CNN’s Mike Rowe, who many see as a spokesman for working class Americans, said he doesn’t agree at all with an MSNBC host who said recently the term “hard worker” is problematic because it diminishes the legacy of slavery.
“[T]here is no longer a limit to what people can be offended by,” said Rowe, the host of CNN’s Somebody’s Gotta Do It, in a Friday post on his personal website.
His remarks came in response to a question about MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry saying last week that the term “hard worker” is troublesome as it can sometimes be applied to people who don’t work as hard as African-American slaves were made to work.
“I want us to be super careful when we use the language ‘hard worker,’ because I actually keep an image of folks working in cotton fields on my office wall, because it is a reminder about what hard work looks like,” Harris-Perry said in reference to Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., becoming the next House speaker.
Rowe, who came to the national stage as a working class, common man as the host of the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, appeared perplexed by Harris-Perry’s remarks.
“To me, it sounds as though Melissa is displaying images of slavery or drudgery in her office to remind herself of what hard work really and truly looks like. That’s a bit like hanging images of rape and bondage to better illustrate the true nature of human sexuality,” he wrote. “Whatever her logic might be, it’s difficult to respond without first pointing out a few things that most people will find screamingly obvious. So let’s do that.”
“First of all, slavery is not ‘hard work;’ it’s forced labor. There’s a big difference. Likewise, slaves are not workers; they are by definition, property. They have no freedom, no hope, and no rights. Yes, they work hard, obviously. But there can be no ‘work ethic’ among slaves, because the slave has no choice in the matter,” he added.
“This business of conflating hard work with forced labor not only minimizes the importance of a decent work ethic, it diminishes the unspeakable horror of slavery,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, people do this all the time. We routinely describe bosses as ‘slave-drivers,’ and paychecks as ‘slave’s wages.'”
Rowe suggested that the MSNBC host likely thinks and feels this way because she believes that success today stems not from hard work, but from what she referred to as “relative privilege.”
“This is fancy talk for the simple fact that life is unfair, and some people are born with more advantages than others. It’s also a fine way to prepare the unsuspecting viewer for the extraordinary suggestion that slavery is proof-positive that hard work doesn’t pay off,” he wrote.
He concluded by writing that he and Harris-Perry simply see the world differently. However, if it’s any consolation, he added, they do have something in common.
“Like her, I keep a picture on my office wall,” he wrote. “That’s me, squatting next to the most disappointing toilet I’ve ever encountered, preparing to clean it out with a garden trowel. I keep it there to remind me of what happens when you need a plumber but can’t find one.”
“It’s also a nice reminder that a good plumber these days has a hell of a lot more job security than the average news anchor. (With respect),” he added.
