The Commodification of Revolution

In a word, ironical as it may be, the professional revolutionary is an inescapable by-product of the very modernity that has been a distinguishing mark of the twentieth century.

                        –Dr. Mostafa Rejai

            Chevy: An American Revolution.

                                    –Chevrolet Advertisement

  
  IntroductionRevolution! Revolution! Revolution!  This one word, whether chanted, sung or said evokes images of change, battle, and warfare all for the betterment of mankind. Whether the revolution is from the Left or the Right, it matters not.  Heroes of revolutions are permanently embalmed in the minds of those freed, and those wishing to be freed, as liberators and bringers of freedom; their writings are forever in print and available to anyone wanting to learn their philosophies and creeds.    

            Where are these revolutionaries?  Where is the revolution?

No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution… revolution is but thought carried into action.

                        –Emma Goldman

            The most heroic word in all languages is revolution

                        –Eugene V. Debs

            The revolution is here, now.  Stop it who can!”

                        –Jack London

Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man.  There has never been a really good one, and even those that are most tolerable are arbitrary, cruel, grasping and unintelligent.

                        –H.L. Mencken

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

                        –John F. Kennedy

            Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

                        –Howard Zinn

I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

– Thomas Jefferson

In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them.  Not that he is in danger of an auto-da-fe, but he is exposed to continued obloquy and persecution.

                        –Alexis de Tocqueville

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it.  Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember it or overthrow it.

                        –Abraham Lincoln

That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

–Declaration of Independence

[W]hat country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that [the] people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms…The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

                                    — Thomas Jefferson

This blog is going to focus on exactly what the title implies—The Commodification of Revolution.  It will be an in depth analysis of the usurpation of revolution by major corporations and government.  Society has allowed this to happen and I will examine the hows and, more importantly, the whys.  From bands to t-shirts to movies to ideology, the Commodification of Revolution is upon us, it is in full swing.  The United States was founded on revolution, now it appears as if revolution is impossible.  I look forward to hearing all of your comments and I am open to discussion of this phenomenon.