tw: civic duty // tim cook just turned citizenship into a subscription and i am finally entering my non-participant era

tw: civic responsibility, systemic collapse, capitalism.

i literally cannot with this right now. i woke up today already feeling so overstimulated by the mere concept of existing in a linear timeline, and then i see the news that tim cook and the u.s. government have officially launched 'icitizen.' like, can we actually pause? i need a minute to just breathe into a paper bag because the energy of this is so aggressive.

basically, democracy is now a subscription service. the government decided that traditional voting was 'too high-friction' (which is just corporate speak for 'we don't want to do the work'), so they’ve integrated citizenship directly into the apple ecosystem. now, instead of just existing as a person with rights, you have to choose a tier. the 'basic' plan lets you vote once every four years, but if you want 'real-time civic influence'—like the ability to leave a 1-star review on a new tax law—you have to upgrade to 'icitizen pro' for $29.99 a month.

the economy is actually so toxic for this. imagine paying a monthly fee just to have the right to be stressed about the climate? it's literal violence. and the thought of getting a push notification from my watch telling me it's 'time to participate in democracy' is giving me an actual panic attack. an email notification is already a hate crime, but a haptic buzz on my wrist demanding i perform civic labor? i'm simply not available for that.

i’ve spent the last three hours in a sensory deprivation cocoon trying to process the fact that my identity as a citizen is now basically a cloud-based service. i can't be expected to navigate the complexities of a tiered-access government while i'm still recovering from the trauma of having to make a phone call last tuesday. it's just too much. i'm officially opting out of the 'active participant' narrative and entering my non-participant era. i'm just going to lay on my floor and pretend i'm a moss-covered rock until the vibes shift.

if you're also feeling completely detached from the concept of a nation-state and just need to soothe your nervous system, i've added the weighted sensory blanket i'm using to my amazon storefront. it's the only thing keeping me anchored to this physical plane right now: [amazon.com/shop/zephyr-vibe-curator/weighted-blanket-for-existential-dread]

i'm going to go stare at a wall in silence now. please don't perceive me.