Video Games are the Opium of the People in the 21st century

[JudasMaiden]

There are many opiums people have today. The opiums of the people used to be Alcohol and Religion. Now we have Video Games, Amusement Parks, Fashion, Sports, Television, Radio, and practically anything to keep the masses entertained (Ironically, the internet is used as an opium for the people instead of developing critical thinking/politics a lot more). I myself am opiumed by video games like GTA San Andreas for example. It's so hard to awaken people when they have all these opiums around them distracting them.
So fellow leftists, what would happen to most entertainment when Capitalism and the state is destroyed? Will they still exist, if so, who would be in charge of programming video games and making entertainment? What would entertainment be like in a society without capitalism and the state. For me, as an Anarchist, they would still exist and they would be managed by people who are willing to make entertainment such as video games and amusement parks.

[Comrade Jacob]

I 'game' and I have to agree with you especially the hardcore-gamers. It's all their lives consist of because to be honest the alternative is shit.

[Bala Perdida]

I basically agree with you on this. They'll still exist, and people will voluntarily make and manage them. Just look at the free to download golden eye source game. Also without copyrights and patents, you'll be free to improve games and build on them as you wish. Gaming could go a pretty long way in Anarchy.

[Comrade Chernov]

I'd view it as the video game market (and I use "market" only in the sense of referring to the collection of video games being put out) being comprised mainly of indie titles. Sort of like how reading and writing took off in the Russian Revolution, I feel like a society where there was no copyright laws, no restrictions on torrenting, no corporations hiring all the gaming-minded folk, etc., would be a real imaginative boon for video games. Indie developers are consistently putting out good games when competing against the major retailers today (the popularity of Minecraft, Slender, and as a more recent example, Vapour), imagine what they'd be like in an anarcho-communist society!

[Slavic]

There are many opiums people have today. The opiums of the people used to be Alcohol and Religion. Now we have Video Games, Amusement Parks, Fashion, Sports, Television, Radio, and practically anything to keep the masses in line (Ironically, the internet is used as an opium for the people instead of developing critical thinking). I myself am opiumed by video games like GTA San Andreas for example. It's so hard to awaken people when they have all these opiums around them distracting them.
So fellow leftists, what would happen to most entertainment when Capitalism and the state is destroyed? Will they still exist, if so, who would be in charge of programming video games and making entertainment? What would entertainment be like in a society without capitalism and the state. For me, as an Anarchist, they would still exist and they would be managed by people who are willing to make entertainment such as video games and amusement parks.

If there is no opium then where would I find my pleasures? Just because I enjoy engaging in sex, drugs, video games, and reading does not mean that I am "being keep in line", it means that I enjoy said things. Communism is not aesthetic and I'd be damned if someone starts to dictate which of my vices is good or bad.

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

There are many opiums people have today. The opiums of the people used to be Alcohol and Religion. Now we have Video Games, Amusement Parks, Fashion, Sports, Television, Radio, and practically anything to keep the masses in line (Ironically, the internet is used as an opium for the people instead of developing critical thinking). I myself am opiumed by video games like GTA San Andreas for example. It's so hard to awaken people when they have all these opiums around them distracting them.
So fellow leftists, what would happen to most entertainment when Capitalism and the state is destroyed? Will they still exist, if so, who would be in charge of programming video games and making entertainment? What would entertainment be like in a society without capitalism and the state. For me, as an Anarchist, they would still exist and they would be managed by people who are willing to make entertainment such as video games and amusement parks.
Brilliant analysis, reducing most aspects of human culture to figments of ruling class ideology instead of trying to understand why people find them appealing at all. What is the criteria for an "awakened" person? Is it those who do not at all take part in bourgeois culture? And what determines an "opium"? Perhaps it's whatever can "distract" or divert us from the struggle for socialism? Taking this to its logical conclusion, any and everything can become an "opium" whether it be basic interests, entertainment, or lifelong passions. While culture has been used for such purposes as "opium", by itself it is not a vast, intricate, or overarching conspiracy to keep us penned up like fledgling sheep.

Let me know when you decide to descend from your ivory tower to stop despairing about those who haven't "awakened" yet.

