If you graduated before they implemented this or aren’t American, the system they started to use to teach kids how to read is called three cuing. They teach kids to identify unknown words by guessing based on clues in pictures with the sentences, what word would ‘make sense’, and whether the answer they came up with looks right based on the first letter.
As you may have noticed, none of that is reading a word. These are strategies that borderline illiterate people will use to try to understand words, and for decades it’s been the method used by many schools across the country.
So that person you’re arguing with online who keeps going off on bizarre rants barely related to anything you said might not be a troll, they might just be functionally illiterate due to having never been taught to read. Yaaay!
Overworked and lazy are absolutely not incompatible. You’re right that burnout is a serious issue stemming from overwork and the general news/social media outrage cycle, and that being overworked and being lazy are different problems, but the fact is that lots of American parents are all three. Might take a look at yourself before accusing others of being ‘covid cooked.’
i would argue that “lazy” is a perjorative to put personal responsiblity as the issue rather than systemic failures leading people to have to make hard choices over what they can and can’t do. i refuse to use the term on people who are struggling to make it thru each day and keep food in their childrens’ bellies. call me crazy if ya want, but people have been systematically destroyed and then blamed for not being able to keep up, and that’s the vibe i am feeling from you and the person i originally responded to.