Words that sting

"...just because you're too damn lazy..."

In high school, I thought that lecture was funny - because a teacher was angry and said "damn." Now I realize how hurtful it was intended to be.

I haven't had much recreation since I was a teenager. When I have, it's always in the back of my mind that it must really be for the amusement of the collective. I recall when this feeling first emerged, a few months after I was expelled from a Catholic high school, and now I know it's because that particular school intentionally breaks people down.

The lecture in question occurred one day in sophomore religion class when the priest who taught the course became exasperated because students' homework wasn't up to his standards. The harsh clergyman said to the class something like, "I don't want to hear any complaining about your grades just because you're too damn lazy to read the directions for a simple assignment!"

For a year or two after that, I actually believed I was lazy, all because he said that I and other students were.

Even now, I have to work harder to prove myself. It isn't just a matter of earning a living. It's also one of self-respect. I think it's obvious though that there's a dominant media culture that will never be satisfied no matter hard I or others like me work.

It's kind of like the wingnutosphere's recent hit piece against the autoworkers that was debunked. Right-wing blogs wanted people to think that hard-working autoworkers were lazy and greedy all because they didn't want to take a pay cut. Similarly, the attack on my industriousness in high school was to make me and the school community think I was living an easy life.

Those who tried to break me and my schoolmates are no different from those who denounce hard-working Americans in the labor force for insisting on decent pay.

Now that the priest's tirade and the discredited autoworker story prove we're all toiling on the same corporatist estate, maybe it's time we should all have a little fun! Let's not recreate for the benefit of our corporate masters, but let's share our fun with other hard workers!