The title is a quirk of etymology, having been born in the Greek courts, spread through the early Chrisitan’s spiritual and philosophical defences, and ended up meaning something like a “regretted guilt”. Not so here. I prefer the alternative title:
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
by Socrates
voices by Plato
On one hand, this is a document. On one hand, this is a story. On one hand, this is an idea.
The document dates to the time of ancient Athens and its cultural and material renaissance. It was written by Plato, a leader of an academy for seekers of wisdom, and once a student of Socrates.
The story is Socrates’ speech to his judges before being committed to death.
There is an idea that only true things matter.
Paraphrased Speech:
You are angry and you don’t know why. You lash out, confused and incoherent.
You say I’m an atheist when it was the god Apollo who taught me my mission.
You say I corrupt the children, yet you’ve never cared for their minds and judgements before. Where should a child learn to think? You want the children to learn to read, and to write, to solve numbers, and build squares, and to reproduce. And repeat. You say it’s about the children, well I say that it’s about you.
If you are afraid of me then you are afraid of the one thing that I know: I know that I know nothing.
You who are afraid of me- You who dismiss me without knowing why- You who wouldn’t care if you’d heard of me-
You know nothing. Not even that you know nothing.
You talk about physics, mathematics, rhetoric, constitutions, and happiness.
In your life what do you truly know?
If from behind the veil of legal accusations, you should find me guilty, then it shall only be because you were taught to fear questions and so find me guilty of that treason.
Guilty!
Socrates said they should reward him with a pension. Or slap him hard, once on each wrist. Or fine his friends 30 pieces of gold. Not that it mattered. He would never pretend. And they killed him.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will deny your gods and corrupt your children. The revolution will be fought with ignorance and healed with ignorance. The revolution will shatter chains and open cave walls. The revolution will never forfeit a battle. The revolution will never be reported on CNN or Fox News or Al Jazeera. The revolution will never sleep. The revolution will transform citizens into soldiers, and every soldier shall carry a battlefield inside their head. The revolution shall not be heard.
The revolution is not being televised.
