#Zero Sum

[51kas81]

Mitch Pileggi in The X-Files S4.E21 Zero Sum (1997)

#the x files #zero sum #walter skinner #assistant director walter s. skinner #mitch pileggi #david duchovny #fox mulder

[bald-heaven]

Mitch Pileggi in The X-Files S4.E21 Zero Sum (1997)

#the x files #zero sum #walter skinner #assistant director walter s. skinner #mitch pileggi

[x-files-scripts]

The X-Files - “Zero Sum”

Written by Howard Gordon & Frank Spotnitz

March 10, 1997 (WHITE)

Deleted scenes: Skinner finds the entomologist alive...

Deleted scene: Mulder calls Scully at the hospital...

Deleted scenes: Skinner tries to get to the site of the bee attack...

#the x files #x files #scripts #txf #season 4 #txf s4 #txf bts #zero sum #script #david duchovny #gillian anderson #mitch pileggi #skinner #mulder #scully #deleted scenes #screenwriting #tvwriting

[freckleslikestars]

The X File: Zero Sum

Living Polaroid Project: 94/219

#we're so close to season five guys! #zero sum #<-- an episode that stresses me out for a reason I don't know how to explain #YOU'RE A LIAR! #but also I do kind of want to give Skinner a hug in this episode #living polaroid project #living polaroid project season four #my gifs #xf gifs

[marlenapinsandneedles]

I want to punch Walter Skinner a lot in seasons 1 through 3 for being mean to Scully and Mulder so much but seeing all he goes through in season 4 to try and save Scully is so sad. He loved them so much.

#txf #txf s4 #txf rewatch #the x files #mulder and scully #walter skinner #Zero Sum

[thatfragilecapricorn30]

zero sum is such a funny episode because the whole time skinner is so frustrated that mulder is actually a good agent. like he read too many case reports about vampires and ghosts and clearly forgot that mulder is a genius profiler and investigator 😂

#love seeing my smart boy figuring shit out #zero sum #the x files #my.txf

[soul-our-punk]

What are we even doing here?

The more people who understand there are ways to meet your needs, and not at the cost of someone else's needs, the better. Particularly if they don't hold bigoted views which lead to silly things like going out of your way to prevent someone else from having their needs met. Making the world worse for someone because you don't know how to make it better for yourself. Life's hard enough without wasting your precious time, energy, and creative force on how to afflict your neighbor.

For my part, I like to think there are more people in the world who like the concept of mutual aid and are merely making do with the current capitalistic-zero-sum game until something better crystalizes--in spite of the system shouting so loud about itself, good or ill, in an effort to make it difficult to hear alternatives. Which is why I believe "solidarity over charity" is such an approachable proposition, regardless of the generation to which you have been ascribed by whomever does the sorting. I mean, Peter Singer was talking about this in the 70's. You have an obligation as a member of society to take measures to preserve wellness and uplift the vulnerable--give until giving any more would cause you harm. You get to decide where that dividing line is based on your finances, energy levels, social support network, available time, mobility, etc. As long as you set that line earnestly, then you are fulfilling the obligation which entitles you to the benefits of other member's solidarity.

The thing is, we're cornered. Restricted in analyses of all the options we could use to compose more humane systems. Isolated from what we could become, by a constant stream of shock doctrines induced by manufactured-disasters. So, mutual aid remains considered a coping strategy, rather than a cultural driving force for fundamental change, for the time being. Though, there's the rub, in that if there is always a new disaster, there is always a perceived need of relief prioritized over sustainable growth, which means the mutual aid has to become a political driving force to get ahead of the source of constructed woes.

I say that while also being painfully aware that discussion of any ideology beyond the current paradigm is defined by capitalistic expectations. Alternatives are invariably framed as monstrous inevitabilities in the supposed disastrous event of dismantlement, at least until they're cut open and adapted to fulfill a material component requisite to quell dissenting voices. "We can have social programs, yes, but it's not socialism, socialism is bad. Capitalism is good, which is why you have these social programs. Ignore other countries that have been providing more of these benefits for much longer, and devote more relative resources." Every other ideology is either fodder to be exploited for some new way to market what we have, or is dismissed/reviled for significant lack of traits that we already have in the devil we know. Which is very convenient for finding more fodder. Why would we want any system we make from here on anything like capitalism? We have to keep in mind that we are not looking for a better release appeal to make before an intractable captor. We are looking for the strategy that will attract enough confidence from fellow captives. To disenchant the captivated of the all consuming capitalist notion that virtue is derived from the free market's advertised high proficiency value generation.

