The BANG in onomatopoeia, or the eternal salience of transgression

 Why Hustle Culture is Just Sisyphus with a LinkedIn Account 

Picture this: U wake up at 5 AM (bc apparently successful people don’t need sleep), chug ur NESCAFE classic instant coffee, journal ur gratitudes, optimize ur morning routine, update ur linkedIn about “crushing goals,” and then… do it all again tomorrow. And the day after. Forever. 

Congratulations, u are Sisyphus. Instead of a boulder, u are pushing ur personal brand up the mountain of professional success, and somehow we’ve convinced ourselves this is inspirational content. No seriously, tell me why LinkedIn feels like a fever dream where everyone’s constantly posting about how changing their font to arial changed their entire worldview?????? 

🗿the struggle 

Albert Camus wrote about Sisyphus, this dude condemned by the gods to push a rock up a mountain for eternity, only to watch it roll back down each time. Camus thought tis was the perfect metaphor for the human condition. We're all stuck in cycles of repetitive, meaning(less) tasks, yet we keep going anyway.  

This gives very much “I can fix her” energy but the “her” is capitalism and u absolutely cannot fix capitalism with a 5AM mornin routine or downloading another habit tracker app.  

Camus would probably look at our culture of life hacking and be like: lil bro why are u tryin so hard to make the rock lighter? Why not just… push it my g? 

😬the cringe 

Ok but actually scroll through LinkedIn for five minutes and tell me it doesn’t feel like a simulation. People posting about how their morning routine “changed everything,” sharing screenshots of their productivity apps, turning basic human experiences into business lessons.  

I saw someone post:  

“Spilled coffee on my shirt today. Reminded me that setbacks are just setups for comebacks. Failure is not falling down; it’s staying down. #MondayMotivation #GrowthMindset.” 

Sir????Like what if sometimes spilling coffee just means u need to do laundry??? This is Sisyphus with a smartphone; except he’s convinced that if he pushes the boulder at the right angle, Maybe this time it won’t roll back down. 

💼the majdoor 

This isn’t to say that ambition or improvement are bad. 

The problem is when everything becomes a startup. 

When hobbies become “skill development.” 

When “rest” becomes “strategic recovery.” 

When literally just existing becomes “living ur best life.” (still don’t know what this phrase means btw) 

Marx once talked bout alienation how capitalism separates us from the fruits of our labor. 

Hustle culture is like alienation but with a premium subscription. 

Now we’re alienated from like three jobs simultaneously (hello, side hustles), and we’re supposed to be grateful for the “opportunity.”

Ma’am this is not an opportunity. 

This is just being broke with extra steps. 

🍃touching grass, philosophically 

So what’s the alternative? 

Idk. 

Camus suggests something radical for our time: just accepting things. 

Maybe the point isn’t to make every moment “productive” (whatever that means anymore). 

Maybe: 

ur job is repetitive. 

ur social media isn’t inspiring anyone (including urself). 

and that’s fine. 

Not everything needs to be solved with another app. 

It’s literally just being human. 

The real rebellion against hustle culture isn’t dropping out entirely (tho honestly, respect if u do). 

▼News flash

what if we just let things be mid sometimes? 

🤪delete your social mr sisyphus 

If Sisyphus had LinkedIn, maybe the most sigma, lookmaxing and aura farming thing he could do would be to just… log off. 

Push his rock in peace, without making it into a twtr (twitter, now X) thread about “10 lessons I learned from being cursed by the gods.” 

At the end of “The Myth of Sisyphus,” Camus wrote and I quote “The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart.” 

Not the reaching, Just the struggling. 

(I don't know how to end this) 

The author is currently procrastinating on their own to-do list while writing about productivity culture. The irony is not lost on them. 

Author

Vikrant

"Hey! I go by Oxy, a 20-something nerd. Currently procrastinating on my actual work by writing about why work is weird. I discovered philosophy through one of my exes; they left but philosophy stayed. When I’m not overthinking the implications of my screen time, I’m probably developing some niche software that like 12 people will use, only because my boss told me to."

────୨ৎ────