So I've figured it out.
When I have nightmares, it's always about being pursued by someone, and no one is helping me because something has happened to make civilization stop in its tracks. Usually, it's zombies, and we know they have no civilization.
Recently, I've been having nightmares where the people who are chasing me are people, usually gangs, and the environment in which I find myself has experienced some sort of catastrophe, or martial law has been declared, or some such.
So I've figured out that I'm not really afraid of zombies, or being chased. It's the situation that scares me. Perhaps it has something to do with my now-ingrained anthropological training. But what really freaks me out these days are situations where something has happened that makes people lose (or forget) their humanity. Where people become primitive, culture-less, without civility.
Because without that they are not bound by the same rules as we are, and are impossible to predict.
Scary thought, isn't it?
Posted by Ally at October 19, 2008 01:32 PM