[peachia]

It's true that O'Connor's book doesn't really address idleness "in the face of urgent need," but I disagree with this article that it needs to. Before we can begin to justify the kind of idleness "in the face of urgent need" that is effectively "indifference to suffering," we have to first justify the lesser kind of idleness that is indifference to society's supposed needs, which I think O'Connor's book does adequately. Idleness has been dismissed by Kant and friends as a moral vice on the grounds that it's our "duty" to maximize our "usefulness" and "worth" to society. To alleviate others' suffering is a different matter entirely, and making an argument for idleness in that case is probably a lot more difficult.