1776: Boom! The American Revolution. The United States of America was established with the Declaration of Independence. At that time, America was no longer a part of the British Empire. This was the first time in history that humanity got a glimpse of a new type of society in which human nature could be born free from tyranny. Thirteen years later, in 1789, the French Revolution erupted. Then, four years after that, tyrant Louis XVI was guillotined by revolutionists under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre. In 1918, Tsar Nicholas II was executed by the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution. Another fifteen years, and in 1933, Hitler came into power in Germany with the Nazi Party. In the meantime, in 1927, Mao Zedong had launched a successful revolution against the Chinese National Party.
All of these great events immensely reshaped human society, although it was done with bloodiness in almost all of the cases. Not at all surprisingly, they had several common points: 1) People were suffering great misery and despair. 2) There were radically new and different ideas ready to replace the old, dumb and inanimate ones. 3) The people had strong leadership, and they were ready to fight. 4) There was a commonly identified enemy.
These are the four prerequisites for the rise of a new movement. Without any one of them, success won’t come. If, in the French Revolution, people had not been nearly starved to death, no revolution could have been provoked. If Benjamin Franklin and George Washington had posited no radically new and different ideas, there wouldn’t have been a revolution. In Russia, if the Bolsheviks had not dared to come forth, the Tsar wouldn’t have been toppled. There wouldn’t have been Nazism without Hitler, nor a Chinese revolution without Mao Zedong.
Today, most people’s lives are not at stake. Actually, they even have enough time to pursue their silliest pleasures. Whether their lives are at stake or not is extremely dependent on their masters. The masters have skillfully internalized the lessons they learned from history: they will never again allow the fuse to blow that triggered the French people to revolt. That’s why there is a “safety net” in nearly every modern nation: it’s a measure to dissuade the unemployed mobs from making trouble. People are being “saved” from misery and despair, although within a very tiny scope, by the master. The necessary conditions that could bring forth a Neo-French Revolution no longer exist. Even worse, if the masters suddenly became mad tomorrow, and destroyed their shield, the safety net right in front of the angry mob, no great commotion would follow. It was painfully demonstrated in the 2008 financial crisis. The greedy capitalists, who once were so scornful of socialism and proposed that all regulations be removed, called for socialist measures to ensure bailouts for themselves. Their losses became socialized, but their profits remained privatized. So what about the taxpayers? Sorry — their diligence became socialized, but their losses stayed privatized. None of the taxpayers were reserved even a tiny seat in the boardroom of the banks they bailed out.
The theory of boom-and-bust that characterizes modern economy is now preparing for its next move. The rich, who caused it, have become richer; the poor, who were innocently involved, have become poorer. Capitalism’s innate talent for torturing people has never before been so obvious. However, only a few called for revolution. Only a few voices for change were ever heard. Life just continued as usual. Football lovers kept watching their beloved team, sexy women kept beautifying themselves for a rich man, people kept roaming the shopping malls for garbage, and nothing changed. It was because there weren’t any radically new and different ideas ready to replace the old, inept ones, or the right person daring to do what heroes have done when crises have broken out.
What about the famous Occupy Wall Street movement? We saw that people were angry, and protested. They held rallies, upheld banners, and chanted their watchwords, but none of them could provide a realistic solution. They knew something was very wrong, but had no idea of how to replace it, or with what. Take a closer look at what they said: “Shoot sperm, not bullets!” “Who would Jesus foreclose on?” “Wuck Fall St.” “Hungry? Eat a banker.” None of them posed any substantial threat. In the end, nothing happened. People didn’t even know what they really wanted beyond someone to comfort them with nice words, repay them for their losses — or, more precisely, they wanted to vent their anger on someone, regardless of whom. After that, they went home, and back to watching junk TV.
Can these people change anything? They were hardly even asking for change, but rather were venting. The masters know it better than the protesters themselves, hence their delivery of someone (the President, Prime Minister, or Treasury Officer) to the front lines to be vented upon, and they get their way every time. Everyone gets what they want. The party can still go on! Did any bank traders get arrested? Just a few, not enough to change anything. But what did you expect would be the outcome of a group of people chanting their protests in drum circles and dancing together? Come on! Would only something huge like a suicide bomber have daunted the elite? These kinds of protests are nothing more than a sideshow that serves no one but the elite, since it entertains them by showing how naive we are. Surely the masters will laugh at us, and we deserve it!
We have to ready ourselves and take action promptly, because the perpetrators will do everything necessary to distract the public’s attention and suppress every potential revolutionary movement. Do you think that the revolutionary heroes, if they had still been alive, would have done nothing in 2008? Certainly they would’ve done everything they could to disempower the anarcho-capitalists who shape-shift into socialists when they themselves are in trouble. If a spell were cast into the tomb of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington in 2008, if the soul of Robespierre were summoned up by a wizard in 2008, surely they would stand and fight. We are all cowards in comparison to these great heroes.
