Thread by @Kavaeric

It's time for Kavaeric's Armchair Stupid Hour!

Today's theory:

Call of Duty Ghosts is the story of a successful socialist nation able to rebuild itself after a global disaster, told from the perspective of an authoritarian United States.

Co-authored with @newNike1155.

So, we're gonna start off with some context here.

@newNike1155 is our friendly neighbourhood anarcho-syndicalist polisci major Chilean. He's no socdem like me, but to pass the time sometimes we like making fun of the western jingoism in CoD. Particularly, Ghosts.

Call of Duty Ghosts is a 2013 title developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision.

It received...mixed reviews, praised on its multiplayer and extinction gamemode, but didn't muster anything more than being midly entertaining on the singleplayer campaign front.

Criticism of the campaign stemmed from it being a dumb hodgepodge of setpieces barely strung together into a sensible plot. (Fig: Videogamer.com)

It was the first game in the Call of Duty series to have actually had dropped sales figures in a while.

For those who haven't played, the premise is that following the collapse of the middle east, South America unites into a singular, militaristic nation that threatens to destroy America.

Medical experts suggest giving yourself some resting time to process that premise. I'll wait.

Yeah, it's dumb.

But the game includes astronaut gunfights in space. So like, whatever.

@newNike1155 and I have been talking about this game for months and it's probably caused some brain holes now. But whatever, we'll get through this!

To recount the in-game timeline:

After the formation of the Federation, in 2015 the US stages an assassination attempt on the Fed's leader, Diego Almagro. It succeeds, but the Federation continued to grow undeterred.

In 2017, the Federation hijacks ODIN, the American orbital kinetic bombardment satellite. The station is scuttled but not without destroying a bunch of US cities in Socal and Texas. This opens up a land invasion of the USA from the south.

Venezuela's oil economy is unchallenged post-Tel Aviv War (which is a thing in this timeline). Combined with the economies of Brazil and Chile, the Federation subjugates and expands to encompass all of Latin America.

By 2027, the Federation is the most powerful state in the world, with the largest economy, most advanced infrastructure, with huge complexes erected around the continent. Caracas, the capital city, is rebuilt completely following the assassination attempt, along with many others.

Anyway, that's generally the premise, and the rest of the story are just The Steps taken on by the US' titular Ghosts, a team of elite spec ops super ninjas who do gun things behind enemy lines and stuff. Whatever.

So, @newNike1155 and I noticed a few things from this premise, and from playing/watching the game.

First we get this weird tidbit of lore from the CoD Wiki.

According to @newNike1155, "A totalitarian government would not even play the game of recognition of natives if they weren't part of their own support base from the start."

Which means only one thing.

The foundation of the Federation was a grassroots movement to organise and not a dictator seizing power at the time of crisis. After all, the name "Federation" and the use of EU-like iconography is a very odd way to describe yourself if you're a totalitarian nation.

Next, its economy.

In our world, Venezuela's oil is highly privatised and, at best, only benefits its populace by proxy. But here the exploitation of these resources is framed as the reason for the Federation's success.

Iunno about you, but "vast infrastructure programs" doesn't sound very neoliberal to me.

Armchair conclusion: The Federation nationalised its biggest industries and invested it in government-funded infrastructure and welfare, including but not limited to the military.

Third, the state of the USA.

They built a wall. It's called Liberty Wall, and it's along the (new) southern border.

No, seriously.

Curiously the watchtowers point inward to the US as much as they point outwards towards Federation territory. And the thing couldn't stand up against a bunch of football rioters for fucking toffee, let alone a modern military.

I mean, look at it.

So, then, in terms of its actual purpose, who is the Liberty Wall keeping out, and where from, I wonder?

Oh, and as an aside, a military special operations group with that engages in undercover sabotage that uses goddamn skulls as their primary symbolism sounds a little SS to me!

So, after much deliberation between @newNike1155 and I, we've come up with a big-brained, Super Socialist Game Theory proper timeline of the Call of Duty Ghosts premise.

Here goes.

In the early 2010s, the Tel Aviv War occurs. The US comes to Israel's aid against foreign attackers, but in the process explodes the entire Middle Eastern oil economy. Nation-states around the world collapse as rioting and protests ensue.

In most countries like China, the UK, and the USA, protests are violently suppressed and dealt with. They use this opportunity to rescind international treaties, including the use of space weapons.

In South America though, a grassroots revolution led by socialists, indigenous peoples, and other marginalised groups succeed. They form the Federation. It's not anarchist, more demsoc, but adopts many of the principles of left anarchism, signified by the red/black of the flag.

Between Venezuela, Brazil, and Chile, the new entity begins the rapid seizure and nationalisation of their resources. The trade of these new nationalised commodities allows the continent to rebuild itself through infrastructure programmes unseen elsewhere.

The Federation under leader Diego Almagro, knowing full well the history of US-backed coups in South America, begins a campaign to investigate any possible threat in Federation borders.

The United States frames this as the Federation mindlessly executing its US-born population.

In 2015, the proto-fascist USAuses this to justfy an assassination of Diego Almagro. It succeeds.

However, because of the Federation's semi-anarchistic formation, beheading a leader does not do the damage the US expects. The Federation only grows stronger.

By 2017, the US deploys its Orbital Kinetic weapon. Naming it ODIN, as white fash loves their cherry-picked Norse mythology, it is positioned over the Americas to strike Central America along with the northern coast of South America for a US invasion.

That year, guerillas attempt to seize the station to prevent it from firing upon the Federation.

They stop the reorientation and targeting of the station but are unable to cancel the firing. ODIN fires upon and destroys cities in California and Texas.

To cover it up, the proto-fash USA scuttles the station. Despite the fact that it was a shining example of US hubris, an American weapon destroying American cities, the government uses it to stoke fear and frame the Federation as an enemy to be protected from.

The US government expands its powers and constructs a wall, framed as protection from the Federation. In reality, the wall was never designed to repel an invasion (I mean, look at it!), but instead was meant to keep US citizens from fleeing the now fully-formed fash nation-state.

The government also uses the destruction of a number of southern states as justification to dissolve them, in effect a way of performing state-level gerrymandering. The US is now composed of 48 states, seen here on this flag.

By 2027, just ten years after the assassination of Almagro and the total flattening of the city through flood, Caracas has transformed itself completely into an ultra-modern city, funded by national programmes and welfare.

The continued success of the Federation convinces more and more other nations in Latin America, each with shared interests of social equality, BIPOC support, and general hatred for western imperialism, to join the cause.

The US, panicked, frames the Federation as invasive.

In just 12 years, the Federation goes from being a post-recession grassroots protest to being the most successful libertarian-socialist nation the Earth has ever seen, with the highest standard of life, strongest multiculturalism, and powerful military of any entity in the world.

I commend InfinityWard for accidentally creating the the best, most aspirational, most hopeful model of a leftist nation in pop media culture to date, as much as they tried to pass them as antagonists.

Something something leftist villainy.

Perhaps in 2019, weirdly, we should all aspire to be this faction in a Call of Duty game: Unrelenting to imperalists, vigilant in the protection of our people, and solidarity crossing any border necessary, overcoming differences in race, religion, nationality, and even praxis.

¡Viva la Federación!*

*Because I only have a Spanish friend who can translate for me. Many other languages, indigenous and European-descent, are available in The Federation.

End thread!

Also don't misconstrue this as Ghosts actually being "secretly intelligent" because this is more or less a fiction conspiracy theory we've drafted here for a lark. just watch a playthrough if you're interested, lol