Peaceful Revolution??

Throughout history, most meaningful changes to social order have come about violently, abruptly, or both. In fact one would be hard pressed to find one example of significant social change that came about by peaceful means.

The abolition of slavery, the rise and fall of Communism, the rise, splitting apart, or unification of almost every nation, the rise of every religious ideology, as well as the eventual demise of the subsequent religious power, all came about through revolution.

But why revolution? From the perspective of a disinterested outsider, like an alien coolly studying our species all the way from Mars, it would indeed seem to be an inefficient, destructive, and altogether unnecessary means of effecting change.

During upheaval, emotion is rampant, people are charged, impulsive, unable to think clearly. Demagogy thrives in such climate, and the faint voice of wisdom is faded, overpowered by the cacophony of the riffraff.

Modern social connectivity technology has the potential to change all that. The world as it is today is perhaps mature enough to enter the age of efficient, painless change.

Given a sufficiently educated, sufficiently interconnected population, I would like to imagine that a good idea can perhaps materialize in the real world by jumping from a mind to another at viral rates. Once it reaches critical mass, and with peaceful persuasion rather than violent revolution, change becomes imminent.

I have ideas. I would love to see them play out in the real world. But if it would cost the life of even one person, I'd rather not.

Is a Pacifist doomed never to contribute meaningfully to social change? One hopes not...

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