Nightmares

[ribbin]

No rest for the wicked as they say, and if last night indicates anything, I qualify. I can't count how often I woke up and found myself crossways in the bed, or with my head crammed into the headboard, or my blankets wound into a knot and perched on my chest like a lazy incubus. My reading pillow was at the foot of the bed when I woke up- I think I

Comments

[ritsa_nicole]

There's a hell of a story in that second dream.

[ribbin]

I know, right? I think that'll need to be expanded.

[deirdremoon]

Gods... that second one is so sad. I can only feel an echo of what that must have been like to see it yourself, and I'm still somewhat sad.

I don't think that hunger strikes have the same impact that they used to, media-wise, and I don't know why. Some of it is probably that people now do it for a length of time, with doctors monitoring, instead of the crazy all-or-nothing implied by the title (that others have actually died of in the past). Sort of like boycotting a gas station chain on Tuesday, but filling up on Thursday. The only real sacrifice I can think of that has garnered attention was the young man who self-immolated and set off the Middle East reform riots.

[ribbin]

It was a nightmare, in every sense of the word- just pure, horrid, vivid emotion.

But you're right, hunger strikes have much less effect, it seems. Neither do protests of any other sort- I think it's a cultural shift toward the "if you're not with us, you're against us" mindset- if others protest, you can either join them and be against the government and the majority of our culture, or you can eschew the protest and remain a functioning member of society. Gone are the days where people could safely consider whether they approved of the government and society at large- now the first step is considering whether we're wiling to break away from all that before we can afford to criticize, to protest and to hunger.

[deirdremoon]

That, yes, and the "don't throw away your vote" ideology. People perceive politics as being so completely binary (whether or not it actually is-- I personally believe Jon Stewart's take that most of us are just moderates who are sick of the yelling) that you sort of feel like you have to support the party you agree MOST with, for fear that the demonized Other will Win(tm) if you don't all pull together. There's precious little room to have an individual platform of beliefs anymore and express them in any meaningful way for getting attention toward change.