Not to exaggerate, and sure, some of this is probably depression-related, but I find everything that is happening, lately, to just be... Exhausting.
Particularly the "coof" shit. Australia, where I live, is ground zero for quite literally the most oppressive approach in any supposedly "democratic" country (yes, some parts of the US are more restrictive in some ways, and yes, Ardernistan exists, but, overall, I'm sorry, but I would have to say we are worse), and it is just... EVERYWHERE.
Like, I try to get offline, I really do, but I am not kidding when I say it is everywhere, here. The TV (idiot box), of course, is utterly saturated with it. The newspapers are, naturally, too. When I leave the house, pretty much to do anything, now, I have to "check in" on my fucking smart phone, even just to buy bread, or I am literally breaking the law. This is all anyone talks about now (well, this and Afghanistan). This DOMINATES our fucking lives.
And I can't travel anywhere. Hell, I can barely even go interstate. The prevailing attitude in this country has always been "love it or leave", but now we can't even fucking LEAVE...
So... I'm just so very tired. "Get off the internet" isn't working. "Talk to someone, then"...
Oh sure, let me go talk to my doomer parents, then, who are so brainwashed by the news and their own agendas that they literally regurgitate it all word for word, and then yell me down when I try to literally SHOW them it is wrong. Or how about my girlfriend, who is so depressed, and so anxious, now, that she barely goes out except to work and to walk her dog (much like me), let alone bearing in mind that we live hundreds of miles apart, anyway... Or maybe my grandfather. Oh wait, I can't, because I'm not even allowed to visit him in his nursing home, because, get this, I haven't had the fucking FLU vaccination yet. Not Covid. The flu. Because they fucking can...
So yeah, I'm sorry, I just... I hope y'all are doing better than me, in your "righteous anger", because personally, after having learned that my country is fucking shooting rescue dogs (see the post yesterday), and laughing that "Haha, this is because of Covid", I'm just... Beyond exhausted by it all. And I'm not sure how much longer I can keep living like that, let alone all the other clown world bullshit that is going on, around, and in some cases allegedly unrelated to, the sniffles... :-(
I'll see how long anger can keep someone alive, soon, I suppose. Because there's not much else that burns me enough to keep the overwhelming sadness and sheer frustration at bay...
And if you don't have a smart phone..?
This has been my plan for well over a decade. Full speed ahead as a Luddite.
This is a good question, actually, but essentially it depends on who you are dealing with...
I doubt the state can force you to buy a smartphone, and is unlikely to give you one for free, so... I dunno.
Generally you just get refused entry, yelled at, and if you resist in any way they threaten to call the cops...
This is Australia, right, so they wouldn't arrest you for "not having a smartphone" specifically. They're smarter than that. "Disturbing the peace". "Attempted trespass". "Offend, harass, humiliate". It's not hard for the "powers that be" to find something dumb to arrest you over, just because you want to go for fucking lunch, and you don't have/don't want to use a fucking piece of shit smartphone, lol... But mostly, it's fear.
Side note: I heard a story yesterday of a guy who kept being overtaken by hoons on a country road, going twice the speed limit, and trying to run him off the road. This happened regularly. So he decided "Fuck it", and filmed them on his phone as it happened. Then he took the footage to the cops.
Guess what they fucking did? Sure, they fined the "dangerous driver" hoons, when they tracked them down. Gave them something like an $150 fine. But then they ALSO fined the GUY WHO WAS MAKING THE REPORT, twice that amount, for "driving while using his phone".
That's what we're dealing with, here. That's in my state. The police, and laws, here, are absolutely fucked, and obviously they rely on a bought court, and/or you not being able to afford a good lawyer... :-(
Slang?
This wouldn't be much of a remedy, but perhaps they have some paper license for this purpose? It's bad enough getting the "papers, please" treatment, but being expected to put special software on your phone is a big ask.
I'm wondering now if the cops have been hiring extra recently, there. I do not suggest this, but it sounds like a path of low resistance is to join the bad guys. I'm not a fan of trying to fix broken systems while becoming a part of them. I'm sure you'd feel terrible being compelled to treat your neighbors like shit, besides.