Solstice (pg. 43)
JFK = JFK Airport
Tehran = Capital of Iran
The Times = British Newspaper
Context
Birds being gassed at JFK was a real thing that happened
They kept on hitting planes, so the government rallied them up and euthanized them
Interestingly, although probably coincidentally, they were called bird strikes when the bird hit the plane
Just by being birds were they executed
Gassing is both thought of as non-cruel yet still is killing
Geese = innocence
Just accidentally get in the way of airplane, so whole flocks die
Driving Q: Again- How do people respond to injustice
Yet are also referred to as "terrorizing JFK" (12)
How they are viewed depends on who's saying it
This time it has an edge, How does authority and information influence our perception of injustice?
Pacification (by gov't and society)
"The Times is getting smaller day by day" (3)
"So much of what we're asked is to obey --
A reflex we'd abandon if we could" (7-8)
Brings in question - Who is doing the asking?
Free press, a bulwark of democracy, is slowly dying
Is it the government or society as a whole?
Shows shift in perception to justify injustice
Also is forced - abandoning it isn't something they can do
who forces them? Society? themselves and their nature?
Seems to lean towards themselves because it is referred to as a reflex, but that reflex might be reinforced by society and their asking of it
"If you're sympathetic, knock on wood" (11)
Knock on wood is usually used to prevent something bad from happening when you make an favorable assertion that isn't guaranteed (but is usually certain or highly probable)
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"Election fraud. A migratory plague/ Less and less surprises us as odd" (16-17)
Draws a tie between political corruption and this sort of bird conspiracy of migratory plague
Both shouldn't happen without question, yet they are because the population has become desensitized
"We dislike what they did at JFK./ Our time is brief. We dwindle by the day." (18-19)
Both asserts that we, meaning the populous, don't agree, but also that we are growing smaller, weaker, more accustom every day
Solstice = crisis /turning stopping point as well as equinox
Society naturally (and the government artificially) influences people towards obedience.This effect is increased gradually overtime, until the shock of crisis fades into normality. In a indirect way, it is a call to action right now, yet doesn't emphasis it because it understands the restraints