There is an auditory disease that is sweeping our nation.
When somebody says, “The government has provided services that make it easier for you to grow your business,” thousands of people hear: “You don’t work hard.”
When somebody says, “It would have been really hard for your business to get started if you couldn’t get goods transported over the government-built interstate,” thousands of people hear: “You don’t work hard.”
When somebody says, “Your business doesn’t have to pay for a private company to put out fires that might happen at your office building, because the government has a Fire Department,” thousands of people hear: “You don’t work hard.”
I’m not entirely sure what kind of odd neurological misfiring can cause the sounds waves of, “The government has provided services that help your business to function” to enter your ears, and have that create the experience of your hearing the sounds, “You don’t work hard.”
Someone should study that.
But I do know that it’s happening. This is a real auditory disorder that afflicts thousands, if not millions.
How do I know?
Because every single day on the radio, I hear a talk show host play a clip of President Obama saying that the government helps businesses to grow, and a caller will call in and reply by saying: “How dare he tell me that I didn’t work hard to create my business!”
Because every single day on the internet, I see articles posted about politicians claiming that government-funded technology is responsible for a lot of the infrastructure used by businesses, and in the comments people reply by writing, “I can’t believe they don’t appreciate the fact that we work hard to create our own businesses!”
On television, the live pundits will clash (as live pundits are wont to do), and one will yell, “You have employees that are educated by public education, you use a government post office… of course you got help from the government!” and the other will yell back, “How DARE you insult millions of small business owners by minimizing their hard work!”
He didn’t say that.
NOBODY has ever said that.
I don’t know what is going on here, but we’ve got to figure it out and stop it.
Are people so stuck on the idea that “government assistance” means “welfare” that they hate admitting that the government can “assist” them in any way at all?
Do they they think that “only lazy people” admit that someone might have helped them?
Or are they simply so addicted to their own egos that they would deny that their own mothers helped to raise them because somehow that means they didn’t “work hard” to become adults themselves?
Well, whatever it is, I’m convinced that it’s a mental disorder. There is absolutely no logical reason that someone would hear the statement “The government gave you some help” and think that it meant “You didn’t work hard.”
Someone needs to stand up and say this every single time they hear a person make this mistake.
