Discussion
The intersection of puritanism & #capitalism creates an incredibly insidious, toxic form of #ableism.
Push through the pain. Work through your illness. Keep going through your burnout.
Puritanism tells you that this is virtuous, and makes you a good person. Capitalism requires overwork for your survival.
Pair this with a pandemic, and you've got a nasty escalation of eugenics.
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Because when you keep going thru sickness... You get everyone else sick. Some will not survive. Some will become disabled.
And then those disabled people will get even more sick as they try to keep up "normalcy" while chronic illness tells them to slow the fuck down.
You can't afford to take a day off work... but you REALLY can't afford to lose your job because of chronic illness.
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I got a concussion in 2015, my first semester of grad school, and it took seven months to recover because I would rest up to a point and then decide I was fine and try to push through the pain.
Most people want to get back to regular exercise after a COVID infection, but this is the WORST thing you can do. Significant physical rest is required even after most symptoms subside. Exercise at this critical time is poisonous. You need REST.
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And yet if we can make ourselves do it... we most likely will make ourselves do it. Resting feels like cheating. It feels bad.
Puritanism is the layer under everything else in American culture. We rarely notice or talk about it. But it's tied to white supremacy, perfectionism, workaholism, and a whole smorgasbord of judginess.
Capitalism, well, we know its flaws. But we've internalized it to an extent that most of us don't even realize. Our sense of worth is intimately tied to achievement.
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Just as we need to work to dismantle the racism and sexism that we've learned, we need to work to dismantle our inner systems of capitalism and puritanism. This is why you'll hear people (especially Black leaders) name rest as resistance.
This thread is inspired by a mom in a parenting group posting about how exhausted she is because her daughter is sick, so she's barely slept while taking care of her... and she's overwhelmed about hosting a holiday dinner tomorrow.
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Please do not host a holiday dinner while you have been run ragged taking care of a sick family member.
You should be resting, because your body is trying to fight off that illness. You're basically giving the virus the win.
You should not be inviting people into your virus-ridden home.
And during a pandemic, eating indoors with others – an activity that requires unmasking – is a supremely bad idea.
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