It sounds nice; almost utopian, in a manner of … typing. Over the long-term, it might even be accurate. Key is “over the long-term.” I can’t help but noticing while watching democratic protests streaming from around the world on CNN to my comfy, warm, corner bar that the first attempts to counter swords with written words sort of ends up as a bit of a disaster for those very first to draw the battle lines.
Of course, there’re no pens these days, or swords to for that matter. The pen went out with stationary. Seriously, has anyone outside of Japan, home of the 5-story stationary store, seen a piece of stationary in the last decade? Today’s pen and paper is a high-speed network connection and social media platforms. Unfortunately for the initial protestors, those trailblazing mavericks of social unrest, the sword too has been replaced – by high-powered bullets and rifles.
Old regimes in Tunisia and Egypt have toppled, and the impact of the modern day pen (the internet) on those revolutions, cannot be underestimated. However, those regimes, and those currently under duress in Bahrain, Libya, and even, shhh, keep it on the down low, China and Iran, have a fondness to embrace the quick first response, that of violent attack and repression.
You don’t bring a smartphone and a Twitter feed to a gun fight, unless what you’re going for is martyr status. So, while others rejoice in the revolution and the freedom that invariably springs from it, try convincing the families of the over 250 dead in Libya that the ‘pen is mightier than the sword.”
History will remember those with the pens fondly, but for my liking, I’m making sure me and my pens stoke the fire of the revolution safely ensconced in some pub, far away from the rat-a-tat-tat of some kid’s AK. Those on the wire might be advised to turn tail and get the hell back. That or trade in their pens for bigger pens that go “bang.”
Viva la revolucion.
Tweet me up @RayHartjen
