Why The Revolution Hasn't Started Yet
by C.A. Matthews
That’s what authentic living is, in my view: meeting life just as it is, without egocentric filters, distortions or manipulations, come what may. This is the only way to really live our time on this earth, to really experience each moment instead of missing it. It’s also the only way for ordinary people to respond to tyranny and abuse with the emotional energy it requires. —Caitlin Johnstone, We Must Never Let Ourselves Become Desensitized To This
I spy this question almost weekly—if not daily—on the social media platforms I frequent. I ask it to myself almost every night before I go to bed… Why hasn’t the Revolution started yet?
Many pundits and experts cite current statistics about the reality of Bidenomics. All I know is that I pay $3.69 for a block of cream cheese that I paid about 99 cents only three years ago. The facts don’t lie: Capitalism kills, particularly those of the working class.
Why hasn’t the Revolution started yet? The question is pertinent. Its answer is desperately needed.
That last question reveals the answer to the first question. The workers don’t really want to work hard to bring about a socialist utopia. They want someone or something else to do the heavy lifting, sort of like their capitalist bosses want the workers to do all the heavy lifting for the bosses. And so the Revolution is going nowhere fast, and “Nowhere” is not a destination to head toward if one is serious about changing the world for the better.
While we travel slowly to Nowhere, the members of the working class aren’t exactly idle. They’re spewing out their hate and frustrations on each other more often than not. The workers might say they believe in socialism, equality, and sharing the benefits of an egalitarian society with their fellow human beings, but the evidence isn’t quite there. If those who long for Revolution truly longed to bring about the beautiful socialist transformation of our economies and governmental systems for all humankind, they would demonstrate their altruism and goodwill in their everyday actions and manners, right?
Case in point, the chat room of a popular socialist podcaster on YouTube recently. The podcaster is interviewing a new worker in the campaign for high office of a revolutionary dreamer. Questions are asked of the new worker. He doesn’t hesitate to answer and elaborate on his new position and his personal history and experience. The discussion on camera is fine and illuminates aspects of the new worker’s position in the campaign.
But this is not the chat room occupants’ focus. Many are ignoring the conversation on screen and are repeatedly calling the new worker a “psychopath” and a “liar.” They don’t show any altruism or goodwill in their actions. Their rhetoric becomes even more spiteful and hate-filled as the interview continues, particularly so when the new worker expresses a mutual longing for socialist Revolution as well.
By the end of the interview, anyone reading the chat room dialogue would think it wasn’t a socialist podcast but a capitalist brow-beaters’ convention. The chatters claim to be leftists or socialists who want Revolution, but their actions say otherwise. They revel in cruelty. They verbally attack those in the chat room who won’t join in the snarkfest against the new worker alongside them.
Why keep asking, “Why hasn’t the Revolution started yet?” when you know it’s not going to start while they’re still more capitalists than socialists in the world.
The Revolution can’t start while there are some who continue to think themselves better than their fellow workers, that they merit better treatment because they are somehow more moral and more deserving of forgiveness. The brutal chat commentators calling the new worker a “liar” over and over again are saying that they are superior to him because only they as his superiors can know the truth. The new worker is painted as “less than” because the chatters see him as less worthy of their trust and respect.
So it follows that the cruel chatters can label the new worker a “psychopath” without any self-awareness that their own behavior is psychopathic in its need to inflict pain upon another human as much as possible through degrading comments. Name-calling is a puerile way to assert dominance in a conversation. The so-called “socialists” in the chat room (and elsewhere on the internet) who resort to name-calling, cursing, and using vulgarities to describe others aren’t ready for the Revolution. They simply don’t see other human beings as equals—or perhaps even as human beings at all.
Even worse, these name-callers’ actions mirror those of their capitalist bosses. They keep ordering others around and insisting upon their own superiority. How can a socialist Revolution start when it’s supposed supporters’ actions mimic those of the capitalists’ selfish ways?
