The history of Britain has a moment of near revolution with the electoral reform in the mid 19th century. Also the suffragettes. Also multiple slave revolts in the empire.
And the Pink Floyd lyric is a classic that everyone who just discovered Pink Floyd resonates with. Throwing it in off handledly into a senseless article with no real analysis or thought just seems to me to try to add profundity to something mediocre.
None of that resulted in the overthrow of any government. Electoral reform was carried out by the government, and the Suffragette militant campaign ended in failure in 1914, having turned public opinion against women voting. Their impact is very much overstated - the height of their arson and bombing campaign was also the period with the fewest insurance claims as a nation in living memory.
But these things influenced political decisions. It’s just that the British state back then was wise to this. Now it’s not so clear which makes revolution if not an inevitability, then at least a possibility.
[Points to the history of Britain]
[Further points to the Pink Floyd reference]
The history of Britain has a moment of near revolution with the electoral reform in the mid 19th century. Also the suffragettes. Also multiple slave revolts in the empire.
And the Pink Floyd lyric is a classic that everyone who just discovered Pink Floyd resonates with. Throwing it in off handledly into a senseless article with no real analysis or thought just seems to me to try to add profundity to something mediocre.
None of that resulted in the overthrow of any government. Electoral reform was carried out by the government, and the Suffragette militant campaign ended in failure in 1914, having turned public opinion against women voting. Their impact is very much overstated - the height of their arson and bombing campaign was also the period with the fewest insurance claims as a nation in living memory.
But these things influenced political decisions. It’s just that the British state back then was wise to this. Now it’s not so clear which makes revolution if not an inevitability, then at least a possibility.