On my way to the library this morning I noticed a woman pushing a palm-button to open a door. Now, these are intended to assist the disabled who may not be able to open doors as easily as the rest of us, and I’ve always thought it a sign of extreme laziness when a person fully capable of opening a door in a traditional way uses the palm button.
This woman grew angry when the door failed to open, and attacked the palm-button with repeated, violent stabs of her hand, before opening the door manually in frustration.
I saw her a few minutes later at the library, again using the palm button, and in her haste she squeezed through the door as it opened, annoyed that it hadn’t done so quicker.
The irony of course is that opening a door manually is always faster, and she had created her frustration through her own laziness.
A few seconds later I passed an office in the sociology wing and overheard a different kind of laziness.
‘Well, to put that into a Marxist framework …”
Laziness in the Academy
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4 responses to “Laziness in the Academy”
I remember writing a paragraph about the causes of the extensive famines in the USSR during the early Stalin era (short answer: Stalin caused them). The response: “A capitalist analysis…you should run this by a committed Marxist…” Like nothing could be true unless a “committed Marxist” agreed it was. (And in what sense did he use the word “committed?”) Now there I give you laziness.
Of course, this dialogue took place in the Stupidest Blog in the World (www.nowarblog.org), so perhaps I should have known better…
An elderly woman I knew in Berkeley had a very endearing habit: when she encountered disagreements (and many other things she found frustrating) she’d simply exclaim, “This is an old capitalist trick!”
Too many years in the Grand Old Struggle, I guess….
The last example may not be laziness. It may be a genuine disability, the kind the first woman evidently lacked.
I’m not handicapped, and I use those big fat square buttons alot (unless my use interfers with a genuine handicapped person).
I like hitting buttons, especially in government buildings. My taxes paid for that button and I may as well get my money’s worth.
um – sorry to interupt your serious discussion, though. Carry on.