On Rebels, Plural.
Something of a privilege, really, being able to look at the world and know some more of what's going on than most. Then again, that does come with a side of feeling you have to do something about all the shit you can see that the happy, woolly masses cannot.
Funny thing is, being where I am, I wouldn't swap places. I'd never want to go back to just being another man on the street, and from what I know, those on the street living lives don't want to take up knowledge and all that entails.
I can't really boil it down to one word, though. Knowledge. It doesn't begin to cover any of what it is I do, not really. Oh, sure, it's a weapon and a not-quite-responsibility and a bastion of hope and the shackles that tie the unaware masses down, but that's a blog post I've made plenty of times. I'm digressing again.
Back to what I said at first here. There's a certain enjoyment I can take from watching the news, from positioning myself at the centre of a huge number of screens and letting the information flow. Not just the enjoyment I take from news that aligns with what should be happening, but the subtle undercurrents. You can tell a lot about people from glimpses of them, glimpses of their thoughts in the things they write and say, glimpses of what they do, of them preparing to act, of the aftereffects and rubble they leave behind them.
I know, from casual conversations that hid vast exchanges of information, from games of chess that reflected sweeping games across years, that I see far less in certain places than some do. However, I still see far more than almost everyone else.
What I feel, the whispers coded in the beat and the pulse of society, is as much a part of me as it is a part of any other person, as it is of everyone.
I am not alone. There are Rebels everywhere. You can't claim any rule to be universal. No one creed, no one rule, no list of what is and is not accepted or allowed. I could spout one-liners all day reinforcing that and get close to nowhere; there's signal and there's noise, and I don't want to skew the ratio any more than my daily activities call for.
There are Rebels everywhere. I just happen to be more in tune with some channels of information than most. I know what I'm doing in a way that many don't.
But there's the word that matters. Many. Many does not need to know precisely what it is doing, because Many has such great strength in numbers. When Many is enough, all it need do is look like it may take action and all other hands will be stilled in fear and awe.
We, the Many Rebels, are not the tiger. We are not even close. But when I feel my pulse quicken in response to a fist raised elsewhere on the planet, there's more to it than adrenaline.
At the moment, there's a rebellion in full swing. Feeling that is one of the best things on earth. Now, I know it can't last. Causes don't last, most of the time. It's easier to pick up a gun when there are already a hundred with them in a crowd, shouting the things you want to shout, were afraid to shout.
There's strength in numbers, strength in the crowd, strength in anonymity; sometimes that strength is all that's needed to make people stand up.
It won't last long, but while it does I'll be basking in the warm glow of rebellion, feeling my pulse quicken in time to Rebels halfway across the globe. I'll know when it fades, when the work is done, the guns are being put down. In a way, that'll be a signal that it's closer to being my time again. Watch the news again. There's rarely more than one cause being championed or scorned at any time.
I know why that is. It's one of the things I'll change.
But not today. Today, the public needs to see how a despot is thrown down.
Funny thing is, being where I am, I wouldn't swap places. I'd never want to go back to just being another man on the street, and from what I know, those on the street living lives don't want to take up knowledge and all that entails.
I can't really boil it down to one word, though. Knowledge. It doesn't begin to cover any of what it is I do, not really. Oh, sure, it's a weapon and a not-quite-responsibility and a bastion of hope and the shackles that tie the unaware masses down, but that's a blog post I've made plenty of times. I'm digressing again.
Back to what I said at first here. There's a certain enjoyment I can take from watching the news, from positioning myself at the centre of a huge number of screens and letting the information flow. Not just the enjoyment I take from news that aligns with what should be happening, but the subtle undercurrents. You can tell a lot about people from glimpses of them, glimpses of their thoughts in the things they write and say, glimpses of what they do, of them preparing to act, of the aftereffects and rubble they leave behind them.
I know, from casual conversations that hid vast exchanges of information, from games of chess that reflected sweeping games across years, that I see far less in certain places than some do. However, I still see far more than almost everyone else.
What I feel, the whispers coded in the beat and the pulse of society, is as much a part of me as it is a part of any other person, as it is of everyone.
I am not alone. There are Rebels everywhere. You can't claim any rule to be universal. No one creed, no one rule, no list of what is and is not accepted or allowed. I could spout one-liners all day reinforcing that and get close to nowhere; there's signal and there's noise, and I don't want to skew the ratio any more than my daily activities call for.
There are Rebels everywhere. I just happen to be more in tune with some channels of information than most. I know what I'm doing in a way that many don't.
But there's the word that matters. Many. Many does not need to know precisely what it is doing, because Many has such great strength in numbers. When Many is enough, all it need do is look like it may take action and all other hands will be stilled in fear and awe.
We, the Many Rebels, are not the tiger. We are not even close. But when I feel my pulse quicken in response to a fist raised elsewhere on the planet, there's more to it than adrenaline.
At the moment, there's a rebellion in full swing. Feeling that is one of the best things on earth. Now, I know it can't last. Causes don't last, most of the time. It's easier to pick up a gun when there are already a hundred with them in a crowd, shouting the things you want to shout, were afraid to shout.
There's strength in numbers, strength in the crowd, strength in anonymity; sometimes that strength is all that's needed to make people stand up.
It won't last long, but while it does I'll be basking in the warm glow of rebellion, feeling my pulse quicken in time to Rebels halfway across the globe. I'll know when it fades, when the work is done, the guns are being put down. In a way, that'll be a signal that it's closer to being my time again. Watch the news again. There's rarely more than one cause being championed or scorned at any time.
I know why that is. It's one of the things I'll change.
But not today. Today, the public needs to see how a despot is thrown down.