Is revolution ever a good idea?
Camus rejected Sartre’s revolutionary ideology. His pushed for the rebel. The rebel remains in the system fighting internally. Pushing back against legislation for a better tomorrow while revolution is upending the system and starting fresh. While in general revolution is a dangerous pursuit given its dire consequences, there is a type of progressive revolution that is bloodless—education.
Revolutions have turned into dire areas with tumultuous endeavours. There is little to be proud about. The drive for independence while in the long run may have its perks, along the way many wrongful decisions are implemented for the sake of survival. While the American and Haitian revolutions are coined as such they were independence wars not revolutions in the colloquial sense. The leaders and system were the same, it was not to transform the current system. Fighting for a separate piece of land away from the tyranny is different than wishing to rid him entirely and replace him. That is the essence of revolution. The colonists rebelled. They wished to be free from the king’s clutches. The king could remain sovereign just not over them. For the French, the king could not reign over anyone.
A new start is the top priority for revolutionaries. They seek a new beginning with a new order. It alters the mechanics of the system. The current system requires a replacement. Protest will not accomplish this feat. The only way to rid these people is to fight. The French and Russian revolutions mustered their rage to overthrow the monarchy. A new beginning for a new people. The results were perverse in disastrous consequences. The French led to the Reign of Terror and then Napoleon. The Russians were more favourable but still played a dangerous role in hierarchical destruction. Stalinism heavily persecuted its own people. Intending on maintaining their status quo no diversity was permitted. While the US has committed terrible acts, its slaughter tends to be more external than internal until more recently.
One of the more ironic twists is the revolutionaries becoming the monster they set out to defeat. The French monarchs were ousted for a tyrannical leadership that shifted in two phases playing king. The Russians kicked the Tzar and created their own aristocratic model with a singular formula. The US repelled Britain and formulated their own exclusivist representation. Despite the US’ independence battle over internal revolution, their governmental solution seemingly took on regal themes. Sovereign immunity though a constitutional amendment was a congressional unanimous decision overwhelming the Supreme Court. Politicians have become more aristocratic as the years have gone by. Taking no responsibility and living by their own graces.
Sometimes a fresh start is necessary. Revolutions do not wait for extinction or allow corruption to persist. They act immediately. All the way back to the Roman Empire, when Augustus singlehandedly won Roman favour over the despicable senate. While abolitionism in the US did not begin heavily until the 1850s, a revolution of sorts was necessary to abolish slavery. The north needed to defeat the south and incarcerate it for decades to pay off its debt. Women's rights, civil rights and gay rights were rebellious modes of action. They pushed against the grain. It took years but evolutionarily eclipsed. There is still protest against such advancements. No one today is pushing for slavery but many are looking to undermine others’ liberties. The rebellion needs to be uniformly hitched to the political elite.
Rebellious behaviour is a gradual mental shift. Waiting for young minds to churn into social justice personified. Women’s rights occurred in the roaring twenties after the WWI where they participated and were established as needed. Excellence on the battlefield needed to equivocate back home. The surplus of the roaring twenties and the nightlife of NY derided the cancerous traditional exclusivity. Civil rights followed the WWII victory of black excellence on the front lines. Demonstrating their patriotism deserved back home. Yet for gay rights this was less a war following and more a consequence of the civil rights movements and Vietnam. The rebellious attitude for homosexuality took much longer. Even Barak Obama shifted his position to accord with liberal opinion in his 2012 campaign from his anti-gay platform in his first run.
Purging social norms for new ones is not perfect. Abolishing slavery led to Jim Crowe. It also obscured wage slavery in the north. The ontological evil overpowered the pragmatic evil. Women’s rights did not bring full equality nor did civil rights movements. The meta-narratives of full liberties are only slogans propagated on media channels that are not considered in society. While there is no epidemic of systematic discrimination there are cases. The rebellion pushes the governmental shift but it does not count the citizenry response. Each rebellion has its opponents and those opponents did not die after they gain rights. The opponents’ strategy changes tactics but its goal is all the same. Jim Crowe was a form of slavish inferiority even if not traditional slavery. Women harassed in the workplace or religious housewife messaging is anti-feminist. Placing homosexuality on the diseased playlist dehumanises their expression.
A rebellion is a minorities’ push against mass acceptance. Protests push for legislated change. No wonder many respond aggravated as the normative is being quashed by a small loud group. A rebellion is also internal. The civil war can also be seen as a conquest. The south seceded from the union making the north’s external armed force invading their land. Pushing ideas on the public is not easily represented nor accepted. The south segregated. Much discrimination today despite the advances in social justice are due to the lack of resonation of these ideas. There is still a hint of disagreement. The full acceptance has not widely spread. There is still a holding out on certain aspects. The newer the change the more adversarial the comments section. The rebellious mentality is not shared and thus antagonised by those who wish to live peacefully. People do not like their world altered. Routines are sacred even if at the expense of another’s suffering. Although malicious to an extent, it is the comfort of the habit, which is why young moralists always pop up.
There is a rebellious scare. While the revolution is bloody it does lead to a modified system. The rebellion is an active movement. The adversarial aura remains but feminism has blossomed thrice in pursuing new agendas in each wake. With civil rights at its second interval. The contemporary anti-male hate and toxic masculinity agendas though may have some truth their hatred is not. Their picture of their own perfection is truly scarring. The original goal sought equality, while liberty from harassment has not been fully achieved gradually becoming radicalised is a point of unfortunate ramifications. The civil rights commission on anti-racism is racist. Hyper-racialising everything is maligning character. Recognising the issues to the black community is important but not at the expense of these false meta narratives that all men are evil or all white people are racist. This is the result of persistent rebellion. Adversarial continuance may but at fault yet their enemy is more likely fringe cases and not the masses.
