[cmckn]

I believe the author has missed the point here. The conversation is not that “working hard is a bad thing”. “Hustle culture” is about making character judgements based on how many “hustles” one has going on at any given time. That is, if you aren’t killing yourself trying, then you aren’t trying. This is obviously awful and not a culture I want to live in. I’m happy that the author is having fun with their business, and that they’re able to devote a lot of energy to it. But someone who makes other choices isn’t lesser. Hustling isn’t righteous, it’s just a thing you can do if you want (and are able).

Edit: worth stating that “hustling” is almost never necessary. It can be a ploy to convince workers to save the venture money by doing extra work. It can be a tactic of control, or superiority. One thing is certain: it’s gross.

[kodah]

> Hustle culture

Is this term universal or is it one of those where it's narrowly defined based on who you're talking to?

[fragmede]

Colloquially, hustle isn't rigorously defined. The things you say are reprehensible, are (imo). However, where a person's primary job doesn't pay well enough, and won't provide future financial security, hustle (defined here as having any second job) is entirely necessary for many Americans, not just for a hypothetical future passive income stream, but also in order to make rent and other basic necessities.

[diskzero]

Good observation. "Hustle" seems to exist in an interesting intersection of socio-economics. I know a lot of people working 2-3 jobs to make ends meet and they never mention it being a hustle. This is what I don't understand. Is a hustle something that is supposed to bring in much higher rewards for less work? Is it just a different way to say you have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet?

[hellisothers]

Aren’t these hustles the same thing? One is a boss manipulating others to work harder so they (the boss) can exploit the workers output. The other is (sorry to beat a dead horse) capitalism (late or otherwise) exploiting workers to the same end?

[bb88]

If you are "hustling" you are risking time and/or money for potential reward -- you're in control of what you're doing and could shift what you're doing in a heartbeat.

On the other hand if you've lost the locus of control, you're being "hustled".

E.g. I wouldn't say that taking a part time night shift at McDonald's to make ends meet is "hustling". It's possible the extra shift is needed because the landlord is greedy and keeps raising the rent by the maximum allowable by law.

[AmericanChopper]

Well, you seem to be rather obviously making a character judgement here. Choosing to value something doesn’t imply a value judgement is being made on all other things of potential value. It certainly doesn’t imply that all other potential values are lesser. Describing the values of others as being for certain gross is most definitely judging them as lesser.

[ohazi]

You're making a false equivalence. It's okay to call out and have a low opinion of someone who you believe is behaving poorly or acting in bad faith. The parent is making a character judgement, but they explained their reasoning for doing so.

This isn't the same as a hustler making character judgements left and right, pretending not to, all while trying to gaslight their employees into doing more work for them for free.

The parent has a moral argument for their character judgement. A hustler wields character judgements along with guilt and shame as a tool for achieving their own ends.

[AmericanChopper]

> A hustler wields character judgements along with guilt and shame as a tool for achieving their own ends.

That is exactly the same thing as the parent comment is doing. The only point of difference between the judgemental parent comment and a judgemental “hustler”, is where you or I stand in relation to the position they each take.

You’re also putting forward a straw man argument. I’m not a proponent of “hustle culture”, but I’ve seen plenty of their prolific material. Working hard for your own benefit seems to me to be their most fundamental value. Working hard exclusively for the benefit of your employer seems to be exactly antithetical to the values I see them promote.

The core judgemental (and hypocritical) idea here is that “the things I value are promoted in good faith, and the things I disagree with are promoted in bad faith”, which is simply an attribution bias that displays the same judgemental-ness you’re complaining about.