New world 'neighborhoods' offer more chances for rebellion or peace

 

Protest

Carol Forsloff---In the ancient world, if a man opposed the leader of his tribe, he had two choices.  One was to leave the group and forage for food and survival without the support of a group,  which often meant death from being without the physical comfort and safety of a community. The other was to kill the tribal leader, and that would be difficult in areas of isolation where interdependence was key to individual life.  Limited communication meant there was little possibility of finding and being included by another group.  Individuals relied on one another, bringing about stability that facilitated the development of civilized societies, that the expansion of modern communication can either solidify or destroy.

The new technology allows us to talk over phone lines to people in many different parts of the world.  Often we don't have to be tethered to a desk to make a call, and we also have the capacity to not only hear someone speak but to watch individuals and large groups interact.  Our tribe no longer consists of a small village of people but instead offers us the opportunity to interact with millions of people.  We can watch what happens in one part of the world, and even if our personal circumstances may be somewhat different than what we are see occurs physically far away, the close interaction we have with people through the Internet means our neighbor is perhaps a whole continent away from where we live.

That closeness that evolves from the Internet can mean very positive human growth.  Doctors can observe each other in the treatment of patients and advance their skills.  Musicians can collaborate on a piece of music and don't have to rely on finding artists in the local community.  But that new neighborhood also means that we begin to identify with one another in negative patterns as well as positive ones, which means increased opportunities to adopt the patterns of protest that occur somewhere else.

Revolutions have been with man for centuries, but in the ancient world it could take years for one tribe to learn the status of another. Indeed for many groups the remoteness of villages and the relatively small number of people relative to the geography of the earth meant many people only knew the members of their own tribe.  An uprising within a group could be risky indeed if a rebellion was unsuccessful it would mean a gradual death by being exiled and facing environmental dangers alone or an immediate execution as punishment.  The modern world, however, allows man to observe others, find commonalities and adopt similar methods to express resistance and to rebel and to make preparations for that rebellion by enlisting the participation and support of people far away.

The Internet allows people to watch a revolution in Egypt, then turn the channel and see protesters on the streets of Seattle and move on to find people demonstrating against their governments in Asia.  The revolutionary group cries out for a change of leadership, and those same cries are echoed somewhere else, even if it is only just an echo, without a sound foundation to rebel.  We see the world as the neighborhood, and often the images foster feelings that promote strong responses.  So revolution can spread from one area of the world to another much faster when it is fueled by the prompting not just from one's close companions but neighbors thousands of miles away who can't feel the heat of the conflict but are quick to participate vicariously.  The armchair warriors can join the rebellion or start one of their own.  They can also bring easy answers to complex problems that can mean irrational rebellion that soon begins to spread.

Social media like Facebook brings people together who support or oppose certain causes.  It also means that when a revolution occurs in one country, supporters can be gathered among the members of communities around the world.   We see groups rebelling against a President somewhere, and it seems the problem is ours, even when it may not be.

In February 2014 rebellion is taking place in Venezuela, Syria, and the Ukraine against the backdrop of smaller and larger conflicts in other areas of the world.

While many people see modern revolutions and climate change as signs of the end times,  it may be that these patterns are part of the response to man's own behaviors in relationship to a new form of technology that has changed what the world now means to many.  It can mean expanding revolution or world peace, as the capability of learning from each other grows.