one of the most hilarious things about putting a harness on a cat is starting to realise just how limited their cognitive capacity is.

i mean, he's not exactly retarded as cat brains go, but i literally have him cry at me for food, while he stands right in front of the bowl half full. i have to gesture a motion pointing towards it, and then he notices.

i have noticed that he starts to be figuring it out over time, but it's fascinating, he literally doesn't trust his nose.

the other thing is, once he has his harness on, he slinks down, like he's scared, because he can feel this tension on the back of his body from the harness and is super nervous about moving at all.

again, with time, he starts to get more used to it, but it's really slow. he is starting to understand that the string restricts his motion only at a certain distance, but he's still nervous about the feel of the pull of the spring action in the tether all the time.

poor dear. but the point is, what humans take for granted in their ability to understand what is going on around them, is not a lot different. they don't recognise the existence of the tether and harness that has been put on them.

the incredible subtlety of the tension of that cord on his harness and his reaction to it is quite amazing, i mean, he'll twist and jump and slash at you if he thinks he has the freedom to move, but as soon as you tether him with something that you don't have direct control of, suddenly he becomes a lot less daring.

i love my cat, but the differences in his ability to process information compared to mine, are quite notable. even still, i also feel like some of my cognition is tethered to something that i can't see. unlike most people, i am very irritated by it. and i broke free of part of that about 3 years ago and i'm probably more free than most people and more aware of manipulation.

but it only took a few days of study to acquire this freedom.

it's unfortunate that those who are in the tether so vigorously rebuke their peers who are saying "we are on a tether bro" to try and stop them from pointing it out.

fuck that shit.

i want to contend with the real world, not some imaginary shit that most people's brains have been contorted into.