We the workers don’t want equality. We want to act just as bad as our capitalist bosses who berate us and lord over us. With such horrible examples like this coming from so-called socialists, how will we ever convince others to learn the benefits of socialism and join in the cause?
Stop kidding yourself into thinking that acting superior and snarky and showing zero empathy for others is somehow an expression of “socialism.” It isn’t. Capitalists act superior and snarky and show zero empathy for the workers all the time. This is why the world is as screwed up as it is today.
If you want our society to change for the better so you don’t have to keep asking, “Why hasn’t the Revolution started yet?” then you need to grow up emotionally and treat your fellow workers as equals, worthy of your trust, respect, and forgiveness. Anything less won’t cut it.
Why hasn’t the Revolution started yet? The simple answer could be YOU.
Related Articles and Interesting Links:
We Must Never Let Ourselves Become Desensitized To This https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/we-must-never-let-ourselves-becomeon the planet
Cornel West 2024 https://www.cornelwest24.org or https://www.cornelwest2024.com/
‘War Is Good for Business,’ Declares Executive at London’s Global Arms Fair https://scheerpost.com/2023/09/16/war-is-good-for-business-declares-executive-at-londons-global-arms-fair/
Hundreds Of Scientists Endorse Demands Of March To End Fossil Fuels https://popularresistance.org/hundreds-of-scientists-endorse-demands-of-march-to-end-fossil-fuels/
Child Poverty More Than Doubled in 2022 After Congress Let Tax Credit Expire https://truthout.org/articles/child-poverty-more-than-doubled-in-2022-after-congress-let-tax-credit-expire
According to the Census Bureau’s latest report on poverty in the U.S., the supplemental poverty rate among children more than doubled between 2021 and 2022, jumping from 5.2 percent to 12.4 percent in just one year. This represents an increase of over 5 million children experiencing poverty in 2022, for a total of about 9 million children.
Poverty also increased for all ages by 4.6 percentage points to 12.4 percent in 2022. This marks the first increase in the supplemental poverty rate since 2010, and marks the largest one-year rise in poverty rates on record, according to the Census Bureau.
NATO imperialism and the Libya flood catastrophe
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/09/14/zlnn-s14.html
Earthquake in Morocco: Government and European Imperialism to Blame for Rising Death Toll https://scheerpost.com/2023/09/14/earthquake-in-morocco-government-and-european-imperialism-to-blame-for-rising-death-toll/
Humanitarian Imperialism Created the Libyan Nightmare https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/humanitarian-imperialism-created/comments
Arkansas Lawmakers Could Wreck A 50-Year-Old FOIA Law This Week https://scheerpost.com/2023/09/14/arkansas-lawmakers-could-wreck-a-50-year-old-foia-law-this-week/
End Wealth Supremacy https://scheerpost.com/2023/09/15/end-wealth-supremacy/
Despite 116,000 Signatures, Atlanta Won’t Validate Stop Cop City Petition https://truthout.org/articles/despite-116000-signatures-atlanta-wont-validate-stop-cop-city-petition
Join The ‘Reparations Contingent’ At The Black People’s March On The White House https://popularresistance.org/a-call-to-white-people-join-the-reparations-contingent-at-the-black-peoples-march/
NATO is a Farce, Part 2: The Puppet Parade https://joebrunoli.substack.com/p/nato-is-a-farce-part-2-the-puppet/comments
Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog: The Little Red Book of Revolution
How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe online at: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com
If you'd like to help out in the meantime, buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/therevolutioncontinues
More details to come. Power to the people!
There's more than an element of 'you first' in the answer to this question. The duopoly has a reputation for coming down hard on those who move against it. It's like the government is straight-arming anyone who tries to stop the burglars clearing out their house of valuables.
ReplyDeleteIt is scary to go against the establishment. That's why it's imperative we band together and go against them as a united front. But if we're going to bicker and squabble and degrade each other, we'll never want to work together. We'll never work together to bring down the status quo and start the Revolution. We've all got to work on our people skills or else we're doomed to die a slow death by capitalism!
Delete