Gen Z Women Working 9 to 5

You’ve no doubt seen the viral video of the Gen Z woman crying about working 9 to 5. In this podcast episode, we discuss that video and the reactions it has provoked, as well as the larger issues relating to Human Nature and the spiritual void at the heart of our culture. To paraphrase Nietzsche, "She who has no 'Why' cannot bear with any 'How'!"

Here’s the video:

(You can also watch it via

Libs of TikTok

’s Twitter/X post <here>)

Compare that Gen Z video to this video below of a Baby Boomer Woman singing happily about how awesome working 9 to 5 is:¹

Here are links to the Substacks, blog posts, books, and movies Referenced in this episode:

Femlosophy

by

Aly Drummond

:

(Aly is also on YouTube and Rumble.)

Twilight in Margaritaville by

Yakubian Ape

, which discusses (among other things) the existential emptiness in our culture and how that void has been papered over with consumer-friendly “identities”, such as the beach-bum lifestyle brand that Jimmy Buffet so expertly marketed and monetized:

Twilight in Margaritaville

Here’s a review of the late, great David Graeber’s book about Bullshit Jobs: https://davidgraeber.org/david-graeber-i-would-like-this-book-to-be-an-arrow-aimed-at-the-heart-of-our-civilisation/

Here is the core argument of the book: we are no longer living under “Capitalism“. We are living under a system Graeber calls “Managerial Feudalism”, where most of the money comes from either “rents” or “debt”, precisely like in the days of feudalism proper. In other words, the “FIRE” sector: finance, insurance, real estate.

(That paragraph reminds me of

Grant Smith

’s excellent essay on our Late Stage Bureaucracy, and when people from opposite sides of the political spectrum converge upon a similar critique, you know they’re really onto something!)

Here’s a podcast episode (Hidden Brain) featuring Graeber discussing this theory about Bullshit Jobs (embedded from Spotify):

Here’s an article about Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning and the method of “Logotherapy” that he developed based on both his research and his lived experiences: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201205/mans-search-meaning

And here are some clips from Office Space, Mike Judge’s viral video about working 9 to 5 back in the 90s:

If you’re listening to this on a podcast app or streaming platform, be sure to visit the podcast episode’s post on Substack at aghostinthemachine.substack.com/p/gen-z-women-working-9-to-5 to join in the conversation via the comment section (as well as to see any videos and other embedded content that don’t display properly in podcast apps or on streaming platforms)!

1. Well, if you pay attention to the lyrics, maybe she’s not so happy after all.