IV - Braveheart Rolling In His Grave

Rebellion. It's a loaded word these days and nothing more.

Humanity has obviously become more jaded as the decades have ticked on, because these days, we threaten rebellion for anything and everything.  Somebody voted the Tories in? REBELLION! We're in the EU? REBELLION! Zero Hours Contracts? REBELLION! We don't like this new version of Windows? REBELLION! My coffee's too cold? REBELLION!

Several centuries ago, nobody said outright "REBELLION!" Rebellion's occurred and unfolded slowly and surely. But they actually occurred over time, and for just causes. For the English Civil War, the Parliament essentially rebelled against King Charles and the divine right of kings. Rightfully tired of being screwed around and only restored (They were abolished for around a decade so Charles could rule by himself.) so Charles could bum them for money. "AW, C'MON! GIMME SOME CHANGE, PARLIAMENT! I NEED TO PAY OFF SCOTLAND, EVEN THOUGH I'VE BEEN AT WAR WITH THEM, BECAUSE THEY'VE INVADED NEWCASTLE! C'MON, GIMME SOME CHANGE!!" In Scotland, the Wars of Independence began after the Scots grew weary of the constant and sudden political changes following the death of Alexander III and Edward I and II interjecting themselves into Scottish matters. Even then, it took time: It wasn't until they installed Balliol as essentially a puppet king when the swords started to swing and battles unfolded. Wallace saw his family killed before he turned into Braveheart, and The Bruce didn't even bother rebelling against his masters, the English, until Scotland was well and truly subdued, at which point he turned to Scotland and led them against England to victory over the course of several years. In America, rebellion turned into full blown revolution: Rightfully so, the colonials refused to pay the insubordinate tax on tea that was forced on them. First came the rebellions and the Tea Parties, and the desire to actually have representation in parliament, but of course, the Brits stomped their foots down, shot several troublemakers, and rebellion became revolution.

The point is this: The West loves to say rebellion these days. But we'll never undergo another one.

All those centuries ago, rebellions and revolutions occurred not only because people were genuinely trodden upon, and regularly shot and killed at intervals for the craic of it (See: The rebellion in the North against Norman rule and the subsequent Harrying of the North.), countries were subjugated and entire peoples were stood upon by greedy governments for the sake of it.

These days, we threaten rebellion for anything. And it's lost all meaning. So much so that when it does come around, it fails completely.

In Britain, there seems to be a fine line between threatening and descending into rebellion, a line which is irritably toed at a daily interval but which will never plunge into the latter.

With the Conservative-Lib Dem Coalition ruling the roost, with Europe encroaching ever further on Britain's shores, with the Union itself at risk, with austerity looming, with an unfair economic outlook, with rising unemployment, the calls for rebellion, revolution, and the desire to "wake up" are high, but nobody is going to take that step. Nobody is going to lead that step into rebellion.

Even when people are dying on the bread line, even when homes and possessions are repossessed while bankers down in London are paid in millions for failing, even when the North descends into a skewed percentage of unemployment compared to the South East and to Scotland, even when Scotland's voice for independence stirs feelings in Wales, there is no desire to act out a rebellion.

The Government could send out death squads to kill those who insult Nick Clegg and we would just sit there, check our fingernails and shrug, thinking "Well, y'know, I had a good run.." The closest Britain seems to get to rebellion are threatening to vote UKIP and joining the EDL on marches: The former is doomed to failure, thanks to the brainwashing of too many regions to either vote Tory or Labour automatically, while the latter are attended by people who are so incomprehensibly stupid that they can't tie their own shoes without professional help, lest they injure themselves.

So why is that the British people are all talk and no action? Why do we put up with bankers robbing us, the government killing us, our children starving, and a totally unbalanced and unfair country? Why is it we only talk about rebellion, grumbling in low voices about doing something?

Methinks the answer lies in the haze of the London Riots, the biggest act of rioting in recent memory in Britain.

To keep it short: In London, the riots occurred following the shooting of Mark Duggan by the police. Was it a rebellion? You could see it like that: It spread to certain cities after engulfing London and led to fires and destruction. However, unlike rebellions in history, it quickly fizzled out after a few days and did not spread.

Why? Two reasons:

One, because we're gutless cowards. We didn't want to be seen as a "civilised" country descending into madness and going to desperate, defiant measures to voice our displeasure. All the older generations did were stand by and tut at the feral youth as fires razed buildings around them. The same older generations who are apparently sick and tired of zero hours contracts, sick of their pensions being sapped while bankers head for the Mediterranean in two-story yachts filled with bullions, sick of having to head to food banks just to survive. 

The second reason is, let's admit it, because we're greedy bastards. The riots in London started after protests grew into unrest over the shooting of Duggan, and when the unrest boiled over, it turned into youth mayhem. Had any other younger generation in history been rioting, it probably would have become rebellion: No high streets burning, no houses being threatened with bricks, but instead a lynch mob heading for police stations and Parliament, fearing no force on this Earth, to ensure justice was done and the injustice of daily life was eradicated.

For us greedy fucks, that wasn't the case.

Instead, the riots descended into greed-fuelled lunacy. The original message was purged in flames: Nobody cared that Duggan was originally believed to have been shot unfairly and rashly (Ongoing court cases are currently unfolding evidence on the case. Whether or not you believe Duggan was shot in self-defence or not...), nobody cared that the police grossly exercised their power and killed Duggan: Instead, it was seen as a payday. Rebellion? Not likely. Just greed. The televisions were alight in scenes of stupid, thick-skulled, inbred, hooded youths rushing out of stores with handfuls and armfuls of goodies while the City burned around them. Similar scenes unfolded in cities such as Manchester, not because it was in protest for Duggan, but because they saw the media coverage and thought "Hey, free shit! Let's burn things and smash windows!"

The grumbling was thus, justified. There was no overall message at the end of it all. Just greed.

And, of course, to complain about these things means "first world problems", because apparently just because someone is starving in Africa, and because there are death squads roaming third-world countries slaughtering women and children just for the sake of it, we can't actually raise our voices to complain about what might be seen as injustice. So, to avoid being seen as selfish, we keep quiet.

We speak and shout about rebellion, but at the end of the day, we're either too personally greedy to want to change the country through such a drastic action, or we're simply too polite and reserved to be bothered, thus reserving talks of an America, Greek, Italian, Spanish, French or British Revolution to internet forums. Where we'll threaten to stand up and overthrow our countries corrupt governments and bankers, only to sit there and go "....YEAH!...........ANY MINUTE NOW!" Like on this very blog: Then again, I realise I can only talk about. One man standing on a soapbox in a city square doesn't count for rebellion so much as it counts for that man being totally goddamn insane. And if rebellion does occur, well, the situation in London warns us that it'll just descend into greed and madness.

The roaring spirit of Braveheart has turned into the damp squib of Grumblechest.

Maybe one day, the West will have a war cry against Wall Street injustice and corruption that amounts to more than "TO THE INTERNET!" or "TAKE ALL THE FREE THINGS!!!"

But I doubt snowboarding will ever become a past-time in Hell.