It's interesting and a bit tragic how rhetoric around "consent" is used to get us to enforce austerity and cruelty. The rich man did not consent to be taxed, for instance, and the bully did not consent to treating their victims with kindness and respect. Consent is a seductive trap, something that seems unconditionally good, and anyone opposing it is unconditionally bad, and that's how they use it to get you to consensually screw each other over.

Consider the difference between a cheat and a thief. If you experience buyer's regret, how is that different from having your purse nicked? You're still left worse off than you were before, and your attacker still gains power and influence at your expense. Actual thievery is a tiny, tiny portion of the harm in our lives, and the vast majority is people pushing you into things that aren't any good for you, claiming it's your obligation, calling it a social contract, even calling you the thief, for not obeying their dominance.

The only difference between a thief, and a businessman who ruins your life and leaves you crying and homeless with unpayable debt, untreated wounds, and crippling depression... is consent. The billionaires make sure you consent, in ignorance or under duress, every step of the way until you're their loyal slave, or ground to dust under their boot. And in your suffering, you agreed to everything that led up to that point, so how can you hold anyone accountable other than yourself?

Now consider the situation, where you don't give a shit about consent. Suddenly you have every reason to fight back against your oppression, and demand an equal shot at a decent life. If I nonconsensually shove cash into your pocket, there's no problem there, least of all lack of consent. The problem is the abuse, the manipulation, the unequal opportunity, the cruelty of the few authoritarians lording over the many. If you eliminate that from your life, the presence of consent, or lack thereof, makes practically no difference.

So please don't talk to me about fucking consent.

#rant #politics