The System is Broken
Hello,
I am known in this sphere of the web as Foxxii. I am a 30 year old, gay, cisgendered man who suffers from bipolar disorder, autism, and addiction. Just figured I'd get the big stuff out of the way first, but I do want to make it known that I am not defined by these labels. These labels are the parts of a much, much larger whole that is infinitely greater than its parts. I hate to sound all "iam14andthisisverydeep", but I am a complex person with a ton of hobbies, interests, passions, loved ones, values, morals, and then some. I cannot be fit into some clinical, societally acceptable box that is insistent on defininig me with the terms they have chosen for me. The structure of society is inherently oppressive to anyone with my disorders, and I have faced so much discrimination due to them.
This is a disaster, for when a society criminalizes its citizens for its health problems we are effectively saying that being ill is a criminal offense. That because of circumstances I didn't ask for and never would if I had the choice, I have been ostracized from society and made into a pariah that doesn't "fit in" to the socially acceptable mold everyone is expected to conform to.
I have been to both county jail and state prison, serving a little over 3 years split up into multiple stays ("bids" as we call them) as a result of my mental illness being criminalized. I won't go into the gory details for fear of revealing my true identity, but I will say that the highest level of crime I committed was an M2, which stands for Misdeanor Second Class, not even the worst level of misdemeanor possible in my state of residence. I was 19 years old when I got in trouble and put on probation, but due to having just started my long, illustrious career as a professional junkie I could not pass a piss test. I think I passed maybe 2 or 3 the entire time I was on papers, a course of 9 years that was a neverending ping pong game of being bounced back and forth in and out of jail and rehab until finally they said "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!", and resentenced me to the maximum punishment possible for my crime: 1.5-3 years in state prison.
Do I need to explain how heinous this is? I, a young man who rarely hurt a fly and made a bad mistake while smoking crack for the first time (not violent, I have no violent charges), who was more of a harm to himself than anyone else, was placed into a high security state prison to be intermixed with the likes of murderers, rapists, home invaders, you get the gist. It completely changed my life, and it did nothing but the worst for my mental health problems.
The probation office in my county is known for being extremely petty and immature. Myself and many others have witnessed them literally laughing at whispered banter during court proceedings, have seen the look of glee on their face when they steal the rights and freedom from yet another small-time offender. Being such a small county, we don't have real crime. There's been one murder in the past 5 years or so, and it was headline news that everyone followed. The worst we get is people stealing property and reselling it at a loss for a quick buck and the occassional drug bust, which again is big news that we all know about. They got caught quick. It's hard to keep secrets in such a rural area. I can walk across my town in about 30-40 minutes from one end to the other. I'll probably see someone I passingly know. I may even stop and chat with someone for a bit if it's someone I know a little better. It's very likely. I come from a town where we all know each other and most of us are pretty nice and neighborly. Well, as long as you fit a certain image they're looking for, for you see, in small town rural Americana there's a few things the majority have in common:
They're all white. They're all middle class. They're all some sort of Christian. They're all straight and cisgender. They're all essentially straight edge or at the most smoke pot and drink. Big family issues are often made public knowledge through the dreaded grapevine, but the usual tactic is to do damage control as quickly as possible and sweep it uner the rug. we don't want to pay attention to any negativity now, do we? That would look bad, and Gods forbid we don't fit into the perfect image of the majority class.
But I digress, despite my town and its flaws, I love it. I love how peaceful it is yet I can still find the drugs and insanity I so desperately crave. I love how I don't have to worry about being mugged when I walk to the 24/7 convenience store (the only 24/7 store in the entire town and I just happen to live down the road from it). I can walk across town without the fear police may drive by and decide to harass me, at least, most of the time. As long as you look normal and aren't attracting attention, 99% of the time the cops will drive right by ya. Which I guess is what the average person expects. It's weird to me because throughout my many years of depravity I have been brutalized and discriminated against by the police force over and over again, the justice system as a whole, really, even though the worst I was doing was walking down the street and just happened to have a bit of paraphernalia on me. Other times I had active warrants for not reporting to probation, which I understand fully why they'd stop and arrest me, it as after all the rules you're expected to follow and their job to enforce them. Yet, police have a certain tendency to abuse their power and are more often than not are insanely narcissistic and grossly entitled. They view anyone "lower class" as scum and treat them differently than they would the middle class, white man. Lower class individuals are subjected to police brutality, even moreso if they're a POC. And the worst part is, a good chunk of the times, as in like 99% of the time, the cop gets away with literal murder while I get royally fucked and sent to mingle with violent gangbangers for failing a piss test.
How the fuck is that justice? How the fuck is that equality? How the fuck is that due process?
The criminal justice system in America is a rigged game of catch the poor, incarcerate the mentally ill, discriminate against the minority. It is literally designed to push the people the elite have deemed "good" up to the very tippy top and drag the "bad" all the way down into the deepest pits of Hell. It is rigged. It is an oppressive system designed for mass incarceration of people deemed "undesirable" by the elite ruling class of society, and the majority of the public goes along with this and agrees because "better them than me", fooling themselves into thinking it's the proper way to be when in reality they're terrified if they were to ever say something they'd come after them next.
We are so afraid as a society to stand up for ourselves and fight back against the ruling class that has oppressed us into shitty jobs that don't pay enough that force us to live paycheck-to-paycheck and make hard decisions like "electric or food?" Meanwhile the ruling class have so much money it's practically theoretical. They could literally buy anything in the entire world they wanted and still have so much money it wouldn't make a difference. It is fucking disgusting. They are nothing more than dragons perched atop their mound of stolen treasure they pillaged from the peasants after torching their village. Except a real dragon doesn't blame the peasants for it.
NO ONE NEEDS A BILLION DOLLARS.
NO ONE NEEDS MULTIPLE MANSIONS OR EVEN ONE
WHY DO THEY GET TO HOARD WEALTH AND NEVER STRUGGLE YET MY CUPBOARDS ARE ALMOST BARE
So I'll say it real loud for the people in the back:
FUCK THE RICH. FUCK THE RULING CLASS. FUCK EVERY POLITICIAN RIGHT IN THE URETHRA. FUCK EVERY CROOKED CEO AND CORRUPT BANKER. FUCK THE IRS. FUCK THE DEA. FUCK THE CIA. FUCK THE FBI. FUCK THE POLICE. FUCK THE COURT SYSTEMS. FUCK THE JUDGES. FUCK THE PROBATION AND PAROLE OFFICERS. FUCK THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. FUCK THE PUBLIC DEFENDERS. FUCK THE WHOLE SYSTEM WITH A RED HOT IRON ROD. THIS SYSTEM IS OPPRESSIVE AND DISCRIMINATORY. THIS SYTEM SETS YOU UP TO FAIL. THIS SYSTEM IS DESIGNED TO MAKE YOU LOSE.
And that is the end of this ant-establishment rant.