The Echo of Revolt
I started reading The Revolt of the Masses after hearing Frank Langella mention it on Marc Maron’s podcast. I didn’t expect it to feel so relevant nearly a century after it was written.
The book wrestles with how society shifts when the masses, newly empowered, stop aspiring upward; when confidence replaces competence. It’s unsettling, reading it now, in an age where everyone’s an expert and no one listens.
What struck me most wasn’t judgment, but the pattern: every generation builds systems to give people more access, then watches those systems decay under the weight of that access. Social media is just the latest version.
But beneath the cynicism, I think there’s still a call to action. The antidote isn’t elitism, it’s awareness. It’s choosing discernment over noise, curiosity over certainty, humility over volume.
Maybe revolt doesn’t have to mean tearing it all down. Maybe it starts with refusing to let mediocrity numb us to meaning.