defense contractors in the us should be called attack contractors instead. truer to form.

“And you, young engineer, you who dream of improving the lot of the workers by the application of science to industry - what a sad disappointment, what terrible disillusions await you! You devote the useful energy of your mind to working out the scheme of a railway which, running along the brink of precipices and burrowing into the very heart of mountains of granite, will bind together two countries which nature has separated. But once at work, you see whole regiments of workers decimated by privations and sickness in this dark tunnel - you see others of them returning home carrying with them, maybe, a few pence, and the undoubted seeds of consumption; you see human corpses - the results of a groveling greed - as landmarks along each yard of your road; and, when the railroad is finished, you see, lastly, that it becomes the highway for the artillery of an invading army…”

Peter Kroporkin, 1880

A hundred years later engineers are more jaded. They know what they are doing. At MIT in the 1980’s it was called “get your fingerprints on the murder weapon”.

I’d work for Lockheed.

Well…, “work” is a strong word. I’d cash their checks for as long as it takes them to realize I’m only pretending to work and fire me. XD

Unless it was like, weather satellites or some other non-military space tech. I’d probably actually do that but I’d be conflicted about it.

These people would have my whole family killed for a $200 raise and then tell me I’m the bad guy when I say the American military industrial complex is one of my greatest enemies, including its workers.

I was always pretty interested in geology, but I knew that the only secure work would be for oil companies so I never went for the degree…

I was always really interested in gems and minerals, but admiring them isn’t a job, and photography in that field is insanely specialized and not exactly a reasonable goal to shoot for, so I never got that degree…

I was also always really interested in astronomy, but there’s literally no work in that field at all so I didn’t go for the degree…

I never “found myself” because all of my interests either has you working for “the enemy” or there just weren’t any jobs to be had. Now I’m stuck working in a factory and I have an upcoming job that’s for the Israeli military…

Shaming people for their job is such a shitty thing to do. I heard the same thing in college for having a job lined up with a major defense contractor. My circumstances were such that living with parents or someone else wasn’t an option - it was very important for me to have a job. I am grateful for that opportunity - the people I worked with were all great people. You can be an ideological fool but not everyone has that luxury.