[Atsumari]

If there is no opium then where would I find my pleasures? Just because I enjoy engaging in sex, drugs, video games, and reading does not mean that I am "being keep in line", it means that I enjoy said things. Communism is not aesthetic and I'd be damned if someone starts to dictate which of my vices is good or bad.
I do not think anyone is saying that video games are bad and trying to promote lifesylism here, we are just against the conspicuous consumption of video games.

[A Psychological Symphony]

Although I agree with your sentiment, not every recreational activity is an opium in the sense of numbing political beliefs. Some(many) people may use entertainment as an escape from reality but entertainment is not to be condemned. I'd prefer to not have my recreational activities judged.

"Don't tell me what to do"
- An Anonymous Legend

[Slavic]

I do not think anyone is saying that video games are bad and trying to promote lifesylism here, we are just against the conspicuous consumption of video games.

The OP surely did imply that video games as well as previously mentioned activities were in fact bad. Unless I am misconstruing, when someone refers to an activity as an "opium" and then goes on to state that said "opium" is preventing me from being "awakened", then I am going to assume that he is taking a negative stance on said activity.

[JudasMaiden]

Entertainment is good way to escape reality and it's okay if you play video games, but I think in a time we are right now, they are a distraction alongside being escapism for the people.

[Sabot Cat]

Fun is bourgeois! Destroy all of the entertainment, because it only serves as a distraction for the class war!

Goodness forbid we focus on anything else...

[Atsumari]

The OP surely did imply that video games as well as previously mentioned activities were in fact bad. Unless I am misconstruing, when someone refers to an activity as an "opium" and then goes on to state that said "opium" is preventing me from being "awakened", then I am going to assume that he is taking a negative stance on said activity.
One thing for sure, we could do without the "hardcore gamer" in an anti-capitalist society, just like the rest of the consumerist filth that plagues the developed world.

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

Entertainment is good way to escape reality and it's okay if you play video games, but I think in a time we are right now, they are a distraction alongside being escapism for the people.
You know what else can contain escapism? Reading.

[Atsumari]

You know what else can contain escapism? Reading.
Assuming that the book is not a Twilight or Tom Clancy novel, literature can really be thought provoking and change your outlook on life for the better. If more people spent a little more time reading Dostoyevsky or Murakami rather than playing Call of Duty, I think our society would be a tiny bit better.

[Slavic]

One thing for sure, we could do without the "hardcore gamer" in an anti-capitalist society, just like the rest of the consumerist filth that plagues the developed world.


What is this "hardcore gamer" you are referring to and what labels him a consumerist filth as opposed to the "gamer"?

[Sabot Cat]

Assuming that the book is not a Twilight or Tom Clancy novel, literature can really be thought provoking and change your outlook on life for the better. If more people spent a little more time reading Dostoyevsky or Murakami rather than playing Call of Duty, I think our society would be a tiny bit better.

This is pretty belittling to video games as a medium of art, which can also be thought provoking and outlook changing.

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

Assuming that the book is not a Twilight or Tom Clancy novel, literature can really be thought provoking and change your outlook on life for the better. If more people spent a little more time reading Dostoyevsky or Murakami rather than playing Call of Duty, I think our society would be a tiny bit better.
That hardly changes the fact that even literature can contain elements of escapism in addition to its "life changing outlook", such as the Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court or even Dumas' The Three Musketeers. This list, as you can imagine, could go on for quite a while. Escapism is not limited to video games, and it's not likely to be free from works that you deem as artistically significant.

The implications of this outlook would have found a ready audience in the offices of the Soviet bureaucracy. What you're really doing is promoting a pseudo-intellectual stance that, whether you like it or not, strongly hints at cultural prescriptions of what you think people should enjoy, rather than trying to understand what they're enjoying now or why.

P.S. You're full of it.

[Atsumari]

What is this "hardcore gamer" you are referring to and what labels him a consumerist filth as opposed to the "gamer"?
I am mostly referring to the typical gamer found on reddit or /v/
Hardcore gamers are people who take games very seriously by condemning people who play "casual" games and get emotionally angry about it. They are the type of people who will be clueless when it comes to the differences in political ideologies and will proudly say that they do not care, but bring up Call of Duty, then you can expect an earful to why Battlefield is 10 times better. And when they do get involved when something would harm their habits, such as SOPA which we can be thankful for, but they will do everything they can to try to keep gaming a boy's club. Take a look at Anita Sarkeesian's concern about female representation in gaming and the backlash she received for example.

