Thoughts on the word "revolution"

   As I was walking the other day I saw a sign in the window of a car. It was bright outside and the glare made it difficult to read, so I stopped for a moment. Perhaps I did so because I was able make out the word "revolution" (which always intrigues me when I see it displayed publicly); perhaps it was precisely because it was difficult to read.

   As someone who considered himself a radical Marxist-Leninist for at least a few years (some years ago), I am always keen to see how ideas about revolution and radicalism are portrayed, because I know that this is a place where battles are waged for which social class or group gets to determine what these words mean to the greater public.

   Besides my interest in the political fight over the meanings of words, I also try to be very careful in my choosing of them from an emotional standpoint, aware as I am from years of personal experience of their ability to make one feel great, but also to hurt deeply. I have often felt the effects of them in both of these ways, and too often, I believe, have wounded others with them, too.

   I don't want to occupy myself in this blog piece assessing the relation between the emotional power of words and the sociopolitical structures which control their reception, but let me just say that I see them altogether as too important to not treat thoughtfully. Because of this, I am bothered when they are used in a way that does not grant them with care. 

   An example would be the laissez-faire current use of the word "awesome", which in my view is too often uttered in place of "very good" or "I agree". When did this word begin to be so widely used to describe anything but that which inspires awe? What word will take it's place?

   It makes me sad when I see words that I find wonderful in their capacity to describe beautifully become distilled and cheapened. It points to what I fear is a general lack of quality in the world. 

   So, as I return to the word "revolution", I'm not completely sure, but I believe it was being used in the picture below as a kind of advertisement for a car ride-sharing service. The idea that the word is employed in this way obviously bothers me because of my own history, but I think specifically because the reader of it should "sit back" and "enjoy" it in this case. I find it painful that a word that once had so much power has met such a demise; to me, it is a disservice to history and the language which it is a part of and which gave it meaning.

Not awesome