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Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

1843magazine.com

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Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#281

Post by Aeolun »

mos_basik wrote: post #260
deelowe wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have more real estate than all of them combined actually, but that's not really what I meant. The stuff they have purchased and still own is baffling. It's all cheap, throw away, walmart crap. Compare this to the things I've saved from my grandparents and great grandparents which are mostly heirloom quality and the difference is striking. The wastefulness is simply depressing.

careful, there. that line of reasoning smells a bit like "why is old music always so much better than the crap that comes out these days?" only the high quality old music is still played and remembered today, and only the high quality old things survive long enough to be saved by great grandchildren. i imagine cheap throw away old crap has disintegrated long ago.

But it's certainly true that mum has not even one item of 'heirloom quality' or higher.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#282

Post by politician »

petre wrote: post #250
datatan wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unemployment in the US is relatively low even on a long term basis. Dear God save me from whatever unemployment you deem to be high. Over a third of the people in this country don't work and another third work part time. Maybe you actually believe those numbers coming out of the gov on unemployment and don't pay attention to the people who have rolled off the unemployment benefits. I know people that have been look…

Would you rather get drafted and go to war? Because everything you say hints at politicians creating a war just to divert attention and offer the unemployed "a job": playing a first person shooter with real victims.

Those sorts of wars are largely in America's past. The real money is made in high-tech munitions: cruise missiles, anti-missile missiles, and drones with missiles.

If you're a defense contractor, you're not interested in selling "hundreds of thousands of boots on the ground," but rather guns (weapons systems) and ammo.

As a corollary, no one is lobbying politicians on behalf of a force increase at the scale you're suggesting. Private military contractors just don't operate at the "give the hoards of unemployed young men some plausible way to die" scale.

The situation you're referring to is more of an issue in countries with weaker economies and geographically close potential enemies.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#283

Post by Aeolun »

chillacy wrote: post #244
dvt wrote: post #163

Usually love the Economist -- and I read it regularly -- but I think this article is bullshit. It's the same kind of nonsense people were writing in the mid and late-90s: that violent games cause violent tendencies. Luckily, those claims ended up being completely debunked by dozens of studies. Now, we have a "gaming epidemic" that has gripped the unemployed, underemployed, and depressed? Give me a break. Gaming is si…

I dunno, CS is one thing but I have played and know people who still play MMOs (EVE, WoW, FF, etc) and those tend to be a different beast. It's not hard to see why: the same desires and rewards that drive you forward in life can be instead applied in-game for a mere $15 a month. Actually in many regards WoW is more fun than real life, and when your friends are all playing the game.. yea that becomes life. I know what…

I dunno, after playing EVE for even a month I think you could easily get a job in administration based on that experience alone.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#284

Post by rgun »

narrator wrote: post #234
laughfactory wrote: post #150

It's not just video games either. Add Netflix and social media, and soon, VR, to the equation, and it's pretty clear that the game of life offers insufficient rewards relative to one's efforts. I don't believe we ended up here due to some grand conspiracy, but I do think that the top 1% have gotten so skilled at trapping wealth and therefore opportunity that it's really screwing over everyone else. Even as a relative…

One thing that's great about gaming as an addiction: it's very inexpensive. This has been changing for the worse with all the pay to win stuff, but there's still a fair amount of cheap gaming out there. With a gaming addiction, never leaving the house and a minimal food budget I wonder how much the average gamer subsists on each month. I had a friend whose brother would go to work and come home and play video games e…

*hikikomori

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#285

Post by fmihaila »

narrator wrote: post #234
laughfactory wrote: post #150

It's not just video games either. Add Netflix and social media, and soon, VR, to the equation, and it's pretty clear that the game of life offers insufficient rewards relative to one's efforts. I don't believe we ended up here due to some grand conspiracy, but I do think that the top 1% have gotten so skilled at trapping wealth and therefore opportunity that it's really screwing over everyone else. Even as a relative…

One thing that's great about gaming as an addiction: it's very inexpensive. This has been changing for the worse with all the pay to win stuff, but there's still a fair amount of cheap gaming out there. With a gaming addiction, never leaving the house and a minimal food budget I wonder how much the average gamer subsists on each month. I had a friend whose brother would go to work and come home and play video games e…

> One thing that's great about gaming as an addiction: it's very inexpensive.

It can be extremely expensive in opportunity costs, unfortunately.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#286

Post by greenhatman »

coliveira wrote: post #258
nunez wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree with this. My immediate family and I came from having next to nothing. We busted ass and have money now. We aren't rich, but we're enjoying life in ways we couldn't growing up. If we, instead, believed the rhetoric that life is screwed unless you came out of a "lucky vagina," we would still be broke, in Brooklyn, trying to make ends meet, and I would be another socially-inept dude that spends way t…

It is too easy for people who have "made it" to say this. I have kind of made it too, so I could have the same attitude. The problem however is that anecdotes don't proof a point. You have to look at numbers. Numbers say that the majority of Americans are losing purchasing power year after year, and there are fewer middle class jobs. Somehow, the 1% have more privileges each passing day, they pay close to nothing in…

Who are they going to invest the money they have in though? People who play computer games and watch Netflix all day? Probably not hey. If you want any chance you're going to have to do something. At least try something.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#287

Post by dragonwriter »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #276
Endy wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Marxism should never be "easily dismissed". It should be respected and fought for. The problem is that we're afraid to go out and actually fight the Permanent Revolution; because we've been cowed by those who currently hold the power.

"It should be respected and fought for. " Sorry, 100 million dead bodies is more than enough to convince me that Marxism doesn't work.

If you think Leninism is Marxism, you are a dupe of Leninist propaganda.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#288

Post by yummyfajitas »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #280
yummyfajitas wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad we've gone from moral imperative to recognition that these folks are merely extortionists. But on practical grounds I disagree with la terreur - call of duty is not really a substitute for military training. Senseless violence of the sort you almost seem to be advocating (am I misreading?) could be easily suppressed by a modern police force.

"Senseless violence of the sort you almost seem to be advocating (am I misreading?) could be easily suppressed by a modern police force." What makes you think the police are going to be on your side in such a situation?

It's true that of late, the police do seem to look the other way when anti-intellectual thugs assault political dissidents (e.g. Murray, Milo). They do obey the orders of the ruling class.

But why would the cops side with a bunch of layabout gamers seeking only to pillage and plunder?

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#289

Post by greenhatman »

Aeolun wrote: post #262
nunez wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree with this. My immediate family and I came from having next to nothing. We busted ass and have money now. We aren't rich, but we're enjoying life in ways we couldn't growing up. If we, instead, believed the rhetoric that life is screwed unless you came out of a "lucky vagina," we would still be broke, in Brooklyn, trying to make ends meet, and I would be another socially-inept dude that spends way t…

Confirmation bias? Just because it worked for you, doesn't mean there aren't a thousand people who tried and failed at exactly the same thing. Your chances are definitely higher than zero if you try, but unfortunately it's no guarantee that you'll succeed.

There is no guarantee for anything. That is not a reason not to try.

There is literally nothing better to do with your life than try. So just try.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#290

Post by sonthonax »

fmihaila wrote: post #285
narrator wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that's great about gaming as an addiction: it's very inexpensive. This has been changing for the worse with all the pay to win stuff, but there's still a fair amount of cheap gaming out there. With a gaming addiction, never leaving the house and a minimal food budget I wonder how much the average gamer subsists on each month. I had a friend whose brother would go to work and come home and play video games e…

> One thing that's great about gaming as an addiction: it's very inexpensive. It can be extremely expensive in opportunity costs, unfortunately.

As with all addictions.
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