Never Send A Desk Jockey Colonel To Perform A Battlefield General's Job

In today's continuing saga of the schoolyard showdown between the shirts and the skins, let's look at some of these kids' backgrounds and thus their, what we can almost call their, innate motivations...

First, there is little Dicky.  He's a smart kid, wears glasses as you know.  He's been in the schoolyard business for a while and knows a thing or two about motivating the schoolkids, even ones who have no idea they're bullying others on behalf of Dicky.

Then there's the cherub, Glenn.  He's the one you always see standing on top of the slide or jungle gym yelling at the top of his voice like Tarzan.

And finally, there's Sarah.  She's a little bit country, a little bit rock-and-roll (pre-1960s, of course).

These three were once at each other's throats, thinking they had only the schoolyard to fight over.  Then, after summer vacation, where all three of them were taken on foreign excursions with their parents, they discovered that one schoolyard is nothing.

Thus, Dicky, Glenn and Sarah joined forces and controlled not only the schoolyard but also, through subliminal control of their parents, they extended their reach into local businesses, the media, and of course, other schools.

These Three Knights of the Tricornered Table were older in thought than they were in years (Sarah had been sworn in as both a Damsel and a Knight, earning bonus points with the group for her ability to switch roles instantly).  They knew their destiny.  They were not like other children.  They were going to rule large parts of the world.

The knights used mass hypnosis to convert other kids to their cause.  With these new recruits, they tested the defenses of their enemies, including those who thought they were friends of the knights.  As one new set of recruits learned to hypnotize more recruits, their power reached critical mass.

You have learned through these simple tales that the knights were no sheep.  They were born leaders.    One day, tired of the bland cafeteria food and the robotic programming of their teachers, the knights, using their mobile phones they so easily convinced their parents to supply them, along with other surveillance gear they "acquired" from stores, they decided enough was enough and called on their troops to start a coup.

Now, you and I think we know that a bunch of pre-teens does not have real power.  After all, they haven't matured.  Well, that's where perceptions are deceiving.

Unbeknownst to us, the knights had recruited more than just other children.  They had brought into their fold military leaders, journalists (both those in the know and those who reported whatever they were told to report without thinking why), local law enforcement, school teachers, housewives, retirees, college students, office workers, unionists, anarchists, and a whole slew of people who were tired of being told what they were supposed to think.

You and I have been around a while.  We've seen the occasional school or prison riot that is usually quelled quickly because the appropriate authorities are brought in to shut down the rebellion.

The Tricornered Knights had created no regular riot.  They had built consensus among the disenchanted and unempowered like most revolutionaries are prone to do.  In addition, they had recruited business and military leaders who were also tired of the status quo.  This was no riot.  It was the first successful coup on record in this part of the world carried out by grandchildren of the TV generation, the children of the Internet generation.  The Tricornered Knights, the self-proclaimed leaders of the Smartphone Kids, had figured out how to take over the world from adults who all along thought their children's computers and mobile phones were learning tools or diversions to allow the parents to have their grownup fun.

In the next episode, we will look at more details of this coup and how it set in motion a global revolution with the common people taking over the elitist fortresses of commerce, toppling both political and economic giants like tornadoes turning over trees like twigs.

In future episodes we will analyse how this tiny schoolyard showdown made the Maoist Revolution, the American Revolution and the Russian Revolution look like happy walks in the park.  Once again, calloused hands will be the signs that show solidarity, including office workers whose calloused fingertips indicate years of carpal tunnel torture at the keyboard.  The new revolutionary motto and battlecry: "Your children are no longer yours!"  Those who were well-dressed, well-spoken, and who owned fancy houses and cars will have been tossed onto the trashpile of history.