Election time. It's a struggle for power between magical forces as well--ambitious shamans and spirits. I can't keep them all straight, but the biggest struggle's around a young woman trying to depose her fierce, soulless grandfather.

People show their party affiliations by sporting stupid haircuts. The most common is a pale lime-green flat-top or buzz that I think is really ugly. Like cheap Astroturf. Plastic hair, plastic thoughts!

I ride the bus, because my bike-lock broke. I follow my housemate Alder. As she climbs on the local bus, I notice she too has changed her hair. Dyed the top indigo, left the rest silver. No idea what it means politically, but it looks better than Astroturf.

At last, a sort of green dragon pops out of an alley, and an oily voice-over explains it's "Dan Hamburg, a naive, solitary, opportunistic wizard jumping into the governor's race, spoiling the contest for serious candidates"... and I finally realize this isn't live, but some news editorial! A propaganda piece against radicals and third parties.

I'm not seeing what I'm seeing--I'm being shown what I'm seeing! And I better analyze what I'm being shown with more skepticism. The sheer vividness of the sim (true virtual reality, not the cheesy stuff you usually see) fooled me into mistaking this media crap for reality!

And I wake.

NOTES ON WAKING

Local election coverage HAS been biased--the ONLY coverage I've seen of Dan Hamburg's run for governor of California was "He's against the death penalty, so he has no chance. Voting for him is just throwing it away." In other words, advocate certain positions and the media will punish you with a blackout! Good-bye, freedom of speech.

Plastic green buzz cuts = Green Party supporters are portrayed by corporate media as plastic little eco-fascists. In the biased news story in my dream, they're shown as having clearcut hair. When it's their corporate enemies who clearcut hair and trees and media coverage and elections...

Alder's indigo hair = "indy go", that is, go independent!

ACTION: Vote for whoever I like, and ignore accusations I'm aiding Republicans. The people responsible for right-wing nuts in office are the rich who fund them and the suckers who vote for them. "You split the leftist vote by supporting who you like." I'm not splitting anything! What of the people who half-heartedly vote for Democrats they don't like? That's vote-splitting! Why don't they vote for the people and policies they DO like? If liberals claim I'm responsible for second-guessing my vote's likely effectiveness, that I ought to switch to their candidates who I dislike just because their media call their candidates credible and mine not... can't I demand that liberals take responsibility for the side effects of THEIR strategy? Their knee-jerk votes for Democrats who disgrace the name (in order to defeat Republicans) just encourage more Clintons--corporate crooks with reform-colored lipstick!

Does the dream also warn of INNER news bias? I may dismiss my own radical urges as political correctness from my family's leftist background, when they're real feelings--and sound judgments. Dan Hamburgs of my soul... distorted by my lying corporate senses.

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