times like these

let's get weirded out together

i walk past at least six weed dispensaries a day in new york.
some of them sell mushrooms too.
some have marble countertops. some have neon signs that say things like “higher self.”

and yet - there are people still in prison for the possession of weed.
not even distribution. not even intent to sell.
just having it.

and i’m not even trying to make some radical political point right now.
i’m just confused bro.

how is this not weirder to us?

how are we not all walking around disoriented by the fact that a thing can be a felony in one zip code
and a business model in another?

that someone’s life can be destroyed for the exact same action another person profits from.
openly. legally.
with a cute font and a loyalty punch card.

it’s not just about weed.
it’s about how crime is not really about the act.
it’s about the context.
the person.
the politics.
the profit.

i’m still getting used to crossing the street when technically i’m not supposed to and the light is red (in front of a cop mind you) in new york because that’s just.. what everyone does… in new york….

crime is spectrum

yes, we all agree murder is wrong.
yes, we all agree child abuse is wrong.
yes, some things are universally horrifying.

but most of what we call “crime” lives in the gray.

stealing.
trespassing.
substance use.
protesting.
survival.

what do we do when the law punishes need, but protects greed?

i think the weirdest part is that we know this.

we know that people who embezzle millions don’t see the inside of a jail cell.
we know people sit in prison for decades over nonviolent drug charges.

and yet we keep looking the other way.

maybe because it’s easier.
maybe because if we admit the system is broken, we have to ask what that says about us for following it.

there’s a kind of mental numbness we develop around injustice.
like spiritual callouses.
because to really feel it all would wreck us.
so instead we compartmentalize.
we normalize and we move on.

but i don’t want to get used to this.

i don’t want to live in a world where i can walk past a luxury weed boutique
knowing that someone else is waking up in a cage for the same thing
and call that normal.

i guess i’m just asking:

what happens to the soul of a society when it stops pretending to care about fairness?

there were times when it was illegal to be gay.
to be married to someone outside your race.
to leave your husband.
to get an abortion.
to be undocumented.
(to still be undocumented.)

there were times when it was criminal to read
if you were enslaved.
or to vote
if you were a woman.
or to protest
if you were black.

there still are.

and so i ask again - how is this not weirder to us?

how do we keep treating the law like a fixed moral compass
when it clearly spins with every administration, every agenda, every economic incentive?

legality is not the same as morality.
some of the most harmful things in the world have been perfectly legal.
and some of the most courageous acts - illegal.

so maybe the question isn’t what is crime?
maybe it’s who benefits from punishment?
maybe it’s whose pain are we used to ignoring?

because if slavery can be legal
and helping someone survive can be a felony
and smoking weed can be both a prison sentence and a tax write-off -

then wtf does justice even mean?

it also makes me wonder what we do today that might be illegal in the future. i have some guesses:

• killing billions of animals a year for food, even when alternatives exist.
  future generations might look back and say:
  “wait… you had the science to create alternatives to meat but chose slaughterhouses instead?”

• how social media platforms are designed to hijack attention, polarize populations, and exploit insecurities.
  we might one day have “psychological sovereignty” laws -
  where manipulating behavior at scale for profit becomes a rights violation.

• one day, destroying ecosystems, clear-cutting forests, or emitting beyond a carbon threshold could carry criminal charges - especially for corporations.
  ecocide is already being considered as a crime in some international courts.

• companies owning patents on genes, charging for access to life-saving treatment, or using genetic data without full informed consent.

• controlling access to clean drinking water for profit might be considered a violation of basic human rights.
  imagine future courts saying: “they sold water?? like… to each other??”

• it might become criminal to own multiple vacant properties while people sleep on sidewalks. one day the phrase “unhoused in a wealthy nation” might sound as dystopian as it actually is.

• constant tracking, facial recognition, data extraction without consent.
  what we now call “security” could one day be redefined as a civil rights abuse.
  we might get a digital bill of rights that changes everything.

• it’s possible that a future society might define access to high-quality education as a legal right. deliberately underfunding public schools or zoning kids into broken systems could be considered neglect - or worse.

• it’s already deeply contested, but future legal systems might reclassify prison labor as involuntary servitude, especially when it benefits private corporations.
  

we’re not as evolved as we think we are.

the future is def going to look at us weird.

i don’t know.

i’m not saying i have the answers.
i still jaywalk.
i still eat meat (sometimes).
i still scroll past injustice.

but i’m trying to pay attention.
trying to feel weird about the things that should feel weird.
trying to keep the voice alive that goes:
“dude that doesn’t seem right.”

because that voice
is the one who makes the world better.
she doesn’t need to be perfect or loud or eloquent.
she just needs to stay awake.

this isn’t a callout post.
it’s a let’s all get a little weirdered out together post.
let’s question the things that don’t sit right.
let’s notice more.
let’s stay soft in a world that numbs.

and if we do end up building a future where justice actually means something -
i think it’ll be because we got curious.
and stayed curious.