life on the outside ain't what it used to be
The eyes are everywhere. A Ring camera goes up in my apartment. I can’t do shit anymore without someone watching. Foucault’s ghost resides in my dreams. Everything is a fucking prison…
What’s the point of following laws if we’re already in prison? Genuinely asking this. Some people talk about going ape shit on the regular but don’t actually do it. Maybe I’m one of them. I’m a hypocrite, but being a hypocrite doesn’t make you wrong it just makes you a coward. Maybe I’m not a hypocrite and I’m just not willing to admit to anything I’ve done. What are you a cop? Oh, look! Another Ring camera went up in my apartment! This one watches the second floor elevator! What an important job for such a small device!
I think about the Adult Swim cartoon, Superjail, sometimes. Remember Superjail? What a delightful little benadryl overdose that show was! I always loved how, at the end of every episode, the very plot structure would just break down into a clusterfuck of ultra-violent sequences that always had some new method of human mutilation I had never considered before. Oh, another Ring camera went up while I was talking about Superjail…
They say TV and video games make kids violent. I, personally, think having everyone constantly watching you makes you violent. Picture this, if you will, you’re just a little snot nosed fuck just out enjoying your beautiful summer day. Maybe you’re out playing basketball with your friends. Perhaps, you’re out on your bikes? Oh, are you one of the cool kids that skateboard maybe? Well, too fucking bad. A bunch of rapist, fascist fuck-faced dudebros who peaked in high school (assuming they ever even peaked at all!) are now arresting your dad because he overstayed a work visa once or some shit (maybe he literally did nothing at all except have a Spanish last name and brown skin!). How did they find him, you ask? Well they got him by scanning your face into a database using an AI update in your neighbor’s Ring camera. Is it totally possible your neighbor did this knowingly? Who fucking knows because they’ll just push these updates quietly without telling anyone. That’s the thing; they just fucking do this and we’re all left oblivious. It’s not always a tearjerker Super Bowl commercial.
One thing Superjail kind of misses the mark on is, obviously, its trans representation, but it’s not as bad as you would think just by looking at the cover. Obviously, there’s Alice’s appearance. It’s… well, it’s basically the over masculinized caricature that most of us audibly groan at. She is literally the shitpost troonjack but like even more buff. However, name me a character in the show that commands more respect from every other character than her. Numerous times there are moments where characters deride her for her gender identity and they almost always meet an extremely gruesome end for it. It’s weird. She’s incredibly well respected in the text, but not in the images. I kind of fuck with her in a weird sense because of this. Don’t get me wrong, I see any of you make a character that looks even remotely like her and your ass is beyond dead, but I can respect enough of what the writing room was trying to do with her. A very very VERY tentative pass, but I am watching what you fucks do outside of this and I am not trusting y’all within several feet of me. Another camera is up and running by the way…
They’re all fucking watching me. I can’t take it anymore. I feel like I’m going insane. I see the Flock cameras on the streets. I see the Ring cameras on the fucking doors in my building. I can’t take it. Eyes upon eyes upon eyes upon eyes. They’re all looking at me. I don’t like being observed. I never wanted to be born into prison. I just want to be at peace. Leave me the fuck alone...