Very thought-provoking article. Made me think of why my own abusive childhood was so miserable. I didn't have the freedom to simply quit. The entire society conspired to deny me that degree of control over my life. I had no say over who I lived with or how I lived. I wasn't allowed to support myself in any way. If I tried to leave, I'd be branded a "runaway", which made me a criminal, and a fugitive. Police would be after me. CPS and judges would dictate my life, not me.
Trapped in a situation with no way out. Clinical depression set in, along with daily thoughts of suicide, the only way to "quit" I had left.
The USA never felt like a "free society" to me, because of things like that. Even school--I didn't get to decide what I studied. I graduated with no job skills, because 12 years of schooling didn't teach me any. And I wasn't allowed to quit that, either.
I've talked to so many women who were in abusive situations, who felt they could not quit. Many employees with abusive bosses, who dared not quit.
Life in this society is incredibly regimented. Few people can even see it, until they experience life in a different civilization. Imagine life in a society with no money, no jobs, no need for jobs, no bosses, because you make your own livelihood, and all employment is self-employment. There's no rentier class.
A book I read put it this way; it's the difference betweeen a persuader society, and a coercer society. How are things governed? Through persuasion? Or through force?
In most primitive cultures, the "chief" doesn't have coercive powers. They would laugh at anyone who tried. They don't even have the concept of giving orders or taking orders. A chief's job is to advise, not to give orders. Authoritive, not authoritarian.
And it's like that, because anyone can quit. You can't force me, but you CAN persuade me.
I remember reading how in so-called "primitive" societies, 6-year-olds are viewed and treated as adults. They aren't viewed or treated as "property" the way they are in this society. The kind of domestic violence and abuse that is so common in this society doesn't exist in those. Because the victims can quit, easily.