You hear "hard work" thrown around and touted as if it is some badge of courage when it simply is a way to appease, trick and fool the mindless masses into encouragement to keep "the conveyor belt" going. It gives the automata a chance for a false sense of reflection for purpose and usefulness which fulfills the lie or myth that the harder one works, the more rewarding it becomes even at the cost of happiness and dare I say life.
The NAZI regime knew full well this paradox and made sure that the motto, "Arbeit Macht Frei", or "Work makes men free", was the first and the last thing any prisoner saw as they were led into and out of the various Work concentration camps. The credulous went on believing that perhaps if they work hard or harder or the hardest they will have a chance of freedom and happiness. While the circumstances for today are certainly different, the same motto still exists and flourishes which leaves the incredulity of the paradox wholly intact.
The idea that hard work is somehow an exercise in nobility or purity is truly mislabeled and is in fact missing the tag of futility and perhaps even ignorance. If anyone has read George Orwell`s Animal Farm he warns of the same point with the characterization of Boxer the horse. Boxer was the hardest working member of the farm who, when things got tough or when he did not understand simple concepts, reverted to his own personal motto of "Must....Work...HARDER!". Boxer was also portrayed as being very strong and able, but also very dumb and unquestioning. He nearly works himself to death, and after his usefulness is nearly expended, he is tricked into getting into a van which takes him to be slaughtered for glue.
This all parallels today:
In case you haven`t guessed by now, I stack my chips under the SMART WORK school of thought as opposed to the HARD WORK mantra. I will be curious to see who comes out in favor of the opposite as I have seen some of the mindless tout the above freely and use it to mask and cover their envy and despisal of the educated or the privileged or affluent.
The history of America has rewarded the ones who favor Smart Work by allowing them to use and exploit those fooled into doing "Hard Work" all the while the "Hard Workers" don`t even realize it. They choose instead to continually to polish that thinly gilded badge of courage and present it whenever challenged not recognizing that the badge is but a gifted faux ornament from their masters.