What value? It definitely lets select groups pool resources, making their coffers more "valuable" in a fiscal sense, but where is the Value in that for a society? If its only claim to fame is that it can move numbers around faster and wont judge you for neglecting people's needs, then what does it actually do for us collectively that another system can't? Capitalism's whole premise relies on you not having enough, on you believing that there is not enough out there, that the only way you can have enough is to get there before someone else gets it and you're left with The Zero-Sum. But why would we take that on blind faith? What if there is a way to play the Positive-Sum game and we're just sitting on that because we assume its a fantasy?

How tragic to realize that the whole time you were suffering an obscene Sallie Mae loan, there could have been a non-tuition option. How mortifying to learn the medical bills that were artificially inflated by the relationship between the hospital and your insurance could have been handled by the taxes you already pay. The rent that serves as your proof of earning the right to live, assuaged with universal basic income. The chronic anxiety, stress, and aggression born from a machine of impersonal jobs that can leverage social class and basic needs to claim a third of your life for the least possible compensation possible; replaced with all the possibilities of a well rested mind and body.

Why would we as a collective people ever opt-in to the gamified social hierarchy?

What are we even still doing here?

#this was originally supposed to be a two sentence post #solarpunk #anti capitalism #mutual aid #zero sum #positive sum #solidarity not charity #universal healthcare #universal basic income #free education #right to housing #Also the internet should be recognized as an essential utility

[randomfoggytiger]

Skinner episodes are so underrated.

(Also known as: Skinner doing his little Among Us tasks before realizing he'd been set up by someone else to take the fall. And, if we're going by that logic, Mulder is on an avenging quest because Scully was the first person to be murdered in Among Us.)

#txf #Zero Sum #S4 #Mulder #Skinner #xf vid #xf fanvid

[lifewithaview]

Mitch Pileggi in The X-Files (1993) Zero Sum

S4E21

Mulder is contacted by a local police detective who thinks he has an x-files type case for him to look into. A U.S. postal worker who had sneaked into the washroom for a cigarette was killed by numerous bee stings, though there were no bees to be found. Before Mulder can even begin to look into the case, someone is going around erasing the evidence in the washroom and even some of the blood samples taken from the victim. The person doing the erasing however is Assistant Director Skinner who seems to have made a pact with the Cigarette Smoking Man.

*Gillian Anderson, who appeared in more episodes of The X-Files than all other cast members, took one week off from the series to film her role in The Mighty (1998). The writers decided to create another story centered around Skinner and his involvement in the deal made with the cigarette smoking man to cure Scully's cancer, as alluded to in Memento Mori (1997).

#The X-Files #tv series #Zero Sum #S4E21 #Mitch Pileggi #Skinner #bees #killer bees #destroying evidence #smallpox #Cigarette Smoking Man #conspiracy #crime #drama #mystery #supernatural #scifi #just watched

[enthusiastofshit]

#Dwemer #source: ssethtzeentach #source: YouTube #chimposting #zero sum #zerosumposting #nirnposting #histposting #tes iii: morrowind #tes memes #the elder scrolls memes #elder scrolls memes #clearing out camera roll #clearing out phone #phone dump #morrowind #Morrowind memes

[palephx]

For those wishing to engage me on the topic, I do NOT believe in a "Two-State Solution." I think anyone hiding behind that particular fig leaf is disingenuous and/or facile. However, this is not going where you think it is. I despise Netanyahu. He wraps himself in the Israeli flag even more frequently than Trump with the US one.

I don't discuss the 2SS, because it stems from the tedious homily that, "Good fences make good neighbors." The Israelis have been great fence-builders...until exactly a week ago. I have very little idea how that happened, and we may never know. Obviously, we're not much better informed, seven days later. I am immensely concerned that the current Prime Minister and the IDF are cloaking themselves in the unassailable vestments of the Holocaust and antisemitism, as it seems clearer that they're about to reenact that atrocity, with zero sense of irony, at all.

