I watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report and they really get me to start thinking.
Like I never really thought about it before, but the amount of people being sent to prison every year is more than just private prisons gathering money for the Capitalist Overlords. It’s also a way to rip away the rights of minorities. Someone gets locked in prison for a stupid reason, and instead of receiving probation and a fine, they get locked away in a horrible place.
It takes away a man’s humanity and brings more chance that they’ll commit a crime again. To lock someone up with no rehabilitation program in place is ridiculous; it would be like grounding a kid, and not following up with a talk or a punishment. Just “Go to your room and stay there,” but with brutal murderers and rapists and all around criminal minded individuals in the surrounding rooms. And at the same time it takes away their right to vote.
I never paused to consider what the voting thing could mean. That it might be a plot to take away the rights of less privileged citizens. Having people imprisoned for ridiculous reasons not only lines peoples’ pockets, but it takes away the voice of the people. And when I look at it that way, I get a suspicious feeling about the rising number of people being sentenced to prison every year.
link: Cracked’s take on prison – http://www.cracked.com/article_20775_7-horrifying-things-you-didnt-want-to-know-about-prison.html
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I’mma write a story that focuses on crime, punishment, and the overshadowing effect of the elite. I mean, that’s basically the backbone of my State Rule stories. A whole system of government that seems so harsh and overbearing that it’s outrageous to see, but it had to come around from somewhere.
Paradigm Shift is a State Rule story, but the world was decimated by zombies and plague. It’s not a solid representation of the World I’m building, so I don’t bring it into consideration.
My other State Rule stories, however, involve histories that mirror our own situation. Capitalism and the free market decimate the world, and individuals form together in new groups centered around the rights of the people. That’s where the Families come from. Members are not all related to each other, though some people are born into a Family like the Altredes, the Lothams, etc.
There were all kinds of unfair happenstances that led into State Rule societies, and now I’m considering how our prison system works helped bring about the world I’m building.
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Seriously, if you want to make up stories, keep your eyes and ears open. Your brain will take things in, and even without you noticing it, stories will build themselves in your subconscious.
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Check me out at Kimichee: Free Reads.
– Shorts and Squares: Jagged Blade was supposed to be out on the 14th, but I went back to fiddling with it and screwed it up. There’s a reason I don’t give hard self-pub release days. I’m terrible at being able to let it go.