It’s 2034 and I’ve had surgery done to look like a stealth fighter. I have the radar signature of a small opossum. Drones are crashing into me constantly on the pavement and they never apologise. This is the hustle I’m teaching.
Hustle has always been romanticized in American culture, which promises that nobly sacrificing yourself on the altar of endless work will pay off in the end. But it’s increasingly clear that for most people, it won’t...The notion that hustle will eventually pay off is an insidious pipe dream. Everyone is in survival mode all the time. The system has failed. The place is unfixable.
— Carina Chocano, How ‘The Bear’ Captures the Panic of Modern Work (The New York Times Magazine, Published Aug. 3, 2022. Updated June 22, 2023)