It Takes A Village: VNV Wednesday The Prisoner Resistance Primer

March 8, 2017 MomentaryGrace Found on the Internets, It Takes a Village, Music and Art 50

The Village News & Views March 8, 2017
Wednesday Get Over the Hump Free for All

In 1967 a television program aired called The Prisoner. Staring and in many ways the brainchild of actor Patrick McGoohan, who was directly off a 4 year stint on the espionage thriller Danger Man (seen in the US as Secret Agent), the show aired 17 episodes and became very possibly the literal prototype of the television cult classic.

Yes, there was a remake in 2009, but we are going to pretend that didn’t happen, because, well, it might as well not have.

There’s a massive amount of opinion and fan discussion both on the web and in published media about the original series and I will be shocked if very many Meeses are entirely unaware of it. It has been on my mind of late, for a number of reasons not the least of which was the name change that occurred in our original community over on the Daily K from the Village Under the Bus to simply, The Village. That renaming was an elegant effort on the part of one of our bedrock members to preserve the group in that location, however it struck me as both poetic and ironic that our fellowship should eventually end up with a name associate with one of the most extreme, and effective Resistors in all of fiction.

It was only a matter of time before I brought up the subject for consideration by my fellows and that is how we come to today’s post…

The Prisoner: A Resistance Primer

“If I could do it again, I would. As long as people feel something, that’s the great thing. It’s when they are walking around not thinking and not feeling, that’s tough. When you get a mob like that, you can turn them into the sort of gang that Hitler had.”

—Patrick McGoohan in 1984, on the outrage that followed the series finale

The plot of The Prisoner was almost entirely an abstract struggle between an individual, and the forces arrayed against him, which you could imagine to be government, society, or even potentially, aspects of human nature. The main character was known as Number Six. In the opening to every episode it is reprised how he confronts what is assumed to be a superior, tenders resignation, goes home to pack, is drugged, and wakes up in an island community of individuals known only by numbers, called The Village. Those who run the Village undergo all manner of methods to get Number Six to give them the reason for his resignation. He chooses not to. It is none of their business. His refusal represents an epic resistance to surrender his will and individuality for any reason, against any coercion, in the face of any bribe or inducement.

The first aspect of Number Six’s resistance is his determination to escape the island prison. He is foiled in his first attempts to do so by a truly chill-inducing counter-agent referred to by the staff who control the Village as “Rover”.

Rover is a formless restraint that enervates and smothers. It moves fast, and there seems to be no way to counter it.

I don’t know about you, but this feeling of being drained and smothered is something that we may experience in our own efforts to maintain our resistance to the current White House Occupier, his administration and his supporting cronies in the GOP.

It may bring you down, but like Number Six, we can try to reach deep within and find the strength to stand up and keep working towards our goals.

 

Number Six’s immediate nemesis was Number Two… however Number Two was defeated and replaced several times. It’s a reminder that whichever member of the Deplorables resigns, steps down or is indicted, they can and will be replaced by others.

Even the removal of the Popular Vote Loser would (will?) created not a final victory but the next stage in our struggle.

Knowing that, we can prepare.

 

One of the most insidious aspects to life in the Village of The Prisoner series is that normally helpful and positive seeming structures of a civilized society are employed in decidedly negative and soul-crushing ways to defeat the individual.

With the change in power in the White House, added to the Republican majority in Congress, we find ourselves battling the very structures that are supposed to protect us.

It certainly appears that while the veritable tidal wave of marches, town hall responses, phone calls, Tweets, opposition lawmakers and media reporting has pushed the Powers That Unfortunately Be into at least giving lip service and making vague gestures towards investigating the conflict and very real possibility of actual collusion between Russian agents and the Trump campaign, there is serious doubt that this heel dragging and obviously reluctant crawl towards investigation by the government may have much chance of being effective as long as the rapidly inserted members of the same campaign and their allies are in fact the ones doing the investigating.

When @realDonaldTrump tweeted baseless, inflammatory accusations of partisan wire-tapping by President Barack Obama, it appeared as though the intent was to throw a cue to the investigating GOP members of Congress instead to threaten and possibly even use the power of their offices in an unfounded legal attack on the former President.

It’s enough to make one want to scream and scream again.

 

If we see ourselves as Number Six, we make look at the country around us and see the curren Administration as that which we are resisting, and we may also see the rest of the country as the other inhabitant of the Village. Some have been broken and are compliant. Others have settled in and see themselves and “productive members”, turning on those who rebel as “unmutual” to what they see as beneficial to their society and therefore justified in any action to quell, up to and including violence.

It’s very tempting to be swept up in anger, and even despair. For most of us, violence in retaliation is unthinkable but there may be an undertow pulling at us to fall back into personal attacks, or bitter language. The wronged sometimes feel that they must do unto others what was done to them.

