random incoherence and infantile meanderings

I was just listening to a recent episode of Weather Child (by PIP!). This is the part where we find out about how Faith and Waramu(sp?) come to be joined.

And, as I do, I was following along on twitter a week ago when Pip was talking about how it was based on what actually happened to her grandmother or great-aunt. I got the impression that the events were highly disgusting and most extreme. I think I remember folks responding to the episode with comments about feeling squeemish or other related feelings.

The funny thing is that now that I have listened to the episode and actually know what happens… well, it isn’t really all that special. Then again, I work in a manufacturing plant. I know of three people, off hand, who have had extremely similar events befall them. For one of them, I was the poor shmuck who had to clean up the gore left over.

(Don’t get me wrong, it was shocking and disgusting. IRL.)

I suspect that part of the reason that the events described are so disturbing to the other people that I follow on twitter is simple. Physical mutilation isn’t something that happens to the white collar set. The people who have computers and mp3 players and data plans for their phones. They don’t stick their hands in, on, or around heavy machinery on a daily basis. To get to the restroom they do not have to (essentially) cross a busy street where all the cars drive in reverse.

A few years back, I got my head stuck in a machine. I was extremely lucky and managed to hit the emergency stop as I was dragged off my feet by the back of my head. But I was stuck. I had to wait several minutes for someone else to wander over to my machine and help me cut my hair off so I could get out of the machine. That was horrible. And scary. And I gave myself a few minutes to calm down before going back to running that machine. I had to. Otherwise the fear would have set in and I would have been out of a job. That’s just the way it is for the blue collar set.

I’m not angry and I’m not (quite) jealous. But I do need to remember that there is a real and true difference between the way the blues live and the way the whites do. It’ll relieve my annoyance that I simply cannot convince anyone to listen to podcasts. And hopefully it will help me get over my aggravation at having to talk to these aliens that I work with.

I don’t really have a point, just an interestingly different point of view.