Meghan McCain recently weighed in
on Americans and
their obsession to hustle, right?
Hustle culture is something that
definitely grates on my nerves, and
I didn't expect it to grate on
Meghan McCain's nerves.
Because to be quite honest
with you, I didn't think
that she was much of a hustler.
But she sees herself as someone
who's worked really, really hard,
feels incredibly burnt out, and
is pulling away from working to
focus on her family.
She's decided to step down from
The View.
I believe this is her last
week there.
And so she opened up to People
Magazine about this and said this.
Well, 36-year-old exiting co-host
of The View made an emotional plea
via Instagram on Sunday to stop
glamorizing overworking and
burnout, which she has admittedly
battled.
So, okay, let's put aside
her workload for a second and
just applaud the fact that, yes,
yeah, people are burnt out and
we need to stop glamorizing
overworking, right?
First one in the office,
last one out of the office.
Let's give them a giant pat on
the back and underpay them.
No, and let's stop celebrating
this, this is not healthy.
We need to push for, fight for
actual balance in people's lives.
And when I say balance,
I'm not talking about working on
multiple projects equally in
a 24-hour period.
I'm talking about balance between
work and play, work and family.
And what hustle culture essentially
does is it pressures us
to overwork, burn ourselves out.
And if something doesn't go well in
our careers, it creates a culture
that allows for you to be the bad
guy who just, it's your fault.
It's the myth of personal
responsibility.
You didn't work hard enough.
You didn't hustle hard enough.
You didn't stay after you were off
the clock longer.
You should have been in the office
even though you weren't getting
paid for it, that kind of stuff.
It's toxic and it's harmful.
It's shocking that this comment is
coming from Meghan McCain who still
identifies as someone who's part of
the Republican Party.
But what she's saying here
is right, we should not glamorize
overworking and burnout.
So let me read you the full
Instagram post.
She says, we need to stop
glamorizing overworking, please.
The absence of sleep, good diet,
exercise, relaxation, and
time with friends and family isn't
something to be applauded.
Too many people wear their burnout
as a badge of honor and
it needs to change.
Yeah, yeah, it needs to change,
absolutely.
So if you come across Gary Vee, and
I know I'm picking on Gary Vee,
he's probably the most prominent
member of hustle culture.
Just don't buy what he's selling.
Don't drink this Kool-Aid because
it's toxic, it's harmful, and
you're doing something that's
actually pretty counterproductive
for your own health.
And I would argue even your
own career because it creates
a situation where you can be taken
advantage of at work.
With that said though,
here's Gary Vee, here's what hustle
culture really is.
I did a lengthier segment about
this on the show Weekends for
Jacobin, check that out,
youtube.com/jacobinmag.
But here he is, the one and only,
Gary Vee.
>> There's so many people here that
are just not patient.
The youngsters aren't patient
because they have
chips on their shoulder.
Because they want to prove to
mom and dad that they're right, and
they're going to do it their way.
And the second they start doing
their process,
they've got the pressure on them.
They haven't made it yet.
This is all about shortcuts versus
the long game.
I want to build the biggest
building in town, ever,
by just building the biggest
building in town while I think most
people try to tear down everybody
else's building.
So I think positivity and
good is practical advice to
building an empire.
And I want to be the poster child
of the person that built the
biggest, baddest empire, and did it
by being a good dude along the way.
You need to outwork the people that
have money.
There's three variables,
three pillars, time, money, talent.
Talent is hard to control.
Money you don't have yet.
Time is your only friend.
What you do between 7 PM and
3:00 in the morning,
will ultimately probably be
the variable in your success.
>> No, no, not interested in
working from 7 PM to 3 in
the morning, not interested at all.
Not interested in doing anything
after I wrap this show,
just keeping it real.
Because when you keep saying, yes,
when you keep
giving into hustle culture,
then it's just expected of you.
And look,
no one's going to hit you up and
be like, yo, Ana,
you look like you're burnt out.
You could use a break,
maybe don't do this or that.
No, they're going to put more
on your plate,
that's what hustle culture is.
That is what hustle culture is.
It's about squeezing as much work
out of you as possible.
It's about making sure, and
by the way, I
know I'm putting myself into this.
TYT is actually very good to me,
I'm not worried about it,
in my context.
But I'm using myself as an example
to say, if you do that, right,
it's all about really squeezing as
much labor out of you so employers
get their money's worth, right?
They get the best
return on their investment.
They see you as human capital.
I don't know if Meghan McCain
thought about it this far, but I do
know that that's the underlying
message for people who do speak out
against hustle culture.
She also says this, this has been
me my entire adult life.
Trust me, I love working and
the satisfaction I get from it,
but I have been the queen of
burnout for a long, long time.
She also added, trust me,
I believe it now,
I also feel my mortality, and
the finite amount of time a human
lifespan is more than ever.
Also, that there's nothing in this
world guaranteed,
most especially tomorrow.
Okay, so that's what
she's got to say.
But now here's where I basically
say no cookies for Meghan McCain.
Meghan McCain is incredibly
fortunate and privileged.
So she can step away from The View,
she can step away from work for the
rest of her life if she wanted to.
Most Americans can't afford that.
Most Americans can't afford to take
a single day off
to deal with an emergency.
So we're talking about two very
different classes here.
We're talking about two
very different situations here.
And so while it's easy to say, hey,
don't give in to hustle culture,
what we really need to have
a discussion about is, what can we
do to build labor, power.
To ensure that when there are these
insane expectations for workers,
they have a way of pushing back,
they have protection.
So if they say, no, they don't
have to worry about retaliation.
They don't have to worry about
losing their jobs.
That's why what went down
in Topeka,
Kansas with the striking Frito-Lay
workers was such an important story
to focus on because those workers
were forced to do back-to-back
12-hour shifts with no days off.
And they were unionized and were
able to strike for three weeks in
order to change the terms of their
employment to ensure that they had
better working conditions and were
not forced to work back-to-back
12-hour shifts with no days off.
So that's what we need to focus on.
Because it's one thing to say,
reject hustle culture, it's an
entirely different thing to build
a labor movement that's powerful
enough to withstand the pressure
and the retaliation from employers
who demand to get the best return
on their investment.
The best return on their so-called
human capital.