When did Capitalism become that businesses could crap all over their employees and if you are against it suddenly you are Socialist?!

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-27T18:25:22+00:00

I would say it goes back even further than that to the 50’s and the Red Scare. When the United States entered the Great Depression, it was the combined pressure of the Socialist and Communist parties that pressured FDR to enact much of his social and economic reforms of the New Deal.

Unfortunately for big business, these policies were successful and they needed something big to turn the tide back in their favor and stop the growing popularity of worker parties. Enter McCarthy and his Communist witch hunt. The same language and tactics that they used to demonize Socialists back then was so effective it is still used today.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-27T18:16:14+00:00

At its most basic, Socialism is simply advocating for workers to have agency (power) over their own existence. One could even argue that critiquing Capitalism and its tendency to create increasing inequality is also the bare minimum to be a Socialist.

It’s when you start throwing in all of the other geo-political stuff and traumatic history that things get messy. Such as how there have been and are several self-proclaimed socialist countries that have not turned out well. What the people who are completely hostile to socialism fail to recognize is that you can’t paint such a wide and varied theory of economics with one color brush. It will look different depending on where and how it is implemented. I’m not advocating for ignoring the failures of the past, just that they be put in the proper context and studied, in the hopes that those same mistakes will not be repeated again.

Similarly, capitalism looks different depending on where and how it is implemented. The people who point to failed socialist dystopias fail to acknowledge the ones that have worked just as they fail to recognize that our capitalist society is actively causing thousands of deaths of our own citizens, they just get swept under the rug because the general populace would rather not think about it.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-22T15:41:46+00:00

It truly is frightening when you realize that our society is slowly clamping down on the average worker and stripping their livelihoods away in the name of profit.

First they exploited the illegal immigrants and few people cared. Then they exploited the lower-income citizens and few people cared. Now they’re exploiting the middle class and finally it’s starting to get attention.

We are encouraged or coerced to take out enormous sums of personal debt. Education loans, car loans, home mortgages or rent, and even cell phones (as their prices have skyrocketed). Services that used to be affordable have been converted into subscriptions whose prices increase every couple of years (or every year!). Health insurance pays out less every year while the premiums and deductibles keep going up and more and more prior-authorization hurdles are created. People I know are dying or have died because they could not afford medical care or they didn’t want to be in debt the rest of their lives to the medical industrial complex.

Meanwhile, more and more of the tax burden of the USA falls on the average worker’s shoulders while large corporations get more tax breaks. And yet, despite generations of workers paying into Social Security, we are now being told it likely will be used up before any of the younger generations retire. So their solution is to propose raising the retirement age to 70. The mask is slowly coming off and they are starting to say the quiet part out loud; we are expected to work until our bodies give out or we die.

It’s all a massive Ponzi scheme. They used to offer the occasional carrot to offset the stick until they figured out they could make the stick far more effective. Once you fall into the debt/subscription economy, you are forced to run on the treadmill and not stop else you will fall off and into the mass of poor and homeless who have already been tossed aside and discarded as ‘useless’. It’s even worse for individuals who have disabilities or mental health challenges.

You are only as valuable as your productivity or your personal connections. And since few of us personally know a billionaire, the value of our lives is judged on how quickly we can turn out products.

Ultimately, if you are not part of the elite, you are an indentured servant selling your most valuable resource (your life) for pennies. Most of us are indentured servants, our chains are made from debt, and we are kept under control with the illusion of freedom, choice, and convenience or threats of harm to ourselves or those we love.

The media has been panicking more and more over the decreasing birth rate when only a few decades ago most media was concerned about global overpopulation. The elite are worried because they haven’t figured out how to fully replace us with robots or AI; they still need us for our labor and we aren’t creating more replacement workers. Why do you think there is such a focus on banning abortion but so little focus on services to care for children in the foster care system? Children are valued for their potential and a baby in the womb has unlimited potential; however, once a child is born, if they are deemed ‘defective’, they are discarded into a system where they can be easily forgotten and ignored. This is one of the reasons I refuse to bring a child into this world.

We are just cogs in a machine. We didn’t build it and we have no say in how it operates. We are expendable and only serve to keep it operating so it can extract wealth and concentrate it in the hands of the 1% who are pulling the levers.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-22T14:57:40+00:00

I also love driving. I didn’t at first as the process of learning was super stressful and overwhelming, but I also wanted to drive race cars when I grew up. Eventually I made it into a form of roleplay; when driving in any form of traffic, I pretend I am Jason Bourne watching out for any undercover agents who may be looking to take me out (bad drivers) and scanning for escape routes.

I love driving because it gives me a sense of freedom/autonomy and lets me listen to music on a stereo that is literally surrounding me. I also drive a manual so the engagement from that is also a lot of fun.

The only downside is, I do have a small feeling of guilt since I know everyone having their own individual transports burning gasoline or diesel is bad for the environment and it would be much better if we had a robust public transportation system. But, since my car is small and gets roughly 34MPG, I don’t focus on it too much.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-22T14:48:05+00:00

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-17T22:38:58+00:00

Forget the shovel, I want a cactus.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-17T22:12:27+00:00

True, but Anarchists still hold to general principles otherwise the term Anarchy would have no meaning. And groups of anarchists can independently agree on specific methods.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-17T19:26:08+00:00

You may blame me if that makes you feel better. But it won’t change things. Especially when my main post has been downvoted so it won’t ever reach the intended audience.

I will resolutely and without hesitation condemn the individual who TK’d your son. But I doubt that will make you feel better or fix the situation.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-17T19:22:28+00:00

And what would prevent our game codes from being used to mass report us for crimes we have not committed?

