666

I would say no for ML orgs.

Reading through, they mostly support the article I posted. I read up until page 24, will read more later when I am free!

The U.S military however still can be a "solution" for those who aren't poor but still have "stagnation" as it is seen as a way to "specialize" and gain skills in a field while getting a government pension. Most people who joined the military I know were exactly like this; they stagnated after college and decided to take their skills to the military. That does track.

Most people in poverty do not go to college (below 30k a year). That's anecdotal; but I'll bet you 10 bucks that the statistics back that up too.

Generally, it draws attraction. It also depends on the organization. If you're in a demsoc or a caucus of a demsoc; I suppose it could be alright. If you're in a ML org; there might be some questions to raise there regarding what I said.

I have had the opposite experience. Google's shit ai fails to grab the basic queries i'm looking for. The only thing the AI has been successful at is finding very specific troubleshooting guides for very specific computer problems related to modding. That's the one good use it has had for me so far.

Otherwise, I don't have any uses for it. When I did more photo-editing; it was very good at cleaning up blending and lines on images I would make.

Its addressed in the article.

yup

I would say it's risky speaking that their C.O could ask about their "Personal activities" and pretty much get an unlimited investigation (national defense or court martial/etc) going on whatever organization you are a part of.

That's one of the biggest reasons I recommend against organizing with military.

https://archive.ph/2x19K#selection-105.0-109.329

They are not, that is a myth.

I'm using it as a personal example, to be honest. I've met leftcoms who do the same shit with grayzone. It's easy to disingenuous by just dismissing news organizations we don't like instead of looking at what they're saying and writing critically.

For reporting on shit like the wealth of troops, troop-related shit and other hog-feed like that? Sure. On China or other enemies of the state department? Probably not, it's best to apply that sort of thinking for any news agency. It's like dismissing everything off the Grayzone because of one or two bad editors/writers.

https://archive.ph/2x19K#selection-105.0-109.329

"Things have changed in the decades after the inflation of the armed forces through conscription during the Vietnam “war” (read: Genocide) and the subsequent defeat and deflation. In the transition to a primarily volunteer force, something counterintuitive to the first-worldist left occurred. The first-worldist left expected the military to be utilized as some kind of refuge for the poor periphery of the united $tates population. However that is not what happened. Especially in the decade after 9/11, the military has transitioned into a gun club for amerikkka’s wide-eyed middle class sons. The imperialist volunteer vengeance force that was raised to fight international “terrorism” in the Muslim countries of Iraq and Afghanistan (as well as those who were trained to rain missiles on a dozen more) were less and less the victims of a “poverty draft” which had been imagined into existence by those who remembered the inequities of conscription and service in the 1960s."

"This has been documented by the neo-conservative Heritage Foundation in their study on the recruitment demographics of the united $tates military, which found that only about 10-11% of the united $tates military recruits come from the poorest quintile (defined as making less than $33,000 annually), with a fourth of the military coming from areas whose median income is more than $65,000 annually."

Secondly, whatever cruel behaviour exhibited by US soldiers is not simply a byproduct of inherent individual traits of the soldier, but are systemic.

Systemic to settler-colonies and their settler ilk who spawn these demons ready to do whatever in honor and service of their Reich. I think a lot of leftists don't reckon with the fact that there is a inherent, evil culture that is built off of "Settlerism":, spiritual Calvinism and Christianity that has systematically genocided anything in it's path to maintain it's existence.

Most soldiers aren't "victims"; they were patriotic and rearing to kill people overseas to maintain the existence of their Empire. It's like saying Israeli soldiers are "victims" when in reality both American and Israeli culture are entirely built upon the act of "excising" compassion and empathy. The military just simply teaches you how to weaponize it. As the archive says, only 11 percent of them at most come from "poorer backgrounds"; it isn't Vietnam where they are drafting along ethnic lines, amongst class lines, etc and you could argue genuinely that they didn't want to have to do anything and could genuinely appreciate their attempts to resist/dodge drafts or frag or what-not.

I don't disagree with you that suicide and unemployment is a crippling problem amongst veterans when they get home. But the ones you see that really struggle are a chunk of that 11% or the few thousand more who lost support of their families. Most do very well for themselves and still come from "better-off" families. At least "not in poverty".

