Election fever! This year 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 truly stupid haircuts. The most common is a pale lime-green flat-top or buzz. I think it's 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.

Later I'm walking downtown past the mouth of an alley, and a sort of green dragon pops out--scaly, toothy, spiky crest. Dragons are all right in fiction, but in real life? A shock. Not a pleasant one. An ugly character. Mugger or panhandler?

But an oily voice-over explains the monster is running for office! "This is Dan Hamburg, a naive, solitary, opportunistic wizard jumping into the governor's race, spoiling the contest for serious candidates."

Oh. Only now do I realize this isn't life I'm seeing and feeling, but a virtual reality news editorial! A propaganda piece against radicals and third parties. These experiences aren't my life; they're being chosen for me. And I better analyze what I'm being shown with more skepticism. The high production values--vivid, truly lifelike virtual reality, not that cheesy, hasty VR most campaign ads can afford--fooled me into mistaking propaganda for life!

And I wake.

NOTES ON WAKING

• Election coverage bias: real! 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." So advocate certain positions and the media will punish you with a blackout! Free speech? Sure. But you won't be heard.
• Plastic green buzz cuts: the Green Party! Portrayed by corporate media as plastic little eco-fascists. Clearcut hair. When it's their corporate enemies who clearcut hair, trees, news coverage, elections...
• Alder's indigo hair a pun! "Indy go", that is, go independent!
• Propaganda makers: my suburban upbringing and conformist habits.
• ACTION: Vote for whoever I like, and ignore accusations I'm aiding Republicans. Really to blame: the rich who fund them and the suckers who vote for them. "You split the liberal vote by supporting who you like." Oh? What of the people who half-heartedly vote for Democrats they don't like? THAT's vote-splitting! And "lesser of two evils" voting has pernicious effects. Knee-jerk votes for Democrats who disgrace the name (in order to defeat rightwing nut jobs) just encourage more Clintons--corporate mouthpieces with reform-colored haircuts!
• Warning: do I have INNER news bias, too? Do I mis-portray my own radicalism as monstrous? When radicalism's my real feeling and best judgment! Don't commit self-dragonization.

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