• Gustephan@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    A weird combination of electric, radar, computer, and hardware test. I used to do technique development and operational testing for radar jamming equipment on a strategic bomber for the airforce. I tried going back to school for a bit, but I learned that academia is run by pathetic cowards who can and will build weapons for fascists in exchange for funding. I came to the conclusion that the only thing I was changing was how likely I was to have to see the piles of corpses I was helping create. Now im just not looking anymore. I still get a daily deluge of emails from war profiteers looking for somebody willing to be a principal engineer in shithole towns like Huntsville or Abilene

      • Gustephan@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        Appreciate it, but I stopped looking a long time ago. I was raised in a military family to be an attack dog for fascists, and i realized that everybody i ever looked up to or trusted would rather support fascism than accept even a mote of discomfort in their personal lives. I dont trust another soul in the world and honestly im not sure i have the capacity to; ive only ever experienced cynical monsters of human beings vying for dominance, and I got extremely good at that game. If there even is anything worth living for in this faustian existence, the weight of my sins is such that I don’t deserve to experience it

        • Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          Well said, I sympathize and we have very similar backgrounds based on what you’ve said. Are your sins and blood on your hands due to working for defense contractors or military or related? If so I feel that to my core. I tried saying “at least I’m not making bombs or missiles”, but even if you’re supporting them in other ways it’s still part of the machine where poor people end up dead or impoverished, all because of billionaires war games. And they get richer along the way.

          We’re not special. We’re primates. The greatest smartest ape on the planet. But it’s still just a more advanced and complex form of what chimps do in the wild. The animalistic competition and domination is fucking stupid when you start to recognize it. We’re the only fucking species intelligent enough to transcend that shit, yet look at us?

          Take what I say with a very fine grain of salt. And I would never presume know what’s best for people or try to tell anyone what to do. But if you want to be effective in the one in a billion chance there’s a revolution or anything remotely like it, maybe prepare? Health wise and whatever else you might think. I’d like to smoke and drink every day too, but what about just in case? Personally I’m ready to pull the trigger if an opportunity arises, but I would want it to count. Yeah, I’m kinda saying don’t give up just yet. They way you think, we need people like you.

          I don’t think people like you and I are alone. I think it’s possible more people are/will grow to feel and think this way, given the way things are going.

          • Gustephan@lemmy.world
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            11 days ago

            Yeah, I was a defense contractor. I grew up periodically wondering if this was finally the deployment my dad wouldn’t come home from, and getting the chance to work in radar jamming to keep american aviators alive felt like a dream come true at first.

            I am afraid to try to change the world again. I already know that I have the capability to change things in the world, I spent plenty of time doing it. I also know that I developed my values and morality while being raised as a white supremacist, and that I am gullible enough to be misled into doing evil. I dont remotely trust my own judgement on what would make the world a better place, and I trust anybody telling me what I should do even less. I’ve already had to see and smell the consequences of trusting other people who justify violence to me.