Games are fun and I have fond memories spending hours a day training for StarCraft tournaments, but putting gaming as one of your highest priorities is basically a form of opium.


This is pretty belittling to video games as a medium of art, which can also be thought provoking and outlook changing.
I am not denying that. Metal Gear, Psychonauts, and a few visual novels I have played were very thought provoking and something that I would recommend check out.

[Criminalize Heterosexuality]

Assuming that the book is not a Twilight or Tom Clancy novel, literature can really be thought provoking and change your outlook on life for the better. If more people spent a little more time reading Dostoyevsky or Murakami rather than playing Call of Duty, I think our society would be a tiny bit better.

Somehow, I don't think society would be better if more people read the notoriously fanatical Slavophile Dostoyevsky. Why do people need to justify their activities to you? I mean, I dislike the "video games are art" defense - playing Wargame: European Escalation won't make me a better person or in fact do anything but entertain me for a while, but why should it do anything else? Will I have to justify wanting to have sex next? Maybe sex is an opium of the people unless the participants end up with tears of ennui streaming down their face as they quote the Sefer Zohar.

And Marx called religion an opium of the people due to its position in bourgeois ideology, a fact that seems to be lost on many people.

[Atsumari]

Somehow, I don't think society would be better if more people red the notoriously fanatical Slavophile Dostoyevsky. Why do people need to justify their activities to you? I mean, I dislike the "video games are art" defense - playing Wargame: European Escalation won't make me a better person or in fact do anything but entertain me for a while, but why should it do anything else? Will I have to justify wanting to have sex next? Maybe sex is an opium of the people unless the participants end up with tears of ennui streaming down their face as they quote the Sefer Zohar.

And Marx called religion an opium of the people due to its position in bourgeois ideology, a fact that seems to be lost on many people.
Okay, let me make myself clear. Any form of mindless consumption which one devotes soc much of their life to is bad, whether it is video games, celebrities, sex, or partying. All those activities are not inherently bad, and to suppress them would be Victorian.

[Criminalize Heterosexuality]

Okay, let me make myself clear. Any form of mindless consumption which one devotes soc much of their life to is bad, whether it is video games, celebrities, sex, or partying. All those activities are not inherently bad, and to suppress them would be Victorian.

Why is it bad?

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

Hardcore gamers are people who take games very seriously by condemning people who play "casual" games and get emotionally angry about it. They are the type of people who will be clueless when it comes to the differences in political ideologies and will proudly say that they do not care, but bring up Call of Duty, then you can expect an earful to why Battlefield is 10 times better. And when they do get involved when something would harm their habits, such as SOPA which we can be thankful for, but they will do everything they can to try to keep gaming a boy's club. Take a look at Anita Sarkeesian's concern about female representation in gaming and the backlash she received for example.

So because hardcore gamers are mostly comprised of men who apparently are all chauvinists (yeah, right...according to whom?), shooter games deserve condemnation? And you're supporting a highly unpopular (as in, beyond the hardcore group) antipiracy law because it stops people from playing those "hardcore" games? Really?

Don't worry everybody, the second-wave feminist pro-copyright moralist police are on their way! We certainly need such people in a socialist society, right up there with the Blackshirts, the Roman Catholic Church, and the RIAA.

[Atsumari]

So because hardcore gamers are mostly comprised of men who apparently are all chauvinists (yeah, right...according to whom?), shooter games deserve condemnation? And you're supporting a highly unpopular (as in, beyond the hardcore group) antipiracy law because it stops people from playing those "hardcore" games? Really?

Don't worry everybody, the second-wave feminist pro-copyright moralist police are on their way! We certainly need such people in a socialist society, right up there with the Blackshirts, the Roman Catholic Church, and the RIAA.
When did I say I support SOPA? Holy crap you are straw manning the living hell out of me. And if I gave the impression that I support SOPA, I am sorry.

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

I am mostly referring to the typical gamer found on reddit or /v/
Hardcore gamers are people who take games very seriously by condemning people who play "casual" games and get emotionally angry about it. They are the type of people who will be clueless when it comes to the differences in political ideologies and will proudly say that they do not care, but bring up Call of Duty, then you can expect an earful to why Battlefield is 10 times better. And when they do get involved when something would harm their habits, such as SOPA which we can be thankful for, but they will do everything they can to try to keep gaming a boy's club. Take a look at Anita Sarkeesian's concern about female representation in gaming and the backlash she received for example.

