Amen to that! I have lived in many flats and houses where the washing of dishes either didn't happen as often as it should, or became a contentious issue. Having a dishwasher certainly solves the first problem, and will postpone arguments over weight-pulling issues in shared households.
As long as you understand why the second reason is the case, I don't think it makes you lazy or more irresponsible than the person without it. I've heard many arguments against them from people (predominantly British), such as:
- They use more water/electricity - untrue, a dishwasher is a closed system and circulates the water, and can therefore actually be more efficient.
- It doesn't save you time, because you still have to stack the dishes and put them away - the first of which happens after you use the dishes (and wouldn't you put them by a sink anyway?), and the second takes five minutes
- You still have to rinse the dishes - you mean you don't scrape off all the crud on plates before putting dishes in a sink full of water as well? disgusting.
- There is no room in my kitchen for a dishwasher - what about over there, where that cupboard is? You could fit one in there, I bet!
- It doesn't wash pots, pans, baking trays, ... - It will if they fit. And even if they don't, that still means you only have a handful of items to wash.
- Not everyone in the world could have a dishwasher; it is too demanding on world resources to produce; there are only enough electronics components in the world for the rich; it is an electronic construction and therefore not in tune with nature - ok can't argue against that. This argument hardly ever comes from the British ;-). Perl on the other hand is an abstract entity, which makes it very natural indeed and every person in the world could have Perl. In fact, in a holographic universe where the only limit to reality is the limits of our own imaginations, it should be possible to grow a Perl interpreter in our brains, with enough effort :-).