Number Six was able to recognize, as I believe most of us will, that there is a line not to be crossed, even when the cause is just and the enemy overwhelming.

The Watchmaker: You refuse to understand. What I’m doing is for a principle. We are in this prison for life, all of us, but I have met no one here who has committed a crime. I protest in a manner they cannot ignore.

Number Six: Some other way, then–not by an act of murder.

The Watchmaker: Assassination.

Number Six: Call it what you like–the important matter is that the entire Village will be punished.

The Watchmaker: Maybe it is what they need to wake them up, to shake them out of their lethargy. To make them angry enough…

Number Six: That’s assuming they survive the punishment!

It’s Your Funeral 1.10

We’ve heard that rhetoric or something much like it from the Alt-Left. In a television program, actual murder may stand in for other harms but we know in real life that the extreme views of those from either end of the spectrum, that the system is broken and must be burnt to the ground to be rebuilt anew is only at the cost of the vulnerable among us.

We won’t stand for that. Neither would he.

 

Number Two: [about Number Six] He can make even the act of putting on his dressing gown appear as a gesture of defiance.

There is no doubt that The Prisoner was steeped in the fictional world of espionage, and all the issues of trust, of governments, and intelligence that such entails.

It seems appropriate to be therefore that one of the greatest challenges to this illegitimate regime may in the end come from the work of a real life Danger Man, Christopher Steele.

Thank you for your patience. Love and peace, Village! Enjoy your Wednesday gathering.

We are #StrongerTogether

We are #TheResistance and #WePersist

All are welcome!

Be seeing you!

 

About MomentaryGrace 41 Articles
I voted for the Democrat in every election since 1976. I appreciate honesty, kindness and courage. I loathe cruelty and indifference. I am Discordian. I mean you no harm. But if you are cruel, or indifferent, I may point and laugh. #stillwithher.

50 Comments

    • Thank you, Inkaudlay! I hope what you saw looked reasonable, I’ve been struggling with a weird formatting issue just now! And of course, always kittehs! =^^=

  2. I loved that show! Excellent analysis of how it applies to our time.

      • When I lived in Dubai (long before it was an international jet-setter cool place), it was one of the best shows we got – along with Dr. Who. There was maybe 2 hours of English language programming a night.

          • the black & white, with John Pertwee.. and the guy before him whose face I can see but name escapes me, and maybe early Tom Baker, but we would have been back in the States for most of him

          • Patrick Troughton! I hear tell he was Matt Smith’s favorite. :)

            Back in the 80’s I was in a Doctor Who fan group and we watched everything we could get, mostly bootlegs converted from the British signal to US on big old VCR tapes, usually more than 2 generations old.

          • my first couple of years of college – like, ’82-’83, I had a group of friends who mostly lived in the dorms at UT (I lived off campus) & we’d watch Dr. Who together in one of the TV lounges in the dorm. So — I had a perfectly good TV at my apartment, but I’d leave home, at 10 o’clock at night, drive to my friends’ dorm, and watch Dr. Who. We weren’t just nerds, we were super nerds.

          • this is how I watched Babylon 5, in the 90s, because for some reason it showed in England before here and we couldn’t wait that long

    • Thank you. I have seen all 17 episodes a couple of times. the end is C-R-A-Z-Y in part because McGoohan was ready to be done with it about seven episodes in, but he didn’t blow it off, he just went where his mind wandered. ;)

      When is comes to resisting, Number Six is the master.

  3. I love The Prisoner, and need to watch it. And of course Kittehs! And Spy vs Spy Kitteh… I lol’d so much when reading the original (?) comics in MAD Magazine, and the poor spies would usually end up blowing either themselves or each other up.

    Have a good #Purrsist, y’all! (I’m off to bed soon as it’s 10 pm here and I fly back on Sunday, that’s going to be fun)

    • Ha! I’ve had a MAD subscription for almost my whole life. I pretty much have everyone trained to get me MAD gear/subscriptions for Christmas, birthdays. I wanted to be Bill Gaines when I grew up, which would have been quite a stretch for this little girl.

  4. hi there Momentary Grace, it’s doubly nice to see you here today. We still have smoke from wildfires and a temperature inversion that has the sun coming up in an ocher colored sky. Not really what you want to see first thing with your coffee. My husband told me yesterday that he planned to join in the strike today because any time he could protest by doing nothing he was all in for it. He actually is a guy who most of the time does get it and can honestly take a privilege check when it’s pointed out to him. He just has an appropriately dry sense of humor for someone reared in west Texas.

    • Humor can be one of the best support systems around. We’ll take the help. Make sure he doesn’t buy anything. ;)

  6. Good Morning, those who dwell at the pond. Thanks for the double exposure, Grace. I can’t believe I’ve never seen that show. Have to check out Netflix and see if they have it. 41 right now but a balmy 67 for a high today. I will wear red on my walk to show my solidarity.

