.
Narcissism is also a factor. In a nation that typically dehumanizes the destitute Other with epithets like "welfare queen" and "white trash," our self-centered culture leads the slightly less destitute to ascribe their own relative success exclusively to superhuman greatness. The myth of the lazy unemployed plays to that conceit, helping the still-employed experience potentially scary unemployment news as a booster shot of self-aggrandizement. You remain in a job, says the myth, because you are better than the jobless.
Finally, there's raw fear -- arguably more powerful than even arrogance. With the labor-market news downright frightening, the still-employed are understandably pining for a defense mechanism to cope with persistent layoff anxieties. The myth of the lazy unemployed provides exactly that -- a calming sensation of control. If, as the myth suggests, the jobless are really out of work because they "are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities," then it stands to reason that the employed can avoid catastrophe by simply choosing better behavior.
The trouble, though, is that the whole narrative averts our focus from the job-killing trade, tax-cut and budget policies that are really responsible for destroying the economy. And this narrative, mind you, is not some run-of-the-mill distraction. The myth of the lazy unemployed is what duck-and-cover exercises and backyard nuclear shelters were to a past era -- an alluring palliative that manufactures false comfort in the face of unthinkable disaster.
Only now, our fate isn't being dictated to us by faraway Soviets -- we could actually prevent a future apocalypse if more of us just accepted reality and demanded the right kind of change here at home.
David Sirota is a best-selling author whose upcoming book "Back to Our Future" will be released in March of 2011. He hosts the morning show on AM760 in Colorado and blogs at OpenLeft.com. E-mail him at ds@davidsirota.com or follow him on Twitter @davidsirota.
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Good points - these are well
Fri, 12/17/2010 - 18:20 — Pining for Dollahs (not verified)Good points - these are well known by folks who think of these things. "Lazy joblessness" is a form of hatred, just as those based on race or color or religion are.
It's true though - people are accused and convicted of not having the "will to survive" when society fails them. These people aren't failures, they are heros, and they are strong, human and beautiful, and in a way, they are released from the daily hell so many are convinced they must accept to make ends meet.
Fox$New$ is running ads
Fri, 12/17/2010 - 20:10 — Anonarcmous (not verified)Fox$New$ is running ads about "the Face of Lawsuit Abuse"--another myth to destroy the tools of the citizenry!!
I wondered where the
Fri, 12/17/2010 - 21:10 — Vic Anderson (not verified)I wondered where the Obamanibles got their terrorizing, nostalgic nucular "defense" notions to divert attention from their drop-kicking the "lazy" poor rather than the Idle CLA$$!
USA welfare programs are not
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 07:16 — Kym (not verified)USA welfare programs are not structured to be incentives. I remember a time 30 years ago when I had a choice - take a job or keep my AFDC. However; once I calculated in childcare I quickly learned I'd make more on AFDC. The programs are archaic and seriously flawed. They should be helping people learn skills, have proper childcare, and basically support those who do want to work.
Secondly, this entire country has evolved to the point where most everyone feels entitled. The average laid off man is not going to take a job mowing yards because he thinks he's entitled to a better job than that. Add to that the fact that our "Leaders" have given away all our jobs to other countries so that now, even if we wanted to take jobs like that - they're gone.
Lastly, people in the United States have embraced the propaganda that living in debt is the American Way. This is a form of slavery. The laid off worker also won't go for that yard mowing job because there's no way it'll pay the huge amount of accumulated debt which most people carry around. You simply don't have as many choices when you have a burden of debt. Add to that, crippling healthcare costs! Imagine what it would be like if the struggling middle class were suddenly free to go after, or create, work they really wanted to do rather than taking a job they don't care about just because it offers healthcare benefits (which is getting rarer by the day).
Our "representatives" as well as the idiots you quoted, have no idea what the real world is like since they're all millionaires. Even I had no idea what the real world was like while I had my 6 digit salary. Now, after taking an 85% cut in pay and working with others who are struggling it's like the veil has dropped from my eyes and I see what it's really like for MOST families who are simply struggling to survive. Who watch, over and over, as jobs are shipping out of country and they're left holding their massive debts in their hands. People who then get laid off and find themselves in a world where hundreds are applying for every single job. Sure, there will always be people who exploit loopholes but there is no doubt in my mind that: 1 - it's the government who maintains these archaic programs blame them!; and 2- the vast majority of people want to work.
Thanks for standing up for the "Lazy"!
Really rich people and
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 08:15 — Bang (not verified)Really rich people and weasel politicians have to work overtime to suck. But they manage to do it. So why can't some of the unemployed (including me) get off our duffs and be inspired by them and stop collecting $350 a week and try to get back to the $900 a week jobs we once had. Simple... it is so much better to sit on a couch and eat Alpo and not make mortgage payments and take kids out of private schools and not intermingle with other people at a workplace and forgo the doctor visits and turn the thermostat down to 62 and buy gas three gallons at a time.... etc, etc, etc. Yep. Being a lazy unemployed deadbeat suuuure beats working for a living. I guess they are right after all.
