Why The Revolution Hasn't Started Yet
https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2023/09/why-revolution-hasnt-started-yet.html
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.
Why hasn’t the Revolution started yet? What’s holding it up? What is holding us back from taking decisive action? Why hasn’t the magical Revolution Fairy descended from on high and seized the means of production away from the capitalists and given it to the workers yet?
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?
But the workers, those supposed lovers of Revolution, don’t demonstrate brotherly love (sisterly love or neighborly love) for their fellow workers. Often they show outright contempt. It’s ugly and unseemly.
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.
If you claim you want to bring about a better world for the entirety of humanity based upon a socialist society, then you must demonstrate that you want this better world to be for all human beings. You must forgive your enemies and give your fellow workers the same chance. You must treat everyone as equals, not treat some better and some worse. Otherwise, you’re not a true revolutionary. You are still a capitalist, and you belong in one of the duopolist parties.
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?
There you have it—the real reason behind why the Revolution hasn’t started yet. We the workers are not ready for change. We don’t want the world to become a more just and caring place for everyone. We want some to suffer horribly for their past mistakes, over and over again. We withhold forgiveness from other workers for making mistakes even though we ourselves make mistakes daily.
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?
The Golden Rule is a good place to start if you truly want to create a socialist Revolution. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Walk a mile in another person’s moccasins.
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/
Bidenomics: Millions to Rebuild Maui, Billions for Ukraine https://scheerpost.com/2023/09/18/bidenomics-millions-to-rebuild-maui-billions-for-ukraine/
‘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/
“A Watershed Moment”: CA Sues Oil Giants Over Decades of Climate Destruction https://truthout.org/articles/a-watershed-moment-ca-sues-oil-giants-over-decades-of-climate-destruction
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.
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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
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I spy this question daily and nightly too ! Thanks to your article, I know I'm not a dement girl ...
While I completely agree with the notion of unity and forgiveness, I completely disagree that revolution hasn't happened because "workers aren't ready for it."
1) How do workers inform themselves on the nature of the beast, when search engines direct them to msm?
2) How do workers inform themselves when they have so little free time?
3) How do workers unify when government has infiltrated every significant leftist faction in the US?
Workers who follow msm hate each other because they're told to hate each other. The workers have poor reasoning skills because schools have been defunded. They have barely enough money to survive, and they're constantly reminded that "the union doesn't have enough strike funds" or "if you strike your health insurance will be canceled". Or here in the south, "if you strike we fire you. If you do anything even remotely pro-union, we will fire you."
And it bears repeating, if you try to search the internet for answers, you will only find propaganda. It took me over a year to collect links to independent journalism. And I have a graduate degree!
So yes, 100% with you on unity.
But I think we should be much more aware of the state's active sabotage and how it prevents workers from standing up. Precarious existences must be clutched. Perhaps when things get even worse and there's nothing left to fight for... And I'm fully aware of how pathetic that last sentence sounds, but there is truth to it. When it becomes obvious that no amount of work will feed one's family, people will be much more likely to heed the call to revolution.