Trego's Mountain Ear

I ran across this comment (explanation?) on Ace:

“A coup d’etat is when a small group of people suddenly try to take power and subjugate a nation by force. A coup du publique is when a small group of people already in power try to further subjugate an entire population by methodically taking away whatever rights they may have left.”

The thought guides my thoughts into an area where I am uncomfortable – kind of like the years of Carter and Reagan when the phrase “1984 is sooner than you think” kept showing up.

It led me to this article:  What Is A Coup Du Publique? You’re In One Right Now  I knew of the Coup d’etat.  Heck, I even know of the Coup du Jarnac – Jarnac apparently preferred to go through life as a backstabber.  Still, I needed a definition for a coup du publique – partially because my knowledge of French is downright minimal:

“But what if you flip that script just a tiny bit and make sure that – before any other planning, ally recruiting, etc., is even started – you made sure to quietly, incrementally take control of the information infrastructure first?  A few years ago, that meant radio and television stations and phone company HQ – today that means the internet as it is all three in one.

And if instead of overthrowing a government, you did this to ensure a government’s survival and expansion – the public be damned.  Then you would not have a coup d’etat but a coup du publique.

And that is what is happening in real time around the world right now.  But this coup is not replacing the government – it is replacing the people.

It is replacing the right to speak with the right to be quiet.  It is replacing the right to strive with the right to be taken care of.  It is replacing the rights of the individual with the rights of the collective.”

It’s an interesting thought – and, like a lot of interesting thoughts, is probably easier to grasp if you’re into conspiracy theories.  For the record, I’m not into conspiracy theories – I figure the best all-around explanation is the power of human stupidity.  The author, Thomas Buckley , continues, using an example from the other side of the iron curtain:

In tracking the downfall of East Germany’s notorious Stasi secret police, Australian reporter Anna Funder asked a former agency official why so many people – formally at least 3% of the population of the country, informally possibly up to 25% —  cooperated with the agency and informed on their neighbors.  His response was chilling:

“Well, some of them were convinced of the cause. But I think it was mainly because informers got the feeling that, doing it, they were somebody. You know, someone was listening to them for a couple hours a week, taking notes.  They felt that they had it over other people.”

Not sure I agree with his premise or conclusions – but he does offer a different way of looking at how government operates.  Perhaps Charlemagne said it best: “If the populace knew with what idiocy they were ruled, they would revolt.”