I heard A Turner talk about in an interview around ISIS' Panopticon era of how during the black plague, rulers would actually wish for the plague to come to the village because it was an easy way of controlling people and keeping them inside of their houses. I believe that's what they're referencing, even if it's in metaphor. The magistrates sort of represents authority in general to me, and the fact that they in particular are dreaming it, they want to create as much fear as possible so that they can have more and more power.
The "drool slipping from grinning mouths", to me, puts an image in my head a sick pleasure these rulers get in controlling people.
The fact the "plague is forced on us all" sort of says the fear in general is the true ruler, that fear has it's way on us every day. "Is it there? Are they there?" reinforces the original uncertainty of if your being watched, but I also think it asks the question of if the plague really exists. If there really is something to be afraid of and if the rulers truly have their hand on us. The fact that it is a question fuels uncertainty in general. The uncertainty is the greatest fear. Not knowing whether or not the plague is out there controls us more than knowing what we're afraid of (because once we know what it is, it is less frightening to us)
I love the line "whispers of truth burn through" and this is a reoccuring theme to me in a lot of ISIS. Oceanic had that enlightenment through suicide element, and I think that enlightenment is mentioned here as well. That no matter how much you control us, the truth can still be accessed within us if we wish to access it.
I heard A Turner talk about in an interview around ISIS' Panopticon era of how during the black plague, rulers would actually wish for the plague to come to the village because it was an easy way of controlling people and keeping them inside of their houses. I believe that's what they're referencing, even if it's in metaphor. The magistrates sort of represents authority in general to me, and the fact that they in particular are dreaming it, they want to create as much fear as possible so that they can have more and more power.
The "drool slipping from grinning mouths", to me, puts an image in my head a sick pleasure these rulers get in controlling people.
The fact the "plague is forced on us all" sort of says the fear in general is the true ruler, that fear has it's way on us every day. "Is it there? Are they there?" reinforces the original uncertainty of if your being watched, but I also think it asks the question of if the plague really exists. If there really is something to be afraid of and if the rulers truly have their hand on us. The fact that it is a question fuels uncertainty in general. The uncertainty is the greatest fear. Not knowing whether or not the plague is out there controls us more than knowing what we're afraid of (because once we know what it is, it is less frightening to us)
I love the line "whispers of truth burn through" and this is a reoccuring theme to me in a lot of ISIS. Oceanic had that enlightenment through suicide element, and I think that enlightenment is mentioned here as well. That no matter how much you control us, the truth can still be accessed within us if we wish to access it.
That's what I gain from it.