If you had no rights whatsoever...?

Question

...to *anything*, even to the simplest act of kindness and respect, would it dull your enjoyment of those things, or bring them into sharper focus and make them more precious?

Would you be more eager to experience everything life had to offer and feel more "realness" in your experiences, or would it make you afraid to go out and experience much of anything because your freedom would be a sham? (The collar is still there.)

Would occasional denial and deprivation of just about everything but the bare basics for survival, followed by restoration of everything, renew the sweetness of even the simplest of experiences, or destroy you inside?

In short... if you were in this situation, and were powerless to escape or fight, how do you believe you would cope emotionally? Do you believe you can find beauty in the darkness, or would it consume you?

Answer 1

I feel that it depends on.. did I grow up having no rights so that I'm very used to it? or was I  taken out of a place of freedom and had all rights revoked?

Situation A, I'd probably be able to adapt to it quite easily, but I'd live every day feeling like there was something that I was missing out on. I'd desire for life to feel more real.

Situation B, I'd go insane if I didn't break the rules a little to get my own freedom. I'd treasure so many more things that I take for granted now. Things would be so robotic that I'd need some realness. I'd still try my best to bite my tongue if I was being ordered around, but one can only go so far.

Answer 2

You know, before I read the second paragraph I was about to blast you for asking a dumb question mainly because I was thinking, "Of course you'd feel this way! Why are they asking this?" BUT, then I read on and you know what? You have some good thoughts going on here!

I write historical fiction and this makes me think of American slavery (antebellum). And I am thinking, the mentalities your pose would happen to different people, but both of these mentalities would happen! One example is Harriet Tubman. She was a slave who escaped and managed to save many others. In the books written about her, and what quotes and stories people have patched together about her, she talks of how angry and bitter she felt at some points while being enslaved, but then once she escaped, she wanted to have all that life had to offer.

So, both observations make sense to me... It pays to read on!

Answer 3

read Gulag by Anne Applebaum- people really become dehumanized and look out for themselves. there's a few passages I will never forget- this one prisoner/slave, starts to drop dead in the snow- before the body hits the ground- people were like- I got the shoes, the coat is mine. then the person opens their eyes, and sits up one last time to say it's cold -then he/she dies. the group then walks away from the dead corpse.

there are other instances where - one would think what cold blooded animals- but if you read the whole story and other books related to it- you feel bad and see these people are just normal,and they were reduced to this state. the worst part is the kids. they became totally savage. the adult prisoners- who should have felt worse for the children- actually despised/feared them.

and after the whole gulag system was abandoned-- society was left with alot of savage street children - they hated and didn't know what to do with

Answer 4

Nope. Ideally, we'd find the bright side, but realistically, we'd be so angry and we'd lash out and we'd need to call out and make others see the misery that we were in. It's impossible to be idealistic when the humanity in you is starving for something that it can't get.

If you've ever been through any rough life event that spoiled life for let's say at least half a year, or if you've ever been in dire financial need for a lengthened period of time when the people around you were doing the things you used to love doing or once dreamed about doing, then think hard about those times.

In my experience, I can say I always looked for the beauty and the brightest side of things I could, and whenever it was possible to 'forget' about how bad things were I would do so, but deep down, emotionally, I was suppressing some nasty bitter feelings toward certain things about life that made me lash out like never before, whether it was at people who I felt deserved it, or at people who I made myself believe deserved it.

I went from being the happy and confident one, to just pretty d**n cold, and that coldness is still in me, even today whenever I feel I need to access it. The bitterness that was once there is there for good. I can only hope that one day something beautiful enough comes along in my life that will truly refresh me, and I think that will happen. So there IS hope in the fact that I think some pains can be completely killed and then recycled with the right touch. But if you're asking if those pains can be risen above WITHOUT any rights to anything in this life, then no... we'd make the best of it but we'd be in a very bad state inside I believe.

That's just cold, hard reality. Without the cold, harsh, and inescapably brutal things in life, we could never appreciate the value of the opposite.

I hope that was clear enough. Good question.