In the small pocket of West Sussex where I live people are up in arms about many issues. I pass placards that say "Frack Off" and "No To The Gatwick Runway" along with various more localised protests against all the new house building going on. Folks try various methods to get their voices heard- marches, public meetings, social media and there have been some successes and some failures. I have oft said and will no doubt say again intrinsically people don't change that much...even back in the middle ages people were concerned about similar issues. I love the way the residents of Gotham went about deterring King John from building a hunting lodge near Nottingham in 1200 when they realised that this would result in them having to pay new taxes because he would pass through the village en route and this would then make it a king's highway.
"The entire village pretended to be mad. It is said that the villagers built a fence around a cuckoo bush to prevent the cuckoo escaping, tried to drown an eel, set about pulling the moon out of a pond with a rake and rolled cheeses down a hill to make them round. Since madness was considered contagious the idea of a whole village of lunatics was perfectly feasible and apparently the ploy worked."
Terry Jones "Medieval Lives"
Arilx
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Excellent post - will use some of the ideas if I ever have to feign madness! x
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