Additionally, I'm not saying that I completely disbelieve every news anchor, particularly when they're interviewing Jews but not Arabs, unless they're an academic or NGO. I just don't trust or like the WAY they're talking, or how a corporation like Comcast, for example, is editorializing.

When you know a fair amount on a particular subject—not just because you've been "indoctrinated" about it since early childhood—but because you stayed curious and investigated things that you didn't agree with, then you're keen to a lot of nuances. Specific vocabulary, leading questions, and production decisions about guests and so-called "expert testimony." These are just a few, and not really my point.

I suppose you could say I'm for the "Zero-State Solution." Unity, not division; freedom to travel and work, not a jam-packed ghetto where one people technically aren't occupiers anymore, but can still flip off the power whenever they want.

These inequities are grotesque, and most assuredly cannot be resolved in the short term...but that doesn't mean that no one should try, at all, ever.

I realize that I, myself, am presently over-simplifying, but this is for the sake of speed and clarity. We have already run out of time.

Antisemitism, as well as anti-Muslim sentiment, should be fought everywhere, every day. Yes, Hamas wants to "kill all Jews, everywhere, every day," but they are currently trying to cloak themselves in pity for apartheid, which is also wrong, everywhere, every day. I am not debating evil. When everybody is wrong, then I'll limit my hostility to a selfish, radical subset of people who kidnapped infants and shot grandmothers. Just here, and for today.

Tomorrow, I'll wake up and reconsider that. And the next day. Wherever I am, and with whatever I can understand.

#israel #war in israel #war in ukraine #hamas attack #two state solution #zero state solution #zero sum #horror #palephx #american jews #week of sadness #silence equals death #after careful consideration #palestina #im pale #shit or poison #unity government #apocalypse how

[51kas81]

Mitch Pileggi in The X-Files S4.E21 Zero Sum (1997)

#the x files #zero sum #walter skinner #assistant director walter s. skinner #mitch pileggi

[xfilesposterproject]

One of my new Patreon add-on prints available now: inspired by The X-Files episode “Zero Sum”. Available exclusively to patrons. Not a patron yet? Sign up at http://patreon.com/jjlendl.

#The X-Files #x-files #x files #the x files #xfiles #the xfiles #thexfiles #xf #txf #skinner #mulder #scully #david duchovny #gillian anderson #mitch pileggi #zero sum #tv #movies #poster #xfilesposterproject #library #fan art #x-files art #vintage #retro #design #horror #scifi #walter skinner

[thebeautifulfantastic]

me throughout the entirety of zero sum: SHOW ME SCULLY

#listen i know this episode was necessary to set up a lot of background mytharc information #but it was agonizing #because mulder is clearly losing his mind with worry for her #and so am i (but to a lesser extent because i know she doesn’t die) #belle speaks #txf liveblog #txf s4 #zero sum #belle liveblogs #the x files #meta finding tag

[all-eyes-lead-to-the-truth]

All Eyes Lead to the Truth | Zero Sum (4x21)

When Billy awoke, everything hurt. He could barely lift his eyelids, couldn’t remember the last thing he saw.

Screaming. Running. His friend scattering across the playground.

And buzzing bees. So many buzzing bees.

He heard people bustling around him, and he recognized their coats and scrubs. Mostly that smell. It was the same smell he remembered from when his dad died. Hospital smell.

He slowly twisted his neck to the right, and was horrified by the sight before him. In the next bed over was David from his class, his face covered in gross red bumps. He looked dead. 

Billy didn’t know what else to do. He started crying.

“Billy?”

A woman’s voice came from his left. It wasn’t familiar, but it was nice-sounding. He twisted his neck the other direction, warm tears spilling from his eyes, to see a pretty lady with blonde hair sitting next to him. She looked like a life-sized Barbie.

“Who are you?” he asked, his lip trembling. “Where’s my mom?”

The woman stood up and shushed him, looking around the room. “Billy, I need you to settle down. You’re okay. You’re safe.”

