>

People who hate the saying also deliberately misunderstand the intentions behind it.  Literally, it means doing the impossible - and by the way, in hindsight a success story may look exactly like you achieved the impossible.  But the intetntion is to say that you gotta do some bold or really undesirable things to get ahead sometimes.
I agree that people should be in a mindset to be persistent, but I think “God helps those who help themselves” or “fortune favors the bold” may be more applicable. 
Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is literally impossible, and that phrase used to mean that very thing. From Wikipedia (I know, I know):
In original use, often used to refer to pulling oneself over a fence, and implying that someone is attempting or has claimed some ludicrously far-fetched or impossible task. >

This is going make people pop a forehead vein. >

Agreed. It's a stupid saying to begin with seeing as the original context was talking about literally trying to lift yourself by pulling your bootstraps is impossible, but the meaning behind the phrase can be good advice. The world sucks a lot and it's sadly common to find yourself in tough situations, but no matter how much help you can get, self discipline and working hard can go a long way. >

"Don't tell people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps! Just tell them to work hard. I'm sure that thought has never occurred to them." >

Many if not most work hard. They just work hard at the wrong things. Or they work hard now but didn’t when they were 15-23 years old. Working hard to learn in-demand skills is critical when you are at the age where you actually have the opportunity. >

We're not rolling our eyes at the idea of persistence or hard work.
We're rolling our eyes at the fact that you think this is a novel or brilliant idea, at least enough to bother sharing.
It communicates a level of out-of-touch self-aggrandizement that is laughable. >

In my experience hard work means being used by people. Sure that you can do the job. But don't go out of your way for your employer. Don't give up free time. And if they ask you for a favor you get something in return. There is exceptions to this however. But for the most part put yourself first. >

We're rolling our eyes because whoever is suggesting is implying we are all lazy bums waiting  for a handout. Yeah,  it's a good philosophy that most us are already trying our best to do. 
Of course there are exceptions, and sometimes some tough love is needed to give  someone a kick in the butt, but that needs to come from friends and family,  not strangers on the internet. A whole internet diatribe about "people need to...." like that's the only problem out there is just lazy thinking. >

I absolutely agree! >

"It's a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself up by his own bootstraps." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. >

On its own, it is useless. “Hard work” doesn’t get you anywhere without knowing where to work/what to work on. >

I see no mention of the fact that even bootstraps have become more difficult to grasp.  The rise in the cost of education, the stagnation of wages, and the percentages of employers willing to absolutely rape their employees is staggering!! Not to mention the fact that one trip to the ER can grease those bootstraps beyond the strongest grip!
Forty years ago, you could pick up some ot and pay off those extra bills, now people are struggling with 2 or 3 jobs! >

The thing is what is this advice supposed to do?
You really think "LOL well just try" is somehow too hard for people to grasp and they need you to come along with your obvious wisdom or it would just never occur to them?
I know people like to think that the person sitting there with their hand on the hot stove, waiting for someone to come along and go "Just take your hand off the stove" is everyone with any problem ever, but most people aren't idiots and if they are asking they have already tried the obvious shit and it didn't work.
Most people by the time they are asking you for advice have already tried "just taking their hand off the hot stove."  Give them the courtesy of assuming they are incompetent dullards.
It's the worst kind of advice.  Useless to 99% of people and 1% of people who need are too stupid to listen.  It exists just for pompous, talking down pretending to be advice. >

You can't tell that to most people.   They just want to bitch and moan about things while refusing to take any personal responsibility. >

Nah man, I was able to get where I am not because I "pulled myself up by my bootstraps," but because I was able to use a safety net provided by the federal government that cost me nothing out of my own paycheck.
The same goes with every single billionaire ever. They have had a safety net as well, just in the form of financial help from family.
While you still need some effort on your part, the majority of your success will come from help from others. This idea that you can make it in the world entirely by your own power is pure myth. >

I think social media has made self importance reach an all time high, as well feeling in control over one’s life at an all time low. The most popular image on social media is the influencer who has everything with no work (but we all know it’s a facade). So the mindset is you have it, or you don’t, and if you don’t, “oh woah is me, look at this horrible position everyone but me put me in.” People just have this helpless attitude and refuse to grind it out to improve their lives, just wallow around in self pity till they die. >

The vast majority of people who are told some variation of this BS are already working hard and trying to pull themselves up. Of course we're going to roll our eyes and scoff, you're literally telling us to do something we're already in the process of doing. Instead of trying to help us, you're making obnoxious and unneeded observations that have already occurred to us >

Sometimes before a person can pull themselves up by thier bootstraps, they need help getting the boots....