Absolutely.

I try to avoid commercial games, or at least big studio produced ones, as much as I can. I play mostly indie games from itch.io or from GOG (not a fan of the Steam monopoly). I also play (via roms through emulators) a lot of retro games from the late 80s/early 90s. I find that older games eschew the more predatory and exploitive practices that many modern games use (microtransactions, DLC, loot-boxes, always online etc). Basically I try to stay as anti-capitalist as I can in my choice of games. And if that means I miss out on some games, so be it, there is always something to play. Hell, there’s more good games out there that I could play in several lifetimes, no point in supporting the games that feed the capitalistic beast.

Here’s a direct link to the game itself:

Stuperheroes! game

Awesome! Thank you! I don’t know how, but somehow I already had 30 subscribers as of today before I even advertised it. So, apparently everyone’s just been waiting on me lol

Excellent! I noticed that there seems to be a lot of UK stuff that is explicitly working-class versus American. Interesting to say the least. It seems like, for whatever reason, it’s a little bit more prevalent in the UK. Maybe it’s just the responses I’ve gotten so far, but I have noticed there seem to be a disproportionate amount.

Parenti, in Blackshirt in Reds, covers this topic excellently. He does not gloss over the flaws and corruptions in the USSR, but he is realistic in giving a fair assessment of their successes in the midst of their failures. A big point being what you mentioned above: the USSR had to continue focusing production towards just being on even footing with the US in terms of defense, to protect against the very real threat of the US overthrowing the government as they were doing in so many other communist countries. At no time during the USSR’s existence were they ever not under attack by some outside force or another (the NAZIs, CIA, multi-national capitalist interests etc). Here’s a good quote talking about the Stalin era and progressive policies during that time:

During the years of Stalin’s reign, the Soviet nation made dramatic gains in literacy, industrial wages, health care, and women’s rights. These accomplishments usually go unmentioned when the Stalinist era is discussed. To say that “socialism didn’t work” is to ignore that it did. In Eastern Europe, Russia, China, Mongolia, North Korea, and Cuba, revolutionary communism created a life for the mass of people that was far better than the wretched existence they had endured under feudal lords, military bosses, foreign colonizers, and Western capitalists. The end result was a dramatic improvement in the living conditions for hundreds of millions of people on a scale never before or since witnessed in history.

Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism by Michael Parenti

That’s…gross. But entirely unsurprising. I never knew that there was a neutered version in the US. I actually had to look it up. Wow. Go us. This country really just continues to depress me day after day.

Ken Loach

Thanks! I’ll look into him.

For sure. I’d argue what makes it even more brutal is the friendly, artificial face it puts on the system. You can especially see it on commercials and mainstream tv. It makes it even more repulsive when the conditions of capitalism are given some utopia, Fisher Price look.

Apparently people are pretty happy in Finland, at least that’s what that happiness index article said recently. Otherwise I no fuck-all about Finland lol.

Yes, yes! Embrace the power of the dark side!

After the past twenty years, coming of age during the Bush W years, I’ve tried hard to resist becoming a misanthrope. But good, goddamn is it harder than ever before. I thought it was bad (and it was) when W. was the president growing up, but the amount of insane and woefully misinformed and hateful people in this country has reached a fever pitch I never could have imagined back then. It’s truly awesome in the most negative sense of that word.

Sheldon S. Wolin talked about the fact that the US system was a “managed democracy” and a form of “inverted totalitarianism” in his book Democracy Inc about twenty years ago. In a managed democracy the pretense of democratic voting is maintained, but the system is so heavily managed as to render voting ineffective and largely irrelevant. The US voting system is so heavily gamed that to expect the average US citizen to have any power through the ballot box is laughable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guided_democracy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism

Right on. The small snippet I read was intriguing. I look forward to it.

Yeah, the work culture in Japan is pretty crazy. Although, same could be said about US work culture in a lot of ways. Working three or more jobs. Crazy hours with little or no overtime in some places etc.

Another sad consequence of their brutal work culture, is the fact that suicide resulting from overwork is so prevalent that they actually have a specific term for it over there. I can’t remember what it is called, but it’s a big enough issue that it has it’s own term and social consciousness.

Right? Kind of odd. Maybe it’s just because the name is cool. Better than Bickering Superheroes in the Void, I guess :D

Ooo, sweet. I enjoyed The Plague. I’ll take a look. Thanks ;)

Haha, thanks. I’m surprised there’s someone out there that isn’t even familiar with Rent in passing. My ex was a theater major and she looooved Rent, but even I had heard of it before that. I’m not sure I could survive watching the movie again. I think seeing a stage production of Rent would have been awesome though, especially if I knew someone in the play. I DO dig the overall perspective of it, from what I do remember of watching it years ago.

Will do, thanks for the reply!

Billy Elliot is one of those films I’d always meant to watch but never seem to finish when I start. I’ll have to seek it out again sometime soon.

It’s been awhile since I watched Firefly, so I can’t recall the show’s perspective on class, if any. I haven’t seen it in years, so maybe I’ll rewatch it. Although, I liked the show, I didn’t feel as strongly about it’s quality as others commonly do. I wonder if it’s worth a watch for me because of that.

Comic recommends are always welcome, I’ll take a look at Our Members.

Thanks for the suggestions ;)

Huh, I hadn’t picked up on that when I watched it. I’ve been meaning to rewatch it when I get the chance. I’ll be sure to keep an eyes out.

Thanks! Those all look pretty interesting. I’ll probably watch Vast of Night over the weekend.