Terrorism Dreams
Last year, a friend of mine had an amazing dream: he was a terrorist, playing golf with other terrorists. In his golf bag, slung over his shoulder, he carried an array of clubs (putters, irons, and the like) along with a number of machine guns. He knocked a golf ball high into the air, withdrew a machine gun from his bag, and shot it to bits...
The dream got me thinking: surely, the incidence of terrorism dreams has soared in the last six years. The constant barrage of terrorism-related news, the stupid yapping mouth of G.W. Bush, the See Something Say Something signs on the subways, the haranguing voice on the airport intercom that talks about the never-ending Orange Alert -- it all must seep into our subconscious minds and then get hilariously scrambled at night.
So I've been trying to find people who've had these dreams, record them, and turn them into tiny radio stories. my original idea -- that people are having unprecedented numbers of terrorism-related dreams -- doesn't seem to be true because I haven't found very many. But here are three of them, anyway... they're a peculiar mix of hilarity, absurdity, and sometimes revealing xenophobia... Have YOU, good listeners, had any terrorism dreams?
Tony (2:14)
Exactly the Same Height (3:31)
featuring the voice of No Neck
Download Exactly the Same Height mp3
This may sound like I’m making something up to impress the new alittlepoison contributor, but I did actually dream last night that I was taking photos of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He was very amiable to me and my journalist dream-friend, and he sat cross legged on the dusty floor of his house while I tried my best to take a portrait photo. He didn’t think much of my photographic technique, but then as a head of state I assume he is used to the best. I noticed that underneath his widely spaced, dusty floorboards there were some yellowed paperback books… and that his trouser legs were hemmed slightly too short for sitting cross legged. This wasn’t a terrorism dream, but who knows, perhaps it was funding other people’s terrorism dreams.
ps. the one with No Neck is really creepy.
I stopped dreaming in June of 2001. So I guess that I just missed out. Before that I dreamed of terrorists between four and seven nights a week, up to twelve times per night. I think that those dreams were really about girls, though. I used to be scared of talking to girls. And then I talked to one in June of 2001 and stopped dreaming of terrorists.
I think that these are really fantastic, Deetle, by the way. You’ve surpassed in one entry the accumulative total of my “works” for alittlepoison in more than too many years to count. Though all of my masterpieces are almost surely titled under Robot-thrifty-fingered-Dan’s oeuvre and The (Un)Sociable Thieving Bastard’s catalogue. Welcome and well done.
I have never had a terrorism dream, but I like the idea of these being ‘terror stories’, in a way that kids used to tell ‘horror stories’ in the playground.
Did you know the original definition of ‘horrid’ was ‘Bristling, shaggy, rough’?
Welcome Deetle! These are excellent. And your face looks very nice.
Quite right, Doon. Deetle’s face is the one in the middle of the photograph, of course. The other face is some kind of wild animal, or perhaps a child.
Actually, No Neck, it’s quite the opposite. I, Deetle, am the tiny dog and that woman is just this beast that carries me around and brings me my food. She insisted on being in the picture.
And to everyone — thanks for your nice comments and dreams. Anyone who has a ‘terror story’ that they want to share should record it, email it to me, and I’ll add it to the growing collection.
I’m very excited to be here on alittlepoison.
I’ve had some terrorist dreams, but amongst all the other crazy dreams they do not stand out in my memories. If I have another I’ll try and record it while I still remember. Last night I dreamt of being stalked by some annoying person but as far as I could tell they were not a terrorist.
I meant the humanoid face.
How terrifying for that woman.