“The Revolution will not be televised"

Zoya Sohali

Detroit, US

Image: Arl_Dlt / Pixabay.

January 2026 will be the turning point in future history books. This month marks the days of United States citizens killed in ‘tragic accidents’, these days mark when the Department of Justice released hundreds of thousands of pages of something the world has called, “The Epstein Files.” This month marks the day censorship slowly began, and the truth started to lose in silence. January 2026 marks what historians will call the point of no return. This marks the revolution. 

Throughout history, most revolutions don’t start out loud; instead they start quiet like a bee searching for nectar, all you hear is a small buzz. Sometimes you never feel it until it has stung you, until after the fact. Whether you look at the American Revolution or French, it starts with small things; taxes, money, power gap, money gap. People ask, people beg, then people rebel. No one knows what’s happening until it has already happened. 

When Kamala Harris lost the presidential election on November 6th, 2024, many felt a shift in the world. Whether the alleged felon had committed the crimes he had been accused of or not, people were scared; the citizens of the United States knew that a storm was coming. From this date onwards, there has not been a moment of peace in the press. From deadly global tariffs on Mexico and Canada to unconstitutional executive orders made by this presidential administration, the press was loud and they were vocal. Journalists were asking the questions, they were reporting. There was some relief in knowing that the truth was being reported, that the reporters were not going to quit. 2025 went by, and the citizens were kept updated on the events; the Make America Healthy Again movements, the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids, and the appointment of government officials. There was pressure to release things that citizens thought would be evidence of criminal activities, such as the Epstein Files and some were released but ultimately redacted endlessly. Then a silent shift carried the United States into 2026. 

On January 7th, 2026, seven days into the new year, a woman named Renee Nicole Macklin Good was killed by an ICE agent. “A devastating accident” the media coverage called it: there was outrage, there were tears, there was disbelief, and then it was forgotten. It made the headlines for the first few hours, maybe days, and then the media moved on. But Minnesota stayed suspended. The journalists who came from around the world to record Minnesota weren't streamed on the news in the United States. The peaceful protests turned violent by agents who are supposed to ‘protect’ didn’t get coverage. The acts committed to take children into custody didn’t run in the media. Minnesota didn’t get their justice. Then January 24th happened. Another name, another life: Alex Pretti. Another “tragic accident” by the same agency. It made headlines and now a month later, it’s old news. It’s just another death. The alleged accidental death of a citizen passed on, forgotten about. A mere six days after that, January 30th, 2026, almost like a pivot, thousands of documents from the Epstein Files were released to the public. The first month gone, the lives lost, the lives ruined, forgotten, not important enough to be given the time of day.

It is important to understand what these files are and why just by being named in these files is not an automatic admission of guilt. These files consist of hundreds of documents, from flight logs to eye witness testimonies to court depositions. The most recent wave of these files released on the 30th of January released things too graphic and cruel to describe. Jeffery Epstein went from a wealthy man who trafficked young girls to being called the devil himself. People alleged that the President’s name was in the files more than Harry’s name in the Harry Potter books. They talked, they outraged, and then again silence. The media went silent. 

The people didn’t go silent. The outrage didn’t stop. The protests didn’t stop. Not in Minnesota, not in Michigan. They did stop in the media. The news moved on and so did the people who watched the news because cannibalism in the Epstein Files wasn’t shocking, it was expected. The killing of United States citizens wasn’t news, it was the norm. The taking of people off the streets wasn’t scary, it was the new law. 

The Revolution will not be televised. It won’t be televised not because people have stopped fighting, or stopped protesting; it won’t be televised because it won’t be news. It won’t be the news people watch either because they’re too scared or simply just deny it. It won’t be news because it will be expected. Why would ABC, CNN, Fox News, The New York Times, or any other newspaper outlet report on a man walking down the street? It’s normal right? It’s still normal when that man is killed for protesting, right? That’s not news, that’s normal. That’s not something journalists should waste their time with. 

The world moved on, that's what the United States citizens saw, the media moved on, that’s what everyone else saw. The fear didn’t go away, the students came out from across the country but that didn’t make the headlines. Protests broke out, protests still break out everyday. That doesn’t get the news coverage. 

Now, almost a month later, on February 24th, 2026, the State of the Union Address was given. There were standing ovations, claps, and whistles. No trial, no justice, no questions. A man made a joke about the women's hockey team winning gold, everyone laughed, and the world stayed silent. The Revolution won’t be televised but there will be signs. Signs like the laughter of someone’s blood, sweat, and tears. Signs like one of the most powerful men in the United States calling democrats, “crazy left-winged lunatics”, signs like a prince losing his title but a president gaining the title of king. 

From files to deaths, to protests. Just a few things the world moved on, things that got lost in the media. A thousand more things could be named, like the Buddhist monks or the heavy details of every protest and every file. The story of every child and every family that has lost freedom in the land of the free. Things that the world doesn’t know about. It is silent. Like most revolutions, another one has begun. Yet again, it is quiet. Like a bee looking for nectar, small buzzes here and there. But remember, a bee sting is normal, so it won’t be televised.