Back in France, before the pandemic began, there were mass protests against government malfeasance.  Rather than the usual street rabble, these folks were mostly middle-class and upset with artificially increased fuel prices due to a ridiculous public policy intended to influence the weather.  Yellow vests were, by law, required to be kept in motor vehicles as a safety measure, so they were already easily available.

Prior to this, the U.S. experienced the rise of the Tea Party.  "Taxed Enough Already" was the ostensible meaning of the acronym.  Both movements subsided, partly due to the achievement of their goals: the Yellow Vests got Macron to lower the fuel tax, and the Tea Party helped get Trump elected.

Nowadays, Canadian truck drivers have rolled into the spotlight.  They have gotten much attention, largely because of their significant numbers and also because of their message in support of personal freedom.

The common thread in all of this is resistance to authoritarian oppression on behalf of supposedly democratic governments.  As the Tea Party and Yellow Vests showed, this rebelliousness among the middle class was already happening prior to the pandemic.  It's just that the virus stimulated even greater efforts by petty tyrants to at least try to get away with pissing off their subjects and then transfer the blame to imaginary villains such as "Big Meat" or "Big Energy."  The pissed-off subjects were already familiar with such devious tactics and the established template for organized peaceful protest.

And, speaking of "peaceful" protests, the Yellow Vest demonstrations in France eventually did devolve into a smattering of violence and injury...mostly resulting from police firing "non-lethal" projectiles into the crowd.  The "deadly insurrection" in Washington on January 6, 2021, is described as such because a policeman shot dead an unarmed female proteste0r.

In addition to government predation, ordinary folks are also being seriously provoked by at least one kind of non-government organization (NGO), AKA the teachers' unions.  Perhaps due to the much-discussed parental ire generated by CRT and other indoctrination schemes, student enrollments are shrinking.  Here, in deep blue Oakland, CA, so many students have left the public school system that the Board of Education wants to close about a dozen local schools.  The teachers' union is having a cow.  But wait...they've got a solution.  The union is encouraging its members to go on a hunger strike.  Not only could this pare down the ranks of their membership, but it may well solve some of the food-related supply chain problems.  On a serious note, such an idea seems profoundly infantile, as would be holding one's breath until turning blue, and may be considered typical of the prevailing mentality of the teachers' union activists.

If only the political leadership of the Western world had a modicum of competence, there wouldn't be such an overflowing of discontent.  But, alas, ideology is dominating the "official" message — and is being amplified by the corrupt media.  Defections from established dogma are increasing as are avenues for expressing dissent.  Trucker caravans are the latest version, largely enabled due to enhanced means of communication.

Were this not happening, and the two-bit demagogues were to have a much freer hand in spreading misery, it would be a lot easier to predict the onset of a new Dark Age.  Since history is not completely forgotten, we know that there have already been dark ages.  They weren't much fun, either.

Image via Pxhere.