Games are fun and I have fond memories spending hours a day training for StarCraft tournaments, but putting gaming as one of your highest priorities is basically a form of opium.


I am not denying that. Metal Gear, Psychonauts, and a few visual novels I have played were very thought provoking and something that I would recommend check out.
Check the bold. SOPA referring, of course, to the Stop Online Piracy Act. If you actually meant to say something else, I'm all ears. Why should we be thankful for the SOPA, if not because it harms their gaming habits? Remember, you were arguing against the hardcore male gaming group, here.

[Atsumari]

I did not mean that statement sarcastically. The campaign against SOPA by everyone was a wonderful thing and I wished that there was the same kind of passion when the TPP came up.
But talking from personal experience from being part of the hardcore gaming community for a long time, I cannot help but feel sad about it. Whenever I tried talking about something like politics, they did not know anything. If I tried to bring up philosophy or history, they would pretty much get all of their information from games which can be pretty bad information at times, but that is more frustration with prideful apathy.

What really got me the most was their sexism. Most of them were "nice guys" and when this vine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlg4B_bLVJQ)was created, they all shared it and agreed with it completely. Many of them also had "yellow fever" and would say the creepiest shit about my sister in front of me who was a gamer herself. Lastly, many of them seemed to enjoy "trolling" many female gamers or laughing at bullying and criticized anyone who had the balls to be a decent human being as being a "white knight" or male feminist who just wants to get his dick wet.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

What really got me the most was their sexism. Most of them were "nice guys" and when this vine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlg4B_bLVJQ)was created, they all shared it and agreed with it completely.

That thing's some kind of college douchebag joke, right? Or do they take that serious?


Assuming that the book is not a Twilight or Tom Clancy novel, literature can really be thought provoking and change your outlook on life for the better. If more people spent a little more time reading Dostoyevsky or Murakami rather than playing Call of Duty, I think our society would be a tiny bit better.

You had me until Dostoyevsky and Murakami. :mad::mad::mad::mad:

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

"Opium of the people" was an already stupid, flowery and meaningless phrase when Marx applied it to religion. Lets just further perpetuate this 19th century stupidity for no reason. Hooray for innovative thinking.

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

I did not mean that statement sarcastically. The campaign against SOPA by everyone was a wonderful thing and I wished that there was the same kind of passion when the TPP came up.
But talking from personal experience from being part of the hardcore gaming community for a long time, I cannot help but feel sad about it. Whenever I tried talking about something like politics, they did not know anything. If I tried to bring up philosophy or history, they would pretty much get all of their information from games which can be pretty bad information at times, but that is more frustration with prideful apathy.
Okay, now I understand what you meant. And yes, getting second or third-hand information from pop culture is an ongoing problem that isn't limited to video games. I still don't see how this has anything to do with escapism or why it is nothing more than "opium".


What really got me the most was their sexism. Most of them were "nice guys" and when this vine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlg4B_bLVJQ)was created, they all shared it and agreed with it completely. Many of them also had "yellow fever" and would say the creepiest shit about my sister in front of me who was a gamer herself. Lastly, many of them seemed to enjoy "trolling" many female gamers or laughing at bullying and criticized anyone who had the balls to be a decent human being as being a "white knight" or male feminist who just wants to get his dick wet.
This is, I agree, very disrespectful behavior. But I am still not convinced why the hardcore-gamer demographic needs to commit suicide because of the chauvinistic behavior you encountered. Your frustration is understandable, but practically your position points towards prescriptions (and moralistic ones at that) for human culture (which I judge as something incompatible with a socialist society) and I will oppose you on this as long as you continue holding to it.

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

"Opium of the people" was an already stupid, flowery and meaningless phrase when Marx applied it to religion. Lets just further perpetuate this 19th century stupidity for no reason. Hooray for innovative thinking.
Yes, because that phrase completely and neatly sums up everything Marx had to say concerning religion and its role in society. Hooray for contextual reading.

[Atsumari]

Okay, now I understand what you meant. And yes, getting second or third-hand information from pop culture is an ongoing problem that isn't limited to video games. I still don't see how this has anything to do with escapism or why it is nothing more than "opium".

