Experimental forage into mentally psyching oneself into the mindset of a bloodthirsty xenophobic and surviving the bloodshed long enough to pass down the lessons.
PS. Everything between the 'PS' is an introduction. This was written as part of my GP journal. It is a result of reading Dune, Hotel Rwanda, The Last Hero and Chapterhouse: Dune within a single week. It's quite a pessimistic text I wrote. PS
If history is any guide, there is always room in the human world for the violent. A human finds it impossible to be entirely pacifistic in their life, let alone an entire group where the mechanics of human nature subtly shift, resulting in the chaos such systems expectedly produce.
There is elbow space for the military revolutionary, the one with fire in their eyes, speeches in their mouths and a weapon always close to hand. The problem is, such revolutionaries quickly follow the paths of their oppressors, making the populace wonder why they bothered with all the troublesome war before starting another revolution just in case it turns out different.
The point here is for the revolutionary to stick around to make sure the revolutions are carried out right. For these uprisings are not just for the sake of making life better. The uprisings are dreams manifested in the world, dreams of a perfect world if only the king was no more. But dreams fade on waking, and there is little better stimulant than a revolutionary not sustaining dreams.
This guide is not for rulers. It is for the person who breathes jihad, the collective raging fervour that takes whole groups to horrific heights. Or depths.
Firstly, be a flexible dreamer. Whatever the vision of the revolting populace is, as long as they think they work towards that dream, they are content. For rulers, this is all very good to know, but hard to apply in the midst of intoxicating power. It is easier to lay low until the people are unhappy with their ruler’s lavish lifestyle and grumble for change. Get to know what they believe they want, and then inject absoluteness into it. Say God leads you; who knows, it may be true, and the people will not know the difference. But if saying ‘God’ causes looks of veiled despisal while ‘science’ brings awe, then the natural course is to become a scientist, one with fire in his eyes, of course. Knowledge does not work if not communicated.
Being able to converse with your group is vital, a pillar of your power. Humans are social creatures, holdover from the time when safety in numbers outweighed safety in isolation. It probably still does. Knowing they are in a group, that they are a group, the populace sees itself that more powerful, capable of making a mark on the world, if only they knew what to do. This is a mob when self-assembled and self-led. With competent and sufficient leadership, it becomes an army. Indeed, one person finds it hard to train an army. Better to train a core elite, loyal to you and receptive to your needs, who will be the extensions of your voice and authority (also good to know for rulers, except instead of paying in dreams of happiness you have to pay in happiness itself). Get to know this elite well; it would be a sad thing for them to turn on you because they see themselves the true leaders of the revolution.
Abstaining from greed aids in the relationship management. It is well known that revolutionaries all too often fall into the trap of abusing power. In this guide, we believe the abusing starts from the moment the revolutionary lets his army crown him. Nay, reject the authority. Let another wear it on his head. You’ll personally take it off his neck sooner or later. (That is, if he is not a great ruler. But in that case you may well be living happily, or fighting against him happily in an entirely legal way.) The important thing is that you survive to spread the doctrine of revolt when the people again have need of it. That is your duty. Stick to it, and you will save your nation the trouble of having to come up with new leaders every time. Note: To do this means you must craft a public persona, acting for your adoring audience. Wear a mask, distort your voice, change your sex, it all boils down to altering appearance. It makes it easier to come back next time.
Change, communicate, continue living. Had but a single one of our revolutionaries heeded these words, our revolutions would truly have been wonderful, clockwork happenings, with nary too many hiccups (no perfection; too much of a dream).
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