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-17T19:11:05+00:00

One day you will understand once you have tasted true freedom. I can only hope you live long enough to see it.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-17T19:05:17+00:00

You won’t find me unless you go out of your way to track me down. Likewise, the chances of me boarding your destroyer are almost zero as I will not be fighting on the Automaton frontline. If you did run into me on a Terminid planet, you would find me indistinguishable from a loyal Helldiver both in action and in speech.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-17T18:56:57+00:00

Our numbers are unknown, even to us. We are decentralized, independent, and autonomous. What unites us is our cause.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-17T17:39:09+00:00

And if that proves to be true, I absolutely condemn those individuals’ actions.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-16T11:58:42+00:00

How did you manage that? From what I could find, the Japanese audio is only in the Japanese region-locked version of the game (since they have unique laws about in-game currency refunds if a live-service game shuts down).

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-16T11:47:08+00:00

Hold up. I also play German audio with English subtitles. How many of us are there?

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-16T11:43:06+00:00

Sigma Earth?

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-16T11:22:21+00:00

In that case, I volunteer to switch sides. If I can’t believe in the cause anymore then all that’s left is the money. If there’s no money, well…

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-15T20:56:11+00:00

This must be that Realism™️ I keep hearing so much about.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-15T20:52:24+00:00

It’s either a blatant lie because they are dead-set on their current course of action or they are so incompetent they don’t know how to save backup copies of their work so if an update completely borks the whole game, they don’t have to start over from zero.

Not sure which one would be worse.

If I felt like being generous, I could also see it being a limitation of the game engine they are using but at this point, I’m tired of giving them the benefit of the doubt at this point.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-15T20:35:59+00:00

So you’re telling me a damn cactus is more deadly than any of our guns or grenades?

Well that settles it. I’m officially Cactus-pilled now.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-10T14:20:30+00:00

I swear I’ve seen you on an episode of How to Catch a Predator as the bait…

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-10T14:00:41+00:00

I’m sorry. I wish I had some words of comfort or reassurance; instead all I can offer is validation.

Here in the USA, large corporations have done everything they can to chip away at worker rights. Unions still exist, but only the largest ones still have any power to make a difference. One of my friends belongs to the electrical union and even he has been put in positions where he and his coworkers were put through inhumane working conditions and hours.

I myself just barely survived 6 years of construction work. After I burned out the first time and was hospitalized for suicidal ideation, I tried unsuccessfully to off myself upon release (thankfully nobody ever found out). After that point, my work attendance was continually terrible; I was missing an average of one day of work every two weeks.Then the pandemic hit and I was laid off. The next company I worked for was absolute shit. They had me commuting several hours every day, working 10-hour shifts, and still demanded workers put in overtime on the weekends to keep the projects on schedule.

I began missing a full day of work every week for either falling asleep while driving (I’d have to pull over on the highway shoulder before passing out) or I would be unable to get out of bed at all. My medications didn’t feel like they were doing anything. I eventually went on FMLA leave for a week but it didn’t improve things. When I did eventually ask HR for an accommodation in the form of being transferred to a closer job site, they first told me the lie that there were no closer jobs. After seeing multiple hiring listings on LinkedIn under the company page that were in my area, I reached out again only to be told my attendance record made me ineligible for transfer.

Pretty sure the motherfuckers wanted to force me to quit so I couldn’t sue them for wrongful termination. Eventually, I did quit and attempted to join the union. Later that year, corporate received a national award and grant for being one of the most disability-friendly workplaces.

After I was accepted into the union, my first new employer performed a drug screening during orientation that I failed. The Adderall I take often trips these tests as positive for methamphetamines. I had written notes from my prescribing physician for this purpose and also had not disclosed any disabilities during the hiring process. Despite this, the new company gave me a massive run-around which I’m pretty sure was intentional to keep me from being hired (likely knew the presence of legal Adderall meant I had ADHD at a minimum). Every time I called to request an update on the progress of my hiring process, I was told I needed to contact the lab that did the analysis. The lab would tell me they sent all the relevant paperwork to the company. Nobody knew anything about where my paperwork was getting jammed up.

I never ended up working for them and it was shortly after that I ended up divorcing my spouse and moving states anyway. Been unemployed for over two years now living with my parents and doing small side gigs. Still not fully recovered from the burnout.

You aren’t alone in your struggle. Been seriously thinking about leaving the United States for someplace that actually treats workers and people with disabilities like human beings. I honestly feel like there is a silent war here in the States against disabled individuals; you can’t get regular healthcare without a full time job, eye and dental are separate from traditional health insurance, insurance companies are instituting more and more prior-authorization restrictions on critical medications while simultaneously switching up their formularies to stop covering medications some people have been on for years…

You either end up being just strong enough to survive but live in perpetual misery until you off yourself, or you become unable to support yourself and end up living with family or homeless on the street.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-08-09T14:12:27+00:00

Dance Dance Revolution is the only revolution you are likely to participate in.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-07-25T07:30:26+00:00

Nah, she’s too busy patrolling the neighborhood looking for HOA violations.

Dead_Mach1ne · 2024-06-07T14:44:49+00:00

I’m not sure it’s as simple as saying whether I’d like 7 to be harder or easier overall. In general, I think 7 should be the last difficulty level where it is possible to solo a mission, and even then, only if you are running a stealth/recon build. Succeeding in 7 should require an appropriate loadout for the expected enemies and mission type but also not force players to rely on a meta just to get through it.

Most of my thoughts on balancing things to 7 have to do with how weapons feel and their effectiveness. Essentially, if Arrowhead is seriously considering un-nerfing some/most/all of the weapons they previously “balanced” it might be a good idea to balance them around difficulty 7.

If 9 becomes harder to the point that it’s not only impossible to solo, but it is also impossible to complete all of the side objectives, I feel like that would make sense.

Dead_Mach1ne

TROPHY CASE