This is, I agree, very disrespectful behavior. But I am still not convinced why the hardcore-gamer demographic needs to commit suicide because of the chauvinistic behavior you encountered. Your frustration is understandable, but practically your position points towards prescriptions (and moralistic ones at that) for human culture (which I judge as something incompatible with a socialist society) and I will oppose you on this as long as you continue holding to it.
Haha, forgive my hyperbolic language. By no means should this subculture of gamers commit suicide nor be sent away to rot for the rest of their lives, that is almost like eugenics. I just hope that much of our culture changes for the better since I do find that the mindset of conspicuous consumers to be incompatible with socialism.

[Marxaveli]

You know, sometimes I think us leftists, and even Marxists, take it too far with the analysis.

I can see the point of someone thinking that recreational activities are a barrier to class consciousness (even guys like Adorno, who wrote a interesting piece called "The Culture Industry") under a capitalist system but I think there is a fine line in criticizing the how the recreation is used and who can use them, and criticizing the recreation itself.

I'm a gamer, yet I have class consciousness also. I think there are other things we should be much more worried about to be honest, than the gaming industry.

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

Haha, forgive my hyperbolic language. By no means should this subculture of gamers commit suicide nor be sent away to rot for the rest of their lives, that is almost like eugenics. I just hope that much of our culture changes for the better since I do find that the mindset of conspicuous consumers to be incompatible with socialism.
Certainly, the mindset of most people in capitalist society is "incompatible" with socialism, including most workers. This doesn't mean that these mindsets are set in stone, nor does it make workers any less capable of waging revolutionary struggles. It simply points to a greater need for new ways in which revolutionary class-consciousness can be spread. Unfortunately there are no shortcuts except by revolutionary struggle.

Finally, when I said "commit suicide" I admit that I too was being overly metaphorical. I meant that you wished hardcore-gamers to "dissolve" or the who sub-genre of shooters to simply disappear. I am still waiting for a response to my characterization of your method as pigeonholing all aspects of culture as ruling class ideology and its practical implications in social policy.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Yes, because that phrase completely and neatly sums up everything Marx had to say concerning religion and its role in society. Hooray for contextual reading.

Did I say that? Of course not, soooo, yeah, there's that.

[Futility Personified]

I really don't think that videogames are the opium of the 21st century. Pretty sure that opium is still the opium of anything.

Seriously though, videogames are a medium, to condemn the entire medium as reactionary or counter-revolutionary would be the same as condemning the whole of television, or music, or literature, etc. The current culture of gaming is reactionary, as our general culture is. Given time, more revolutionary material will most likely surface within gaming.

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

Did I say that? Of course not, soooo, yeah, there's that.
Your act of isolating that phrase from the context in which Marx wrote it, and summarily dismissing it as "flowery" or "meaningless", is exactly how you made it come off. It's not my job to properly interpret your writing from your own state of mind.

Sooo, yeah, there's also that.

For your perusal, the quote can be found here:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Your act of isolating that phrase from the context in which Marx wrote it, and summarily dismissing it as "flowery" or "meaningless", is exactly how you made it come off. It's not my job to properly interpret your writing from your own state of mind.

Sooo, yeah, there's also that.

For your perusal, the quote can be found here:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm

How this is disproving or running contrary to anything I've said, Idunno. If anything, citing the source article only reinforces the main message of my OP, lol, see, even in context, its still stupid.

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

How this is disproving or running contrary to anything I've said, Idunno. If anything, citing the source article only reinforces the main message of my OP, lol, see, even in context, its still stupid.
Fine. Let me know when you give a reason for this "stupidity" beyond the mere assertion that you're right, or your dislike for the nineteenth century. Otherwise, I'm not interested in continuing this.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Fine. Let me know when you give a reason for this "stupidity" beyond the mere assertion that you're right, or your dislike for the nineteenth century. Otherwise, I'm not interested in continuing this.

Dude, it's pretty simple even if you look at a few select sentences, it's nothing but subjective conjecture (which can neither be tested or proven) dressed in shitty poetry. What honestly do you find so enlightening about it? What so smart about the article? Does it contribute any thing of objective value to the subject? No, therefore judging upon the face of it, it's devoid of intellectual substance and thus can only be judged on the merits of its poetry, which is meh. I'm sorry, it's dumb.

