#zero sum

[kaito-module-of-the-day]

Today's KAITO module of the day is:

ZERO-SUM by sayu!

[51kas81]

Mitch Pileggi in The X-Files S4.E21 Zero Sum (1997)

[sataniccapitalist]

Life is a zero-sum game. That's why it sucks

The Unconsented Zero-Sum Game

The zero-sum nature of life: why not everyone can win

The unfairness of it all: no one chooses to participate, yet we're all forced to play

The difference between life and other zero-sum games: the lack of consent and awareness

[sarahwatchesthings]

Skinner getting a panty shot like Ripley at the end of Alien. 🤘

[bald-heaven]

Mitch Pileggi in The X-Files S4.E21 Zero Sum (1997)

[sxyx]

their releases are quite frequently

[akashicrecordtelevision-com]

The Smile - Zero Sum (Official Music Video)

Radiohead identifies with the androgynous not because its members assume traits from both genders, but because they negate gender altogether. Because Radiohead identifies with the androgynous, its music takes precedence over gender.

[soul-our-punk]

What are we even doing here?

The more people who understand there are ways to meet your needs, and not at the cost of someone else's needs, the better. Particularly if they don't hold bigoted views which lead to silly things like going out of your way to prevent someone else from having their needs met. Making the world worse for someone because you don't know how to make it better for yourself. Life's hard enough without wasting your precious time, energy, and creative force on how to afflict your neighbor.

For my part, I like to think there are more people in the world who like the concept of mutual aid and are merely making do with the current capitalistic-zero-sum game until something better crystalizes--in spite of the system shouting so loud about itself, good or ill, in an effort to make it difficult to hear alternatives. Which is why I believe "solidarity over charity" is such an approachable proposition, regardless of the generation to which you have been ascribed by whomever does the sorting. I mean, Peter Singer was talking about this in the 70's. You have an obligation as a member of society to take measures to preserve wellness and uplift the vulnerable--give until giving any more would cause you harm. You get to decide where that dividing line is based on your finances, energy levels, social support network, available time, mobility, etc. As long as you set that line earnestly, then you are fulfilling the obligation which entitles you to the benefits of other member's solidarity.

The thing is, we're cornered. Restricted in analyses of all the options we could use to compose more humane systems. Isolated from what we could become, by a constant stream of shock doctrines induced by manufactured-disasters. So, mutual aid remains considered a coping strategy, rather than a cultural driving force for fundamental change, for the time being. Though, there's the rub, in that if there is always a new disaster, there is always a perceived need of relief prioritized over sustainable growth, which means the mutual aid has to become a political driving force to get ahead of the source of constructed woes.

I say that while also being painfully aware that discussion of any ideology beyond the current paradigm is defined by capitalistic expectations. Alternatives are invariably framed as monstrous inevitabilities in the supposed disastrous event of dismantlement, at least until they're cut open and adapted to fulfill a material component requisite to quell dissenting voices. "We can have social programs, yes, but it's not socialism, socialism is bad. Capitalism is good, which is why you have these social programs. Ignore other countries that have been providing more of these benefits for much longer, and devote more relative resources." Every other ideology is either fodder to be exploited for some new way to market what we have, or is dismissed/reviled for significant lack of traits that we already have in the devil we know. Which is very convenient for finding more fodder. Why would we want any system we make from here on anything like capitalism? We have to keep in mind that we are not looking for a better release appeal to make before an intractable captor. We are looking for the strategy that will attract enough confidence from fellow captives. To disenchant the captivated of the all consuming capitalist notion that virtue is derived from the free market's advertised high proficiency value generation.

What value? It definitely lets select groups pool resources, making their coffers more "valuable" in a fiscal sense, but where is the Value in that for a society? If its only claim to fame is that it can move numbers around faster and wont judge you for neglecting people's needs, then what does it actually do for us collectively that another system can't? Capitalism's whole premise relies on you not having enough, on you believing that there is not enough out there, that the only way you can have enough is to get there before someone else gets it and you're left with The Zero-Sum. But why would we take that on blind faith? What if there is a way to play the Positive-Sum game and we're just sitting on that because we assume its a fantasy?

How tragic to realize that the whole time you were suffering an obscene Sallie Mae loan, there could have been a non-tuition option. How mortifying to learn the medical bills that were artificially inflated by the relationship between the hospital and your insurance could have been handled by the taxes you already pay. The rent that serves as your proof of earning the right to live, assuaged with universal basic income. The chronic anxiety, stress, and aggression born from a machine of impersonal jobs that can leverage social class and basic needs to claim a third of your life for the least possible compensation possible; replaced with all the possibilities of a well rested mind and body.

