The Right Guy

You may have noticed that many of the Occupy protestors are wearing Guy Fawkes masks. Why? It’s a curious intersection of pop-culture, sixteenth-century history, and modern politics.

Guy Fawkes was an Englishman who conspired to blow-up the British parliament in November of 1605, believing it was his duty to restore the government to Catholic control. He was caught, imprisoned, tortured, and eventually executed for his crime, along with his conspirators, not many days later.

Mr. Fawkes would be just another footnote to history if not for the quirky English sensibilities. Ever year, on November 5th, otherwise known as Guy Fawkes Night, fireworks erupt all around England to commemorate this failed plot to overthrow the government.

Fast forward to the 19080′s comic book series V for Vendetta, and subsequent film remake in 2006, that introduced the masses outside of England to the idea of Guy Fawkes as an anti-government hero.

And there you have it – a sixteenth-century terrorist becomes the poster child for anti-authoritarian sentiment in a mere 400 years. Luckily for us, Mr. Fawkes sported some very distinctive facial hair, which makes for an enjoyable mask in his image.

Let’s be thankful to Mr. Fawkes – we could all be wearing this instead.