Protesters are sympathisers. They try to get as much as they can. Realising their ethical mission is being infringed by a certain type they pounce on it. How did we reach this radicalisation? Due to revolutionary paradigms. The rebellious aspect is searching for a chronic shift in the legislature. Women’s marches and civil rights activists were seeking an end of segregation more than social kindness. While the ultimate goal was a harmonious connection that was second to privileges. While MLK Jr. sought peaceful relations, Malcolm X’s violent push clashed with the soothing words of his contemporary. This is not to say that either disparaged the other’s mission but only that the goal of social equality under the law was more important than the getting along fantasy. Pushing against governmental insensitivity and unconstitutional appropriation. Democratic capitalism is all about liberty and thus everyone ought to be provided that access, it does not require people to be buddy buddy.
Twentieth century protests marched against social inequality. Today, it is ideological. While the queer community is striving for representation it is becoming coddled up in the ideological tour de force. Even gun rights are engulfed in the paradigm. Gun rights and abortion debates are on the government’s mind encased in the ideological polarisation. This is not to say that protestors are not complaining to the government to do something about it but this time the role is to topple the other side of the political aisle. No guns no police yes abortion yes transgenders and the other side says the opposite. This is no longer a minority pushing against the grain. It is an organised half of the country that projects its feelings on the the other side. Placing it out in the open. There is no room for nuance, no room to compromise. Liberals cannot be pro-gun in public and conservatives cannot be pro-abortion in public. The way around is to state one is socially liberal while being economically conservative. Cool with the gays and abortion and nothing else.
An ideological battle tenses the revolutionary paradigm. The grand social demarcation hinges on the first willing to concede defeat. Neither side is willing to do so. The more the left or the right considers a stronger point, the other side pounces on it. Every school shooting must be guns fault and when a transgender issue goes wrong must be their fault. Abortion is either anti-female or murder. Such extreme positions are marvellously impertinent. Part of the damn culture war that complicates any dialogue. The division is so polarised people will not even talk to one another. The inability to discuss is irreducibly contingent on the other’s surrender. Rebellion is over. No more waiting, impatience has reached a boiling point. Liberals want social justice and conservatives want their old values. The standstill in congress only falters the excess nature that helps unify the country. Political stunts and media fire singlehandedly brand other’s a racist fascists commies dangerous scapegoats.
No one is succeeding. The push is reciprocated. The average citizen is growing weary while the governmental elites sit back laughing at the mass hysteria unfolding in the colosseum. This ideological revolution will only pull the country further apart. Yet it is not all for naught. The grand revolution can be tailored in the younger generation. After the media firestorm becomes a nuisance to the upcoming generation. Their maturity to the excessive propelling information to catch fire. A likely more conservatively minded bunch with the rising socially acceptable trades. To quell the nonsense of republican doom and democratic hypocrisy. The “traditional” value-ship from parental acceptance to be matched with university education. The biases of both can internalise a capable ambitious generation. Habituated to the emerging technology, able to transcend the materialistic overhaul for inner peace. While majorly conjecture, it is the potential salvation against the rising shifting course.
Greater a threat than the social crazies is the governmental power. The hippies of the sixties revolted periodically but when it was their turn in power became more power intoxicated than their parents . Becoming more idealistically ridiculous. The only way to exploit it is for the new generation to revert its course. Education is a perfect situation to recapture the “old values”. A time before government spent zillions of dollars for their own benefit. It is only with little oversight and passive consent that the political elite feel they are elite. While the political class has always prided itself on its immunity since the strides in civli rights more governmental power has been turned over. It has only expanded. The government is not the answer. Even if it was the answer back then it is not the answer now. Even if it is the answer for some things monitor it, it does not need jurisdiction for others. The current stratum does not permit citizenry to openly challenge but those young visionaries must wait for their chance to topple the elitist exclusivity.
A revolutionary cataclysm will oscillate the paradigm shift towards limited federal power. A more libertarian society aware of the social norms. The government shall intervene in extenuating circumstances and with more advanced technology political scrutinising will enhance. Revolutions have branded themselves in Rome, France and Russia. Each outcome had its pros and its cons. The hope is to maintain equal rights and political responsibility. Representation is important. Able to see past the liberal comfort for the inevitable aristocratic tsunami that will quash citizenry outcries. Tyranny is not necessarily an evil but the elitist motif is itself a sinister background music awaiting its revelation. The young visionaries must scream louder with their energetic passion. Piercing the social archetype for the classist denial. It is the growing disgrace with mainstream media and the isolationist types that preach a unifying anti-elitist theme gaining traction to be compelled by the multicultural sensitive youth.
Education is the revolution. The most successful mental shift. Currently the ideological plane is not pushing either side into a reflective meditation. Stooped in a stubborn cause unable to introspect for a second. The old rebellious mind could not fool the masses and the current ideological break is a stalemate of unconvincing hypnosis. Staying awake in order to not to fall under the contagious spell. Binging the nicely plated algorithmic video shorts to reinvigorate conviction. While the culture war may not pass in the ensuing decades even after energy and intimidation has painfully eroded. A new generation may be the Hegelian synthesis. Seeing the inevitable inhospitable dialectic. Unable to find a point of agreement except for the new outsider observing both sides in their total belief. Imbibing the historical narrative and purging a new line down the middle. One unseen but even if reprehensible to both sides will come to fruition when both armies have frozen to stone. While history does foretell a victory to the current skirmish, if it lasts there is much to salvage from both.
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