“The people will rise”, “the proles will rise”—this is one of the most damaging myths in history.
I think you are right about this, but to play devil's advocate the "it's different this time" angle is the one world communication system.
But back to the other side... the rulers have not only access to that, but seemingly control over it.
An emergent outburst of popular resentment results only in a headless mob. It rarely even happens; and when it does, it is trivial to suppress. Quelling a riot is part of Rulership 101.
The masses are both inert and stupid. Moreover, overthrowing an established government requires resources. A revolution
always needs organization, charismatic leadership, propaganda, and lots and lots of money.
Take, for example, your American Revolution. The majority of the people were either favourable to the government (branded “Loyalists” as if loyalty were evil), or apathetic—the eighteenth-century equivalent of couch potatoes. Around (IIRC) 30% of the British colonists got upset. They were whipped into a frenzy, organized, and propagandized by what, from the government’s viewpoint, were traitors and criminals—what would nowadays be called “domestic terrorists”. History otherwise remembers them, because history books are written by the winners.
Some of the revolutionary leaders were wealthy—for instance, Hancock; a bunch of rich men pledged “our Lives,
our Fortunes, and our sacred Honour” to the cause of revolution. And as anyone with even the slightest knowledge of such matters could predict, much of the revolution was a matter of logistics, raising resources, and also—obtaining external support via diplomacy. The British insurrectionists (who, we must remember, were British subjects only anachronistically distinguished from other Brits) could never have violently overthrown the duly constituted, very stable government, if they had not timely obtained the military intervention of the French.
Popular resentment is what a computer programmer would call a
necessary but insufficient prerequisite for revolution. Wise governments conciliate the masses. For instance, observe Stolypin. Stolypin was a master statesman, one of the most talented of that historical epoch. After a failed revolution, Stolypin authoritatively instituted genuine reforms that contented most people. The Communist ideologues who were attempting to harness popular resentment needed to get rid of Stolypin; therefore, they assassinated him. Without the wise and savvy Stolypin, a weak Tsar was simply lost. A successful revolution was soon thereafter carried off when, a few years later, military defeat in the Great War made the government even weaker than usual.
Mass-communication does not turn a headless, mostly inert mass into anything but. Do you see intelligent action emerging from mindless mass-chatter on Twitter—or in WO?
Rather, consistently with what you said at the end, modern mass-communications are a collar snapped onto the collective neck of the masses, with the leash being firmly held by the powers that be. Let’s put it this way: When popular resentment resulted in the election of an American President who
very slightly crossed certain lines, Twitter blatantly manipulated the next election (ban of
NY Post to suppress the Hunter Biden story). Then, Twitter banned the sitting President from its mass-communications platform. LOL. Oh, do you suppose that the inert, unintelligent masses will somehow organize themselves with sophisticated, decentralized cypherpunk communications methods that >99.9% of people do not even know exist?
(Cue stupid arguments about Trump vs. Biden.
What I just said was not about Trump vs. Biden. Twitter,
et al. indisputably manipulated an election by suppressing information, to get rid of a president who indisputably rose on a wave of popular resentment against the
status quo. Those are the facts, whatever one’s opinion may be of whether the stupidly resentful masses picked an idiot in Trump, or whether Biden is absolutely the greatest, wisest, and most competent leader in the history of the universe.)
“It’s different this time”, yes: Insofar as “first-world” types of places are concerned,
revolution is as obsolete as the musket, the sword, and the carrier pigeon. A fool’s errand—a one-way ticket to supermax prison, a CIA black site, or the morgue. Since WO is doubtless watched, I should emphasize very clearly that I am only discussing some famous historical circumstances. I don’t much care what is called “illegal”, but I would not urge anyone to do something so moronic as attempting to “rise” against the government.
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