I think this is why it's such a tough question to really think about because if you meet a lot of soldiers, to them, they have little reason or care to justify or tell you why what they did was justified. For me it was a lot of "You wouldn't understand." "They're the enemy, it's that simple" etc.

Sometimes, I wonder if surviving Nazi soldiers had the same kind of thought-process after the war.

PRC is going to invade the unrecognized Chinese government (aided and maintained by the imperialist West) that is Taiwan.

Hopefully China fucking levels every Taiwanese military base and murders every imperialist soldier in there in a pile of their shit, puke and guts. Usually I'm just honest with them and say "Good."

I don’t like the idea of mages just being drug addicts, or that it’s similar to drugs.

Differences in opinion, I suppose. Drugs, alcohol and other mind-altering substances are intrinsic to the human experience; but not something required by everyone at all! It's like music, not everyone cares about it but it's something that has shaped and been a part of humanity since likely before the inception of the species we are. A good chunk of animals experiment with these. Terence McKenna's "Stoned Ape Theory" is complete bullshit but it makes good science fiction like most grand, ridiculous conspiracy theories. You can do far more than just street drugs or "drug addicts". You can make an analogy of oil or natural resources guarded heavily by an elite who seeks to dominate the working class who produces this miraculous substance capable of temporary psychic abilities. I think of Oddworld, perhaps.

[reading Slannesh’s backstory made me realize I was reading something made by the British in the 1900s]

The more modern takes on Slaanesh made me appreciate her more. The chaos gods are, in my opinion, focused on showing the more grotesque, horrible or atrocious acts they commit. They make good stories, indeed. However, Slaanesh isn't just giant sex demons. It is music, art and creation. It is to entertain and be entertained. Every time you create, make music or make art; you feed her. It isn't just orgies and space drugs.

with every race having a different reaction (or none at all) to it.

Fabius Bile reacting to Slaanesh is always a classic. I will post my favorite excerpt here!

‘What have you done?’ he demanded. His words fell flat, the echo stifled at conception. ‘Some trick of witchery?’

‘Nothing so crude. Merely a moment, stretched to its utmost.’ The Quaestor floated closer. ‘To my perceptions, all time is thus. A collection of eternal moments, one bleeding into the next with infinite slowness.’

‘Why?’

‘This is the moment of testing. The moment your hearts are weighed against the Phoenix’s feather. Are you not curious at the outcome?’

‘Not remotely. I know my worth, and I know my crimes. This court holds no jurisdiction over me.’ Fabius straightened, trying to slow his heart rate. His muscles strained against unknown pressures. It was as if he stood at the bottom of a vast ocean, and the weight of thousands of fathoms pressed down on him.

‘Its jurisdiction extends far beyond your ability to conceive, alchemist. You have committed crimes of such monstrous elegance that even the gods themselves grow uneasy. Look – see – they sit in judgement of you.’ A too-long finger drifted upwards, and Fabius followed the gesture. He looked up, and something looked down.

It was not a face, for a face was a thing of limits and angles, and what he saw had neither. It stretched as far as his eyes could see, as if it were one with the whole of the sky and the firmament above. Things that might have been eyes, or distant moons or vast constellations of stars, looked down at him, and a gash in the atmosphere twisted like a lover’s smile. It studied him from an impossible distance, and he felt the sharp edge of its gaze cut through him, layer by layer. There was pain, in that gaze, and pleasure as well. Agony and ecstasy, inextricable and inseparable.

With great effort, he tore his gaze away. ‘There is nothing there,’ he snarled, his teeth cracking against each other. His hearts stuttered, suddenly losing their rhythm. He pounded at his chest, as internal defibrillators sent a charge of electricity shrieking through him. The chirurgeon flooded his system with tranquillisers, and he tapped shakily at his vambrace. A secondary solution of mild stimulants joined the tranquillisers, stabilising him. He ignored the urge to look up. There was nothing there. Nothing at all. ‘There is nothing there,’ he said again, tasting blood. ‘There are no gods. Only cold stars and the void.’

The pressure increased. Something whispered, deep within him. It scratched at the walls of his mind, trying to catch his attention. He ignored it. ‘No gods,’ he repeated. ‘Random confluence of celestial phenomena. Interdimensional disasters, echoing outwards through our perceptions. I think, therefore I am. They do not, so they are not.’ He met the Quaestor’s bland gaze unflinchingly. ‘Gods are for the weak. I am not weak.’

The Quaestor nodded expectantly. ‘No.’