Venting Life is a jail if you aren't allowed to leave

[Darkover]

if life is a jail and there's no easy exit, what's left? Some people try to find meaning, distractions, or just ways to make the prison more bearable. Others just endure because they have no choice.

Borders, passports, and all these systems of control make the whole world feel like one big open-air prison. You're born into a system you never agreed to, forced to play by its rules just to survive, and even movement is restricted unless you have the right papers, money, or status.

You didn't choose to be born, yet you're stuck here with no real way out.
You have to work, eat, sleep, and keep yourself alive, even if you don't want to.
Governments, laws, money, and society control what you can and can't do. Even your own body and brain can be a prison,
If you don't play by the rules (work, pay taxes, obey laws), you face consequences, just like in an actual prison.
People expect you to behave a certain way, fit into roles, and follow paths you might not want
The only way out (death) is painful, uncertain, and blocked by laws and social stigma.
You're trapped inside a body that gets sick, ages, and has needs you can't ignore. If your brain or body doesn't function right , that's another level of restriction.
You have to follow laws, work for money, obey authority, and deal with social pressures, even if you don't want to.
The world is the supermax you can't leave the planet, and even moving within it requires permission (passports, visas, money). You're just stuck here until you die.

It's like being in solitary confinement inside a prison inside a fortress. No real freedom, just different levels of restriction. And the worst part? Most people don't even realize they're locked up.

 

[Eudaimonic]

Idk if you're familiar with Sarah Perry's work, but she argues that the notion of "free disposal" is entirely a myth - that the idea of being able to freely and easily exit (e.g., by jumping off a building) in this society is laughable.

Natalists sometimes attempt to justify their decision to procreate by stating that anyone who doesn't like it here can just exit, but that is simply false.

She goes into detail about what a true 'free disposal' society would look like.

I think her work would resonate with a lot of people here.

 

[Electra]

And the worst part? Most people don't even realize they're locked up.

Ignorance is bliss.

 

[Forever Sleep]

And the worst part? Most people don't even realize they're locked up.

Is that the worst part though? Is it actually worse to not realise it's a prison- maybe ever? Surely, those people are more able to enjoy life by telling themselves something else?

As a personal example- when were you happiest? When you were concentrating on computer programing or, nihilism? Sorry to sound cruel. I realise it's life and health issues that have shafted you. But, for the pro-life 'normies' out there- is life really worse for them because they're too distracted to realise they're in a prison and, they possibly brought their children into it also? I would have thought it easier to cope with life's shit when you're not constantly railing at things you can't change.

It would be different that- if by realising we're all trapped here, it would cause a revolution. But, would it? I don't know. I think even happier people are aware on some level that they are wage slaves. An awful lot of working people complain about their jobs and their well paid masters but- what can we do about it?

 

[Pluto]

 

[mikgazer6]

Is that the worst part though? Is it actually worse to not realise it's a prison- maybe ever? Surely, those people are more able to enjoy life by telling themselves something else?

For the 'pro life normies' ignorance is bliss but they are also the ones perpetuating suffering by perpetuating life.

An awful lot of working people complain about their jobs and their well paid masters but- what can we do about it?

There will always be complaining because no one will ever be completely happy except in a utopia. If (likely impossible) that world is achieved, then all that would be left is a meaningless existence of no desire that leaves no suffering to overcome. I can't give my direct answer because it might break forum rules.

 

[Forever Sleep]

There will always be complaining because no one will ever be completely happy except in a utopia. If (likely impossible) that world is achieved, then all that would be left is a meaningless existence of no desire. I can't give my direct answer because it might break forum rules.

Interesting point. No contrast either- no suffering. So, would they even realise they were in utopia if it were the 'norm' and they didn't know anything different? Would they be able to appreciate health and wealth if they'd never known illlness and poverty?

 

[SufferingInDenmark]

this world is hell

 

[Michelstaedter]

As a writer named Albert Caraco said, this world could have been a paradise but it ended up (and will end up) being a hell for the next generations, just like everything you say.
Another writer named Andrés Caicedo had that idea, in fact he wrote a book entitled "Mi cuerpo es una celda" (my body is a prison), precisely because we are tied to everything around us, but not as a kind of symbiosis or harmonious relationship, but rather like a chain tied to the neck or a steel ball tied to the foot.