The Child's Nation

                     Hunter McGuire

 

The Child’s Nation

 

            It has been years since the great era of revolution broke out across the world, spreading like pox, shattering nations as one would shatter glass to build this massive, intricate world of interspersed culture which we know today. Years ago… Even decades past, revolution remained the norm, empire the old husk of a status quo- there was India, with its triumphant reconstruction, Africa, still throwing off the old hints of colonialism as ancient ways of life burst from hasty graves to new prominence, all the oppressed cultures and forgotten peoples building up something uniquely their own- the ramifications of this era were and remain to be the heart of our modern world. The heart of our modern world- or, perhaps, its roots rather than its heart, less of a living deity so much as it is a monument left from older times. Revolution, revolt- the need for the reconstruction and revitalization which these chaotic elements will inevitably bring is no less pressing in our convoluted and overcrowded world than it was in the linear supremacy of the empires of yore- if there were a time for revolution, it would be now, protected as it is by constitution and encouraged by the basic principles of these nations revolutionary in origin themselves. Where, then, are the new beginnings, the challenges of old, the revolutionary leaders who step out of failing ways in demonstration of what they believe must be as our world hurtles onwards along its path towards the precipice of failure as a race? Our advantage over our ancestors is tremendous and obvious- where they had newspapers and telegrams easily fouled by error both human and natural, rumours passed from mouth to mouth with growing flaws through every repetition, we have such miracles as the television and its countless stations, an army of satellites all expounding upon the precise and often verbatim transfer of facts from one side of the world to the other- with such knowledge, how is it possible that we remain so ignorant as to be left without our revolutions? For, indeed, they are needed no less than before as our constant streams of information bring to the attention of any who will listen every woe which our world may suffer from, needed more, as an increasingly interdependent world hurtles on towards collective collapse… We all see it, and yet we do not act upon it, do not move against the world which without doubt is not succeeding in its mandate to survive and excel as a whole not because we lack the motive, or the means, but instead the opportunity.

            It takes little foresight to have known that this system’s failure was coming- an increasing number of our societies find themselves to be the products of revolution or at very least its witness, and having seen what tactics the world may use, knowing the signs and warnings and indicators, it is in the power of our world to put a stop to it. Revolutionary intent has not diminished as the ages passed and has certainly not given up now that the knowledge of a thousand inflammatory subjects, a billion pokes and prods lies at its fingertips- yet who can deny that it is being better opposed on every front, from the radicals burning through the streets like a bonfire of change gone mad to the housewives and businessmen who feel, somewhere deep beneath the tumult of daily life, that something must be done differently? For revolution is no longer the large and ungainly thing it was during the bygone days of the colonial independence, the long and loud wars fought as much by the men on the battlefield as it was by those few directing minds on either end of the Atlantic. Yet no longer must a thousand men and women take up the sword for a revolution to be noted by those who would fight it- the greater proliferation of information and technology, the enhanced speed of development- with the tools made readily available by our modern technology, nations no longer have to fear creations of armies and battles but those smaller groups, those lone radicals, even, who would take up the spirit of revolt and strike soundlessly from the shadows so as to set the world ablaze by a few of their acts alone. No army in its ranks could fight half so well as a handful lost in the crowded mass of humanity. The hacker, the programmer, the fervent mixture of common chemicals into a deadly concoction- these are the greatest enemies of society today, the most violent and simple powers sounding their harsh calls of social revitalization no longer through the protest rally or the raising of banners but through the proliferation of fear and doubt throughout those who would oppose them. What, then, in the face of this maddening and powerful enemy can our governments do but respond in kind? Never before has our world seen such an abundance of doubt, such a large part of its energies dedicated to the constant suppression of its own inner turbulence- yet never has that inner chaos been able to reach so far. Know and control- these are the mandates placed upon our nations today, upon our police and military whose systems of surveillance and espionage become more advanced- just as their opposition does- so as to prevent the power of these chaotic elements from becoming too much to bear. Demanding from the criminals knowledge which before was inaccessible, they fight to halt their progress- yet also exacting its toll from those who mean no such harm, using retaliation and regulation so as to ensure that no one- however harmless- has the power to bring them grief. Revolution, revitalization… How can these succeed, when it is policed not by morals but by a tangible, militant force with a deeply vested interest within the preservation of that which is the norm?