“But… David…” he started to cry again. Yeah, he shoved the second-grader around sometimes, but he’d never wanted anything like this. “Is he… gonna die?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Billy squeezed his eyes shut. When he could finally open them again, he took in his surroundings, and now he could see beds everywhere, kids everywhere. Gross red bumps everywhere. There were moms and dads crying, doctors pulling sheets over his classmates’ faces. It was a nightmare, it had to be. This couldn’t be real.

“Can you tell me what you saw?” the lady asked him.

“It was the bees,” he said. “There were billions of them, everywhere. Ms. Kemper always said if we ever got stung to tell a grownup, but…”

Screaming. Running. Everyone scattering across the playground, and Ms. Kemper…

Oh, no. Ms. Kemper.

He remembered now, his teacher had gone back through the swarm to save David. But David was dead. 

“Is Ms. Kemper dead, too?”

The Barbie lady was quiet, and he knew the answer. “Billy, I need to ask you a question,” she said gently. 

He shut his eyes. All he could see was Ms. Kemper, covered in a swarm of bees, screaming. Just last weekend he’d been over at Lucas’s house and they’d watched Candyman, even though he knew they weren't supposed to. And in the bathroom at lunchtime, they’d even tried to summon Candyman. Now this…

Was this all his fault?

“What else did you see, Billy?”

“I saw…” After Ms. Kemper, there was nothing. Had he passed out? Had the bees gotten him? Maybe he was dead too, and none of this was even happening.

“What happened to me?”

“I need to know if you saw anything,” she asked again. “When you went to recess, were there any men? Any strangers around you didn’t recognize?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“I need you to try, Billy. Try to remember. This is very important.”

He tried, thinking back past Ms. Kemper, past the screaming, past the bee stings…

“There was, I remember now,” he told her. “An older man. He asked me where the nearest mailbox was. There’s one right across the street from the playground.” He didn’t look like Candyman, he thought in relief.

She sat up straighter. “Was he carrying anything?”

“Yeah. Like… some envelope thingies, the kind Ms. Kemper puts our tests and stuff in.”

“What did he look like?”

Billy shrugged. “He was old.”

“That’s all you remember?”

“I don’t remember anything else besides his stinky cigarette.”

The Barbie lady stood. The look in her eyes was hard to understand. Billy didn’t know what was going on but he had the strangest feeling that everything he’d told her she already knew. And maybe he was imagining it, but she looked almost as scared as he felt.

“Thank you, Billy. You’ve been very helpful.” She turned to leave, but he reached out and grabbed her sleeve.

“Did he do this? The man?” What if it was Candyman in disguise?

“Of course not,” she said. “Get some rest, Billy.”

“Please,” he said to the lady, tugging at her sleeve. “Can you please find my mom?”

“She’ll be here soon,” she said. “You’re going to be okay.” Then she looked around the room full of weeping parents, and although she tried to hide it, he could see sadness on her face. “Everything is going to be okay.”

He watched her go, but before she left the room, some big men wearing camouflage came in. She went over to talk to them —a Barbie and a couple of G.I. Joes— and they all looked over towards him. Had he said something wrong?

A chill ran up his spine as the army guys approached him. They were big and scary.

“Billy Richardson?” one of them asked in a deep voice.

“Y-yes?”

“Your mom is on her way,” said the other, “but I’m sure you have a lot of questions. We’ve figured out what happened, and when you’re all better, you can tell your friends all about it.”

Billy listened intently as the men explained how the swarm of bees had migrated much further south than they were supposed to (he’d learned about that in school just this week!) but thanks to the brave efforts of the military, the swarm had been contained and eradicated. Whatever that meant.

“Chin up, little man,” one of them said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little pin. “This is a medal of honor. For exceptional bravery. You earned it.”

He leaned down, attached the pin to his hospital gown, and patted Billy on the head. Then the two men disappeared.

Read the rest of All Eyes Lead to the Truth on Archive of Our Own!

@admiralty-xfd

#all eyes lead to the truth #x files #fanfic #x files fanfic #mulder #scully #billy #zero sum #season four #s4

[thesubtlemadness]

#independent artist #ascap #industrial rock #rock music #thesubtlemadness #zero sum #survivalartrecords #live music