I went to a talk about birth in a poor mostly black neighborhood, we were all sitting on the ground in a little city park listening to the talk when all of a sudden young men with machine guns suddenly ran up and started firing at the front of the crowd. I grabbed the grandmotherly old lady next to me and laid down flat with my arm around her. Suddenly all the shooters sat down peacefully and everyone else sat up and started asking questions, it turned out no one was hurt except someone had gotten hit with a blank in the head and needed some care. I was confused and afraid to sit up and one of the young men said "it was just a government excercise" As the dream ended I noticed that all these people were creeping out of their houses with baseball bats and brooms and such, obviously scared out their wits, but shoppers and people who clearly didn't live in the neighborhood weren't phased and just went about their shopping. I got really mad and was like "I don't care if it was a government excercise, obviously no one told these people and its just as traumatic as if it were real, even if no one was killed." Anyway the old grandmotherly woman said something like "oh they've done worse" and then I woke up. ....Too much news before bed? What a bizarre parable like thing to dream especially since the topic of the talk they interrupted was "birth".
It is fitting: women gather about birth. The government interrupts to cause pain and trauma. Then those who cause pain consider themselves participants, who have harmed no one. Those with a vested interest are traumatized and fearful. Other observers don't see any problem. As long as no one died, the establishment has no problem with causing physical and psychological pain to women. Even the women don't see a problem with it -- after all, it could have been worse. They're used to being abused and ignored.
