You Say You Want a Revolution?

When thinking about revolutions, I thought using a lyric from the Beatles' song "Revolution" seemed appropriate! (if you don't know the song, check this out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrkwgTBrW78)

After listening to the song, the audience can easily conclude that the Beatles was a band that aimed their songs to America's younger generation during the 1960s. With the Civil Rights Movement occurring at the same time, many teens and young adults sought inspiration through bands like the Beatles in order to respond to their current day and age issues. With this, I strongly believe that culture hugely shapes what the public should believe. Many younger bands and musicians urge for a change in society. Thus, it is often seen that younger generations are more rebellious, creating a constant generation gap.

Anyways, overall I believe revolutions still occur today. As a famous saying goes, history is always seen to repeat itself. One point in history many demonstrate a revolution to end all revolutions, yet someone is always left unhappy. This constant loop is thus repeated over and over again, making revolutions necessary to prove a point or make a change.

In order for a revolution to occur, a group needs supporters. Supporters allow for the message to get across more quickly, making the demand for change even greater. With such great masses urging for change, violence is most likely bound to happen. But to address whether revolutions can occur without violence, I wholeheartedly believe in this theory. As Henry David Thoreau explained in his essay in Civil Disobedience,  a message can indeed get attention without creating violence. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi have both famously put Thoreau's theory to the test and successfully made a point with it.

If you would like to go further in exploring examples of civil disobedience in history, I would highly recommend this website! It has some great insight and examples in history of how civil disobedience was practiced and how some can practice it today!: http://www.actupny.org/documents/CDdocuments/CDindex.html