Moments of Rebellion

 Naturally, he felt a need to reward himself for days of obedience with little moments of rebellion.

Demons, Dostoevsky.

See this thought transmuted to weekly satirical tv programmes - depending on where you are, Have I Got News For You, Mock the Week, etc - where all involved, participants and viewers, get to feel like they are of this rebellious spirit looking down from the moral and intellectual heights and sneering at social-political events fully in view below. The reality is though this weekly ‘rebellion’ works  as a cohesive element within that same social-political environment. It is very unlikely that watching tv ever offers up much in the way of rebellion! ‘First I’ll watch some quiz show, then maybe a cooking programme, some dancing or maybe sport, and then I’ll get serious and they’ll show me on the news the reality of what’s going on in power politics, and then afterwards we’ll have a good laugh about it!’ The viewers are rewarded for their obedience with their ‘moments of rebellion.’

Quick related thought: just as music or film critics are an integral part of their relevant world, we’ll say a musical is produced, the audience comes, the critic reviews it - good, bad or indifferent - this is all part of that musical world and not outside and antithetical to it; to see political critics, even when of supposed independent critical nature and maybe lofty reputation, as generally integral to the social-political world in its normal running, not antithetical to it, and within whose thoughts the audience’s urge to ‘moments of rebellion’ may be canalised and satisfied. Obviously not saying this has to be the case, and as a character in an Aldous Huxley novel says, “It’s good to be cynical. That is, if you know when to stop.”