Insurrection Chatter

 I sat and tried to watch ten minutes of CNN this week, and the 'hype' was rebellion/insurrection.  The chatter (more or less) went to the idea that it rarely happens and you need to take this as serious.  I hit 'mute' at some point, and then started to research this whole concept of rebellion/insurrection....historically.

You can go back over 4,000 years and show literally thousands of rebellions or insurrections.

Around 2,000 years before Christ....Egyptian priests got into a insurrection situation, with two groups eventually carving off North Egypt and South Egypt....mostly over interpretations that each had over the God Seth.  

Around 500 BC....a rebellion started up in Rome.   What can be generally said about this rebellion is that it ended the monarchy that had existed, and kicked the King ( Lucius Tarquinius Superbus) out of power.  

The key issue in the Rome insurrection?  Well....as 'dad' (the King) was off on a war campaign....'junior' (Sextus Tarquinius) went out and sexually assaulted some well-to-do gal with status.  She reported the whole affair to the nobles of the time, and got them all infuriated.  An insurrection started up and the kingdom dissolved away....creating a 'republic'.     

The Moscow 'Salt' rebellion of 1648?  That was mostly about escalating prices in Moscow, and the government finally deciding to dump all taxes, and just have one single tax....on salt.  This lasted for about a week, and after enough killing and burning of Moscow....folks had enough of the whole salt chatter.

The first insurrection in the 'new world'?  Bacon's Rebellion....started in the summer of 1666....along the coastal regions of Virginia.  

Starting in 1829 in France....came the 'War of the Maidens'.  What can be said here....the government wrote up new regulations about public lands, and listed out regulations about the cutting of firewood, limited hunting/fishing, and prohibited land for pastured animals.  Local guys took to dressing as women, as armed government 'agents' arrived and would physically attack the government folks if provoked over enforcement of the new rules.  This rebellion went on fairly strong for a decade, and still continued for another thirty-odd years.

The 'Green Corn' rebellion?  That was a 2-day insurrection in Oklahoma (starting 2 Aug 1917).  What can be said is that a socialist group in Oklahoma started up a rebellion (mostly farmers and leftists) against the US federal government.  Numbers?  Generally, it's said that around a thousand folks were on the Green Corn side.  Total dead at the end?  Three.  Between 400 and 500 were arrested, and the rebellion was put down.

The June Struggle of 1987?  It was a South Korea uprising where the military-dominated government was put out of business.  This 19-day 'campaign' reset the entire government and brought in a new Constitution.  

Rebellion and insurrection being 'normal'?  Well...yeah, you can judge by history that virtually every single society and country in the world has faced up to rebellion/insurrection, and in some cases.....massive change occurs. 

The riots and insurrection in Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis?  All part of this dynamic.  

The actions of 6 January?  Same deal....part of the dynamic.

If anything has changed....news and social media has given us a seat and a view of the full landscape.