Why the working class/eudaemonic/whatever revolution isn’t coming.
So, in a few corners of the internet, talk has turned again to revolution. I don’t believe it, and I give you 25 reasons why it won’t happen. Ever.- Because people with MBAs are still taken seriously, and allowed to largely determine the direction of society.
- Because the very architecture of the buildings we live in atomises us and separates us, preventing us from knowing our neighbours and organising with them.
- Because John in Shropshire and Xian Je in Gungzhou completely agree on what is to be done, but John doesn’t speak Cantonese, nor Xian Je English.
- And neither of them even knows of the other’s existence.
- Because people think Cheryl Cole is worth even a moment of their attention.
- Because if you don’t work, in Western countries, you don’t eat. So you better work.
- Because human beings value a small amount of pleasure right now much more than a larger amount of pleasure in the future.
- Because the opponents of change understand psychology and neurology much better than those calling for it - both in general, and in how it applies to their ends.
- Because working class people see foreigners as their enemy, rather than investment bankers.
- Because our education systems teach folk how to be good obedient workers, but poor critical thinkers.
- Because the dominant media fills the heads of its consumers with confused, savage thoughts towards their fellow humans. Have you read the Letters to the Editor page in the Sun lately?
- And that media is very capable of ignoring things its owners find inconvenient.
- Because even the educated pay only the slightest attention to the consequences to humanity and the environment as a result of the things they purchase.
- Because we argue about the rights and wrongs of political parties as though they didn’t uniformly represent the ruling class.
- Because our idea of socialising almost invariable involves intoxicating ourselves so we can better ignore reality.
- Because in almost every house, there is a device whose sole purpose is to induce passivity and reduce thinking.
- Because even those who call for revolution sometimes doubt that they’re right. The defenders of the status quo have no such doubts.
- Because modern capitalism will turn the Earth’s atmosphere in to one resembling that of Venus before any revolution will even get started.
- Because a large proportion of the smartest people in our society dream of fast cars, foreign holidays and fantastically large houses.
- Because our sense of identity is so tied up with our jobs and what we consume, and that to lose them is to lose our identity.
- Because our superannuation is invested in the stock market, blackmailing us into continued alliance with the owners of the market. You don’t want to die poor, do you?
- Because we are scared of the awesome responsibility that would accompany the freedom we could create for ourselves.
- Because the very language of the putative revolutionaries is narrow and academic, which the laity don’t understand. What the fuck is “dialectical materialism” anyway?
- Because the status quo has an incredible ability to change itself in the cause of its self-preservation, even in the face of existential threats to its existence.
And here’s the kicker: Because overcoming just one of those reasons won’t bring about the revolution, as the others will serve to prevent it just fine.