    • Hi hi WYgalinCali! Even folks who have never seen The Prisoner know about it – that’s a cult classic! ;)

  7. We’ve lost power at my workplace today; Mother Nature is apparently doing her bit to stand in solidarity (sustained winds of 30-40 mph with gusts up to 60 mph appear to be the culprit). Of course, my boss doesn’t want to either shut down or call the electric company…his logic eludes me as usual. But I wanted to pop in briefly while my phone is still fully charged and say hi to my Village of resisters.

    • Hi hi DoReMI! Hope you get your power back once Mother Nature has made her point!

    • So, your boss wants to pay you for just sitting there and doesn’t want to call the electric company to fix it…..interesting.

      • I know, right? I think he’s assuming that the power will come back on the minute the wind dies, and I should be here awaiting that moment. So I sit with my coat on and multiple blankets on my lap…it’s a good thing I always keep extra in my car.

  8. Thanks for this wonderful diary, Momentary! I never watched “The Prisoner,” but when we were in Wales a dozen years ago we visited Portmeiron, where it was filmed. It’s the weirdest-looking village I ever saw and of course there were reminders of the TV show everywhere.

    After I finally found my red shirt, I forgot to put it on! Oh, well, it’s the thought that counts.

    I’m still wondering why the Powers at dk were so disturbed by the Village UTB. As far as I know everyone was very well behaved. I certainly never went into Berner diaries, nor did I diss any of them. I just didn’t go there. He’s one person I could live without, although I’m delighted that he pissed off the Post. It thinks far too much of itself and bears a lot of the blame for getting Thing elected.

    • I would love to visit Portmeiron. Did you take pictures? :)

      Whatever the reason for the reaction to the VUTB at DK, it was authoritarian. I don’t blame anyone for being disgusted and leaving but I mourn what we used to be when all were in one place.

  9. {{{MomentaryGrace}}} – I vaguely remember The Prisoner. I used to watch Secret Agent (can still sing the dang theme song). I think I must have been too emotionally immature – or had already reached the point of reacting with sick horror to that kind of emotional as well we physical abuse – to enjoy The Prisoner at the time. I’m not sure I’m up for it now but I certainly appreciate your pointing out the similarities to our current situation as far as Resistance is concerned.

    But No. 6 didn’t have a we, he only had a me. He was there but not a part of the community he was trapped in. There was nobody to watch his back. Nobody to guard so he could get some rest. Nobody to grab the other end of something too big to move by himself. Nobody to bring him a glass of water and a handful of dried fruit while he was on guard duty. Even in his Resistance and Persistence against the community he was in, he had to be supported by the community or he would not have survived. We have a we. We can actually Resist the evil and regain our good because we have a community to guard and sustain us while we do it. And so we will.

    • Oh hai, bifitzinAR.

      As a follow up to Diana in NoVa’s comment above about Village UTB. Did you mention that you were going to talk with someone in the know at DK. Not wanting to rehash everything but it would be good to know what on earth got them so riled up.

      • {{{inkaudlay}}} – wasn’t me – I think it was DoReMI – best I can figure out myself is it was the traditional privileged elitist revolutionary insistence that destroying something and starting over is preferable to fixing what’s already built exacerbated by Hillary Hate/misogyny. And the first thing any good privileged elitist revolutionary is going to do is purge his own team.

          • Hi, ink, yes it was me. I don’t know how much I’ll find out directly, but I’ll do what I can. I’d held off on letting my discontent be known, because I didn’t want to use/abuse my friendship with a staffer. But I opened up as a direct result of a conversation about the ongoing rift in the party; it seemed a natural segue. If/when I find out anything about the rationale or the mindset of the PTB, I’ll pass it on.

        • this is good analysis bfitz and as always a whole lot more charitable than I’m incined to be. And since I can’t say anything nice I just won’t say anything else.

          • {{{wordsinthewind}}} – “the scale by which ye measure, ye shall be measured” :)

          • I’m glad I know you bfitz, it’s good to be around people who encourage you to be your better self.

          • Thank you. I am glad to know you, too. Strengths shared are strengths multiplied. moar {{{HUGS}}}

    • Point taken about we!

      Like the nerd I am, I will add that Number Six didn’t resist the community, only those who were running it, and he did occassionaly have allies, though not for very long at a time.

      • There are circles of community. Allies are good but can change depending on why and how they became allies in the first place. Russia is a seriously good example of that. We were allies in WW1 and WW2 – but only because we shared a common German-led enemy. As soon as that threat was gone, they stopped being our allies. Britain and France of course put their own interests first, but they’ve made common cause with us for a bunch of generations – even after the immediate threats were over.

    • {{{Mvgal92691}}} – so glad you dropped by. I’m monitoring my Street Prophets at DK and waiting for a phone call, but I’ll be back and forth.

    • Hi hi Mvgal92691! Glad you enjoyed the post. Thanks for stopping in!

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