2 ms·

I've never heard a really good refutation of Bertrand Russell's "In Praise of Idleness" (1935) where he asks this same question. It just seems to be cultural ba

I've never heard a really good refutation of Bertrand Russell's "In Praise of Idleness" (1935) where he asks this same question. It just seems to be cultural baggage. In his day, it was exemplified by the attitude of "why do the poor need leisure time", "idle hands are the devil's playthings", etc, and today is exemplified in some of these comments — "I don't want to give my tax money to X" where subsidizing X doesn't hurt that person, may in fact make them and most other people better off, but is still morally/culturally repugnant.

lucumo 2mo ago
> "I don't want to give my tax money to X" where subsidizing X doesn't hurt that person, Taxes themselves are the hurt. You're ignoring that the taxes are collected from that person and that they could be spend on something that person would want more. We need taxes, don't get me wrong, but it's entirely reasonable for people to have an opinion on what's done with the money they worked for.