I've been reading a lot about how desperate employers are to get employees back in the office, and how cities are desperate for return-to-office because "otherwise downtowns will die" and the problem is I have yet to read an explanation of why that is the worker's problem to fix there just isn't a good, compelling reason as to why someone should spend two goddamn hours out of their day to fulfill the dreams of an urban city planner in 1971

Consider: the reason cozy mysteries (notably Agatha Christies) were so popular in the US/Europe following times of chaos, violence, and death (WWI, 1918 Pandemic, WWII) is because it took the randomness of violence and death and gave it *meaning.* Death and violence was no longer senseless, it was driven by evil-but-understandable emotions. The reason the "anyone can die pointlessly!" genre of tv/movie writing is falling so flat these days is because we are again in a time of profound chaos, isolation, and random death.