[#FF0000]

putting it all on the line and saying that no one who says things like "video games/pop culture are the optiate of the masses" are actually politically involved in any way shape or form

[Creative Destruction]

"Opium of the people" was an already stupid, flowery and meaningless phrase when Marx applied it to religion. Lets just further perpetuate this 19th century stupidity for no reason. Hooray for innovative thinking.

I half-agree with you. He definitely meant that phrase in a disparaging way toward religion, since he immediately thereafter talks about the necessity of the abolition of religion, but I think it's important to keep in mind the preceding passage and to chew it over. About it being a heart in a heartless world, the soul of soulless conditions, etc.

Religion is the crutch of which a lot in the working class use to prop themselves up. I personally don't like the idea of depriving people of crutches. I think it's important to not so much directly struggle against religion, but to recognize that a larger struggle is an indirect struggle against it. In other words, it's not religion that is the reason for the system, but it is what's used to help people cope with the shittiness of the system. That's still not going to absolve the system of its irreconcilable contradictions and, as we've seen, there are a great many religious folks who struggle against the system itself.

So, in that sense, if my interpretation is at all valid, I think there's room for an argument that says the overconsumption of video games, etc., could be counted as an "opium" but it, like religion, are not the direct causes for "pulling the wool" over people's eyes, so to speak. If you struggle against the alienation that pushes people to overconsume things like that, then you're also struggling against that overconsumption.

That doesn't mean we need to go around chastising people for it, though, just like I think it's ridiculous to go around and chastise religious folks, a lot of whom would -- at once -- struggle against their shitty conditions, but also seek refuge and solace in their religious beliefs.

[#FF0000]

I half-agree with you. He definitely meant that phrase in a disparaging way toward religion, since he immediately thereafter talks about the necessity of the abolition of religion, but I think it's important to keep in mind the preceding passage and to chew it over. About it being a heart in a heartless world, the soul of soulless conditions, etc.I'm 99% sure he talks about abolishing the conditions that engender religion, not attacking religion itself as if it's some thing that exists in a vacuum. it sounds like that's what you were getting at but I'm not sure.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I'm 99% sure he talks about abolishing the conditions that engender religion, not attacking religion itself as if it's some thing that exists in a vacuum. it sounds like that's what you were getting at but I'm not sure.It's a pretty fantastic metaphor imo (though not used in the way it is in the OP) because afterall Marx and a lot o' people back then used opium to mask pain. Religion does that for some, it can't cure what ails us though.

Honestly I never really understand the desire of some on the Left for a sort of revolution moral uplift campaign (well for workers to morally uplift themselves in ways to be "more revolutionary"). When I look around, I don't see neoliberalism as an era of lots of free-time and people seeking escapism out of a callous intent to ignore the shit of life. People have less free-time now, tech fits into this by filling "needs" that wouldn't be so necessary for modern life if you had lots of time to go and sit with your friends and chat rather than sitting with your friends and chatting in social media while you are all actually commuting somewhere else or running errands or going to your second job. Video games fill a "need" of playing, of playing against other people, when there are no public parks and the urban environment is unfriendly... playing football on a game console will not get you harassed by the cops compared to playing in the street if you are black in the US.

Anyway, give me, yourself, and the world wide working class a break. We should fight for more games, more free time, not moralize about how people choose to spend what little free time they have. If people are convinced of revolution, are convinced of the need to subjectively try and build a worker's revolutionary movement, if they have access to struggles or groups of people who can work on that... and they still decide to play video games rather than head over to the revolution planning committee after barricades have gone up... well then we can question their dedication.

[Motorvating]

I have a question, what do you guys think of freeware? Hell, Anna Anthropy is a self proclaimed anarchist, though she DOES has a hammer and sickle flag in her room. A lot of the freeware community/movement really does seem to oppose corporate power.

[helot]

Oh yeah, blame entertainment. Afterall, it must be entertainment that's stopping the working class rallying to your side... Yeah it must be because it surely can't be because of any fecklessness and condescension on anyone's part.

[Motorvating]

Oh yeah, blame entertainment. Afterall, it must be entertainment that's stopping the working class rallying to your side... Yeah it must be because it surely can't be because of any fecklessness and condescension on anyone's part.

That was part of my own point, implied at least. It's a form of entertainment that WAS linked with capitalism from the beginning, which seems to be the biggest and most valid complain, but even then there was always a strain that defied that, which exploded and is growing stronger.