Entitled to clean water?
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 08:18 — Putting Down the Lazy (not verified)Entitled to clean water? Freedom from arrest? Kym continues the old lie that "training"
is needed, and some 'Muricans just won't take certain jobs because they feel they are too good for them. That too is part of the lie about workers, Liberals like to pretend that vast amounts of unemployment are due to "lack of training", this is the lie of their corporate masters who have the incentive of profit alone, not hiring anybody. Also, Kym suggests that she could "get over easy" with welfare, that never existed, is another strawman, and frames labor as being exploitative, or cunning.
If you look at the mouth to mouth attachment Defense Contractors have to the Pentagon there is no "training" other then the ability to perpetuate the fraud that only certain corporations are able to "do things". It's apparently more honorable to be earning "welfare" by sitting in an office, writing a few emails and going to a few meetings each week for 150K per anum,.
I am so fed up with the
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 17:26 — Peter R (not verified)I am so fed up with the "American Way" as promoted by big money and big government, that I am leaving America for Russia. My father's family came to America as Pilgrims and my mother's family came here in 1847 from Germany. As far as I know I will be the first of my long line of Americans to leave America.
Why??? I can do the research on new products for about 20% of what it would cost here. I will send the plans for my successful prototypes to America for production and sale. Russia has an educated population and culture that America is rapidly losing.
I will miss my country but not all the crap that I see going on in the news.
Oh... just for your information, I am making this change at age 75!
The way I look at it, "The rats leave the sinking ship."
You people still rage at
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 20:52 — Dwight Bobson (not verified)You people still rage at every distraction the GOP throws your way. they do it to keep you busy and have you use up your time. They hate poor people and laugh at your rage over these kinds of words and actions. You need to be distracted while they commit treason against democracy. That's the bottom line.
It is always tempting for
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 01:57 — JLG (not verified)It is always tempting for people in a privileged position to believe that they are superior to those who are not. Kings and emperors claimed to have been chosen by God. Slaves were said to have been born to their lot due to natural inferiority. It is true that people who lack motivation and are irresponsible are not likely to prosper and the hard work and prudence improve the odds of success, but that is hardly the end of the story. Is one hedge fund manager really worth more than 10,000 firemen? Are those who break the rules to gain advantage always punished? And where were all these lay-abouts when the economy was booming?
Money Trumps Brains Every
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 02:25 — chuck finan (not verified)Money Trumps Brains Every time!!!
This is a myth propogated by
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 19:41 — Anonymous (not verified)This is a myth propogated by Randians.
It appeals to peoples' desire to be "special"
The randian mythos is simple:
You, the reader of rand's books, are the ONLY person ever born on this planet, past or present, who has ever worked hard or given a damn, and you are the only one who deserves anything, unless you meet a richer person, in which case clearly they are wealthier because they work harder.
Never mind the fact that I get home from my job maintaining 24/7 server uptime at 11 pm, while my uncle makes mid-7 figures and gets home by 7. Clearly he works "harder" than me.
"this entire country has
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 22:35 — Anonymous (not verified)"this entire country has evolved to the point where most everyone feels entitled. The average laid off man is not going to take a job mowing yards because he thinks he's entitled to a better job than that"
You're damned right he is. He worked his ass off, showed loyalty to his employer, did overtime often uncompensated. Then, the CEO of his company colluded with others, bribed some politicians, then sold him out, forcing him to train his indian replacement or not even be given his severance pay.
He will be damned if he goes to flipping burgers when he has 10 years of experience in a STEM field, and how dare you suggest he should accept the insult the moneyed interests leave to him after stabbing him in the back, kicking him to the curb, and leaving him bleeding in the gutter to die.
"Now, after taking an 85%
Sun, 12/19/2010 - 22:46 — Anonymous (not verified)"Now, after taking an 85% cut in pay and working with others who... watch, over and over, as jobs are shipping out of country and they're left holding their massive debts in their hands....1 - it's the government who maintains these archaic programs blame them!"
Clearly CLEARLY it's the government which is walking up to corporate executives, putting jack boots over their necks, and proclaiming "you will offshore americans' jobs"
Did it ever occur to you that we make more money off welfare than the worst jobs in the US because of just how abusive and corrupt the largest employers have become? Perhaps if such interested power-brokers didn't suppress minimum wage laws to the point it takes 3 minimum wage jobs to pay the rent, welfare wouldn't be so tantalizing.
Every business-employment
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 15:11 — Frances in California (not verified)Every business-employment problem of the last 30 years can be racked up to Bad Management. Under that rubric belongs Incompetent, Coddled and Criminal management. We who truly work don't need Management; what's needed is for them to take their goldbricking butts outa the way so we can get the work done.
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