The Masses
I was watching I, Robot today, which is, by the way, a rather good movie despite what you may have heard to the contrary. And in it the Robot go out of control and are attacking the humans (Geez, big fucking surprise, right?) Naturally you have the big mob of civilians that ends up forming to counterattack the Robots and when I saw that I felt prickles down my spine. It's not the idea of the people fighting the Robots or anything, it's the fact that they're civilians. Civilians, ready to fight, ready to die. No military uniforms, no organization, just civilians. In this world, in our sheltered North American world, we don't see that. Civilians do not, as a rule, form a group and fight, tooth and nail, against a foe. Sure we have gangs, but those are organized, there's somebody at the top of the foodchain, somebody calling the shots. But not so with simple civilians. It's awe-inspiring, truly, to see civilians doing that, and the only access we, as sheltered North Americans, have to it is through Television and Film.
Another example of it is in the miniseries Taken when the people who had been taken are facing off with the military. Those civilians, each and every one of them would have given his or her life to protect Allie, to stop the military from taking her. And it's the same thing, that frightening "I will die for this" mentality in civilians. Somehow the Uniform makes it seem okay, but in civilians... it's like a revolution. The people rising up, against the state, against the police and military. It's been said that nothing scares a government like its own people, because they have the power to remove that government should they see fit. We don't see revolutions in North America, hell we don't even see war on our own land. We have no idea what the world is like, no idea of the cruelty of humans, the ability to desensitize, the unity and bravery, the extent of fear, hate, love, joy. We have no idea. None.
All of that is said in the fact that civilians at arms is a foreign idea. We live in a fantasy world, a dreamland. We live here under the watchful eyes of the American Military that almost none in the world dare oppose. Except it can't last. Every dream has to end. How long do we have? How long?
When do we wake up from the dream?
Another example of it is in the miniseries Taken when the people who had been taken are facing off with the military. Those civilians, each and every one of them would have given his or her life to protect Allie, to stop the military from taking her. And it's the same thing, that frightening "I will die for this" mentality in civilians. Somehow the Uniform makes it seem okay, but in civilians... it's like a revolution. The people rising up, against the state, against the police and military. It's been said that nothing scares a government like its own people, because they have the power to remove that government should they see fit. We don't see revolutions in North America, hell we don't even see war on our own land. We have no idea what the world is like, no idea of the cruelty of humans, the ability to desensitize, the unity and bravery, the extent of fear, hate, love, joy. We have no idea. None.
All of that is said in the fact that civilians at arms is a foreign idea. We live in a fantasy world, a dreamland. We live here under the watchful eyes of the American Military that almost none in the world dare oppose. Except it can't last. Every dream has to end. How long do we have? How long?
When do we wake up from the dream?
3 Comments:
*hands kolyn a pickaxe* Go get the government, little boy. At least the Conservatives, if they're stupid enough to do something like call an election or not pass C-38.
And so Kiora goes to africa to watch things die. Maybe she won't see people dying directly, but she will see people living in the real world. Kiora likes to go see things in far away lands. She doesn't know why, but she does. Kiora's dad likes to look at animals lots. So does kiora, but kiora also wants to see the people and what the people have done. Or what they haven't.
I like anarchy. ^_^
That is all I have to say.
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