            Yet these violent revolutionaries, fervently opposed as they are, are few and far between, stopped in their harsh acts more often than not- nothing but the stuff of nightmares, really, for those who live amongst them. The everyday man, the common woman- to such people as these, the fearful violence of these revolutions remains a distant interest, beyond sympathy or understanding- a thing which our revolutionaries today never seem to understand, indeed, never had to, until these last few decades. They call and muster; they shout and summon with their beliefs whether though discourse and debate or violence- taking advantage of our modern media and its powerful reach, touching every corner of the globe, scouring it with their perceptions and amounting to… What? Headlines, nods of approval from their readers- these are the things achieved every moment just as effectively and twice so consistently by our celebrities, our entertainment sectors more powerful and diverse than they have ever been, calling for an understanding through the same channels that their contemporaries call for notice and clamour for wealth. No, to those who live in our constant streams of data, revolution in these modern days must seem just as ridiculous as those who call for it, being too distant or too radical or simply too impractical when deadlines abound, when little tasks eat away at the massive thing that is life until free moments are precious as diamonds- and yet they are not treated with half the value one would employ in the care of one such stone. Revolution, where once it ran through land like wildfire, is rendered distant by the distance of all things within a global life, whether it be tyranny or failure or impracticality… In a world where the far things are made increasingly distant by the illusion of having the sum of it tied within the connections of a hard drive, the synapses of some far- away processor, is it not possible that a sense of inertia would hold greater sway than any thought or persuasion? A sense of overwhelming mass and size, far too distant for our everyday lives when there are friends to be met with and bills to be paid?

            Indeed, it is the creation of nothing short of overwhelming mass- present in every facet of lives increasingly limited by the growing propensity of life to forge its own sense of size. One cannot help but wonder if it is not the natural by-product of the free speech which we so treasure- the freedom of every man to air his views, we know, is the basis of his eagerness to do so in proportion both immense and generally unheard as it is carried amidst the stream of all others doing the same. Such mass as the lives of these veritable forests of individuals, all spread out before us- who would be able to pick a single sound out of that cacophony, as one would hear the crash of one wave when seated along the ocean’s shore? And in proportion equal to that of the things which people wish to hide, the cacophony is growing, as are the things lost in its white noise. Wrongs, violations, missteps and errors- the greatest fear of our nations now is not that wrong will be discovered, but that someone will care, attribute it to be more than the amorphous tendency of large systems to fall flat every now and again. Informational technologies have brought to us greater strength in our lives, greater knowledge, greater understanding and the potential for unity- yet where is the change in lifestyle to match it? Where are the schools of thought who have differed in a radical way from those which birthed the revolutions centuries ago? For our world is greater, now, our lives stronger and wider and more powerful even as we live within spheres of existence just as limited as they would have been were our only source of news the post or the occasional word of rumour, when the freedom to speak was exercised to its limit with the full knowledge that only the greatest tremors would travel outside those friends who heard it- and yet now they break across the whole of humanity as waves will shake the shore, never mind the fact that the winds and waves have something greater than their constant battle against the world’s rocky coasts. The advent of the cannon changed the ways wars were fought; the atomic weapon, the very nature of combat: and yet despite the power of our armies to annihilate each other in the space of a moment, the ability of governing powers to erase their antagonists at the touch of a button, it was never considered that the strength of war had rendered itself obsolete when every party held the power to trump that which was raised against them, the feedback system too tremendous to render it possible with any measurable result left behind.

            Revolution: in the years since its massive spread throughout the land, there has been little to change what it has forged. New names, places torn down and built up again- and, as has been the case with every revolution which our world has seen, old things were replaced by newer ways which became equally old and clumsy in their own time. An endless process, it seemed: breaking and formation, repeated without ending as society, ever unchanging and solid, was shattered and pieced together anew by the work of its many parts to make something of it when it too grew old… Like prey hunted by lions, we were: running at our greatest speed, shining at our brightest until we weariness upset the balance and we met with those insatiable creatures behind, bent as they were upon perfect fortitude and success… How simple! Bound by nature’s ancient cry to live, its underlying imperative to improve and strive, we chose a path that suited us, however full of thorns, and ran through, falling and rising again as something more apt to keeping the beast at bay. That simplicity- it is gone now, though every cell of our massive gazelle still churns at the same pace. No, where once we ran, evolution has lent us horns and claws: where once we had a place, however small, we now have outsmarted it, slipped past it and grown to decadence where before we had success. Is that not always the way, with evolution? A thousand tiny changes, each with its own demise- yet for the one that succeeds, there is nothing in its way. Like the cat with no need for claws, we now run… And yet we still think as if the lions were roaring behind. Our defenses against change have worked with what can only be named perfection- and so we are still children, wearing the flesh of adults, awash with information, and strength, and technology- yet no way to apply it. Children, with muscles which can break bone, strong arms and legs with which to gouge out the earth’s riches as one would gather candies- so we are, deprived of a society which may handle this sudden influx of strength, deprived of our revolution, our crucible, our roaring lions to make us something more apt to living than a child.

 

Reviews

[Zachary_James]

Great write hunter keep it up.