Revolution

October 2017 - Present

Revolution details my journey through ego-death, the burden of knowledge, and my rude awakening back to reality. The middle and upper regions were inspired after a minor altercation with Taiwanese police where I was profiled because of dressing differently.

On one level, I understand why this happens. On another level, however, I find it as a means of status quo control (via shame). During my stay in Taiwan, I found this was a frequently recurring theme. Shamed into conformity. Shamed into censorship. Why rock the boat, right? Why not?

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There is a famous philosophical anecdote. There are X number of collared monkeys locked in a cage with a banana dangling from the ceiling. However, every time the banana is reached for, the monkeys receive a minor electrical shock. This deters them enough to not touch the banana. However, one day, one of the original monkeys is taken out of the cage and a new one without a collar takes its place. Suddenly, when the new monkey tries to grab the banana, all of the original monkeys react immediately and beat him, warning him of the danger of grabbing the banana. And so this new monkey, greatly outnumbered, learns to never grab the banana. This phenomena repeats until none of the original monkeys are in the cage. Yet none dare reach for the shock-less banana.

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We do the same in shunning rebellious attitudes, fearing liberties for the young we ourselves did not have, and denouncing revolution. There is an argument that every revolution is a bloody one, but is it the idea that causes the bloodshed? 

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