Society now promotes mediocrity and calls it equity: Avolition abounds. By Andy Kessler in the WSJ.

Everyone has an explanation for the Great Resignation: extended unemployment benefits, eviction moratoriums, baby boomers retiring, work-from-home complacency, anxiety, long Covid. Sure, all reasonable excuses.

Here’s my pet theory: Too many got a taste of not working and liked it. A lot. Until recently, many people could make more money by not working and became glued to screens, Insta-Tok-ing and living the easy life by sponging off the rest of us. …

It is cultural malaise, motivational submission. Society now promotes mediocrity and calls it equity — witness the scarcity of SAT test-score requirements for college. Sadly, once you get a taste of the easy life, it is difficult to pull up your socks and try hard again — self-induced avolition.

[New word — Avolition: It’s normal to drag your feet when you have an annoying chore to do. But if you have “avolition,” your habit of putting off a task is on a whole different level. Avolition is a total lack of motivation that makes it hard to get anything done. You can’t start or finish even simple, everyday tasks. Getting off the couch to wash the dishes or drive to the supermarket can feel like climbing Mount Everest.]

Why so many quitters? And who’s paying for DoorDashed dinners and the exorbitant rent for all these un- and underemployed? Government handouts are dwindling, so, you guessed it, now it’s mom and dad — enabling parents. They can afford it: As of March, baby boomers were sitting on a whopping $71 trillion to spoil their kids with. Did you know that half of U.S. households currently support an adult child? …

The U.K. has this problem too. Brits refer to kids leeching off their parents as “failed fledglings.” In Japan it is “parasite singles.” And for those who fear a takeover by China, you’ll be pleased to hear that it is dealing with the tang ping or “lying flat” movement, a group with no motivation. The movement is quickly turning into bai lan or “let it rot,” best summarised by the slogan, “Someone has to be a loser, why not me?”