the hard work meme doesn't stand up to the slightest scrutiny and we really should stop telling kids that effort is the key to sucess. i think it started as a combination of wishful thinking, overcorrecting inherent laziness, and just the simple fact that in a high trust society someone else will probably set you up for your efforts to be reasonably productive, but as mean trustworthness has eroded, the forest gump approach just isn't going to work like it used to.
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