Disturbing dream

[pegkerr]

I dreamed that there was a waterleak inside the walls of the house, and that torrential rains had worsened the problem. Rot was starting to spread, and a support beam was sagging. The whole dream had a sense of creeping dread.

It feels like a lot of worries sort of jumbled together: the upcoming election and the state of the nation. The rain feels like something insiduous that can't be stopped: again, terrorism, the cancer in American society due to fear.

It puts my state of mind into a metaphor. How do I deal with these fears? How to stop the waterleak, get rid of the rot, repair the house and make it sound again?

Comments

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Well, speaking as someone who spent the first twenty years of my life in Ireland, I think one thing that would help would be for more people to recognise that there exist states between "everything is perfect" and totally paranoid fortress mentality, and that a chronic terrorism problem may not be solvable all at once, but that a democratic nation can get by day-by-day while taking the longer-term steps needed to address it.

In other words, don't expect that draining the basement gets rid of all the damp at once.

Middle Road

[nwl.livejournal.com]

Those people exist, but are drown out by the far left and right. And we're not very interesting in the media. Media tends to look at the most prominent, which generally is extreme - as most people do. Hey, they're human, too. Given a choice between a mostly naked woman or an average looking guy dressed in average looking clothes, which person is the media going to talk to at an SF con? Local media will cover the masquerade and mention the Hugos, as there is more to see at the masquerade.

The problem with discussing health care, SS and retirement, and so on is that they are boring compared to the excitement of two groups calling the other a traitor.

People in the middle will always be ignored unless they find a way to get noticed without becoming extreme.