Do you consider yourself a rebel? Do you act rebelliously? Are you proud of being a rebel? Rebels have a certain glamour attached to them – sometimes justified, sometimes not. Perhaps the question should be – in what areas are you a rebel? Do you choose your battles to win or do you come out, on any issue with which you disagree, with guns blazing irrespective of consequences?
Undoubtedly we need to start from a common framework (definition) and Webster’s definition is: one who resists authority, to feel or show strong aversion. Again I feel this definition somewhat limiting. For example: does the person who rebels try and influence others? Is the rebellion against an idea or a person – or both? What is the behavior of the rebel – destructive or instructive, among other options? These are important questions and need clarification.
I suspect we all rebel at times but there are those who make a career of rebelling. Unless you know the particulars of the rebellion then it is senseless at best, like a small child stamping their foot when they don’t get their own way. Is that what is the root basis of rebellion – getting your own way? If so, then it is petty at best. If the cause of rebellion is a deep held belief then we’re talking a more legitimate basis. But the other criteria of imposed belief structure that is contrary to yours becomes the overriding factor. And the word, imposed, is critical. What is the ‘why’ of the rebellion? And what is the alternative?
Consider those that have been acclaimed as ‘rebels’ and determine if any of them stood on a principle that you believe worthy of emulation. Rebels who want people to think, to analyze are people worth listening to but not necessarily to follow. Others who only harangue or glamorize themselves are only noise. ‘Rebel’ is a broad paintbrush and needs to be defined before any stamp can be applied.
