I. Revolution
This week I came across a clearly written article entitled “It is not about the election anymore: News media will not cover revolution.” You can read it here on Facebook in Roots of Democracy. As you’d expect, it skewers network news coverage. And there is that incendiary word in the title: “revolution.” Not a very popular concept these days, at least with people over, say …. , 40. They don’t want a revolution. Too much change. The idea that what we already have, which has been around for the stretch of our lives, is good enough. It’s America! We just need a different president, an honest Congress. The system just needs a little tweaking. Some of my Facebook contacts are naïve enough to believe all the country needs is a change of president.
But, of course, the system is NOT working. And the reason most know little of the facts behind my statement is that standard media, where we’ve always received information to make informed decisions, has become so restricted that we are no longer getting the news, just what it the media chooses to send our way. Revolution, yes, but revolutions come in many flavors. In India, Ghandi’s was peaceful; in Russia, the extent of hunger and abuse of the population resulted in years of horrible violence. In America, we desperately need change, by any name. Violence isn’t the way, not yet. That worst way leads, as Chris Hedges points out in Wages of Rebellion, to a dictatorship arising from people’s need for strong leadership. No, quiet, thoughtful revolt is the way. But that requires a knowledgeable population, one that reads and ponders and questions. The key to relevance in this context is having a sense of history, to see the necessity of devaluing what is current and embracing our past decades (i.e. – history as it unfolded and affected our own lives).
II. History
Americans have a need to get on with things, patience not being bred into our national consciousness. We are complete suckers for what is new. I suppose this arises from the young nation idea, appropriate through the beginning decades of the 20th century, but somehow out of place in our maturity. The image of an octogenarian wearing a miniskirt comes to mind. We are no longer a young nation, certainly not one that needs to thrive on a diet of technological innovation. In short, we have not grown old at all gracefully. Americans lack a conscious connection to their heritage. History, you see, interferes with happy-go-lucky image we have of ourselves as we transform the art of writing into text messages, show unabashed adoration of electronics and the techies who produce it, and avoid substantial conversation in favor of celebrity gossip. But history is the key to knowing: Who are we? What do we need to maintain our freedom and what does “freedom” mean? And most importantly, how did we get here?
History is a passion of mine. I want answers. From what I know, the revolution idea, the one that scares the older among us, is nothing new. My parents lived through a great revolution. It was called the Depression. Before that, the 1920’s were an astounding face off to the years before World War I. The late 1960’s laid out the foundation of major changes, some of which took (Civil Rights — currently being dismantled) and the role of women in society. And here we are in the opening salvo of the 21st century in the midst of mind-bending change but for the most part unaware. Our lives are, by din of ignorance, completely subjective. An actor who has just finished a movie has little idea of its quality. He is in it, the eye trying to see itself. We need to step out of our movie lives to become movie critics. Historical perspective allows us to do just that
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Though, for the reasons above, most see history as dull and pointless, but look at it another way. Studying history is analogous to studying how an engine works. We ask the most basic question, “We sit in our cars, step on the gas, and the car moves. How is this happening?” Luckily, to drive we don’t need to know much about engines. But to understand what makes the car go, we do. History works somewhat the same way in a social context. We can cruise along decade after decade and enjoy the scenery, but along the way our vehicle requires some maintenance. We need to know how the social engine of our history is put together in order to repair it … and what it will cost. We are the craftsmen of our nation. We judge the implications of events, compare these to previous events, and choose how radical and costly the work ahead of us will be. Will it require fine tuning, some restoration? Or do we need to consider some form of the alternative, a revolution?