Why would we as a collective people ever opt-in to the gamified social hierarchy?

What are we even still doing here?

[california-112]

Wait I thought Skinner was trying to protect Mulder?

[grrlmusic]

The Smile - Zero Sum (Official Music Video)

[lifewithaview]

Mitch Pileggi in The X-Files (1993) Zero Sum

S4E21

Mulder is contacted by a local police detective who thinks he has an x-files type case for him to look into. A U.S. postal worker who had sneaked into the washroom for a cigarette was killed by numerous bee stings, though there were no bees to be found. Before Mulder can even begin to look into the case, someone is going around erasing the evidence in the washroom and even some of the blood samples taken from the victim. The person doing the erasing however is Assistant Director Skinner who seems to have made a pact with the Cigarette Smoking Man.

*Gillian Anderson, who appeared in more episodes of The X-Files than all other cast members, took one week off from the series to film her role in The Mighty (1998). The writers decided to create another story centered around Skinner and his involvement in the deal made with the cigarette smoking man to cure Scully's cancer, as alluded to in Memento Mori (1997).

[51kas81]

Mitch Pileggi in The X-Files S4.E21 Zero Sum (1997)

[marlenapinsandneedles]

I want to punch Walter Skinner a lot in seasons 1 through 3 for being mean to Scully and Mulder so much but seeing all he goes through in season 4 to try and save Scully is so sad. He loved them so much.

[palephx]

For those wishing to engage me on the topic, I do NOT believe in a "Two-State Solution." I think anyone hiding behind that particular fig leaf is disingenuous and/or facile. However, this is not going where you think it is. I despise Netanyahu. He wraps himself in the Israeli flag even more frequently than Trump with the US one.

I don't discuss the 2SS, because it stems from the tedious homily that, "Good fences make good neighbors." The Israelis have been great fence-builders...until exactly a week ago. I have very little idea how that happened, and we may never know. Obviously, we're not much better informed, seven days later. I am immensely concerned that the current Prime Minister and the IDF are cloaking themselves in the unassailable vestments of the Holocaust and antisemitism, as it seems clearer that they're about to reenact that atrocity, with zero sense of irony, at all.

Additionally, I'm not saying that I completely disbelieve every news anchor, particularly when they're interviewing Jews but not Arabs, unless they're an academic or NGO. I just don't trust or like the WAY they're talking, or how a corporation like Comcast, for example, is editorializing.

When you know a fair amount on a particular subject—not just because you've been "indoctrinated" about it since early childhood—but because you stayed curious and investigated things that you didn't agree with, then you're keen to a lot of nuances. Specific vocabulary, leading questions, and production decisions about guests and so-called "expert testimony." These are just a few, and not really my point.

I suppose you could say I'm for the "Zero-State Solution." Unity, not division; freedom to travel and work, not a jam-packed ghetto where one people technically aren't occupiers anymore, but can still flip off the power whenever they want.

These inequities are grotesque, and most assuredly cannot be resolved in the short term...but that doesn't mean that no one should try, at all, ever.

I realize that I, myself, am presently over-simplifying, but this is for the sake of speed and clarity. We have already run out of time.

Antisemitism, as well as anti-Muslim sentiment, should be fought everywhere, every day. Yes, Hamas wants to "kill all Jews, everywhere, every day," but they are currently trying to cloak themselves in pity for apartheid, which is also wrong, everywhere, every day. I am not debating evil. When everybody is wrong, then I'll limit my hostility to a selfish, radical subset of people who kidnapped infants and shot grandmothers. Just here, and for today.

Tomorrow, I'll wake up and reconsider that. And the next day. Wherever I am, and with whatever I can understand.

[onlyhurtforaminute]

ZERO SUM-ABJURATION

[belovedindierock]

Announcing the New Album Cutouts

We lovingly submit our latest 45 minute (?) record Cutouts 

to be swallowed up by the fast running stream, down into the giant ever growing river and on to the sea

in a beautiful world we are melting and go running nailed down

somewhere lurking form a line falling over zip tied

foreign spies foreign spies

The Smile

Released on 4th October 2024 on XL Recordings, Cutouts is now available to pre-order HERE on various formats including limited edition white and standard vinyl, CD and limited edition purple cassette.

Two new tracks from the record are out today accompanied by videos created by Weirdcore - WATCH or LISTEN to Foreign Spies and Zero Sum.

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