~ ONE JOURNEY ~

~ There is only one journey: going inside yourself. ~
- Rainer Maria Rilke

A Coup D'Etat ~ Friday, March 17, 2006

A reasonably early start today, as we're having contractors in to remove old toilets, put down new floor, install new toilets. And all sorts of related fun. So, I may not make it out for my walk until later (depending on how prompt people are). With any luck, it won't take too long.

And then, a walk in the glorious afternoon!

I *think* I may have a breakthrough on the Regency--though I shouldn't speak too soon... I'll just keep my fingers crossed. I may only do a bit of writing on it today, and instead restrict myself to doing comprehensive notes on the subject.

An article in April's Harpers concerns the question of the plausibility of a Coup D'Etat in the U.S. It's a panel of various military experts (profs, ex and present officers etc.), discussing such questions. I've read a couple of pages in, so far. I don't know how I feel about the article. On the one hand, it's a valid question, IMO, given the current climate. On the other, once the experts had more or less--and fairly plausibly, IMO--discounted the possibility of a coup as such, questions like "can you think of any circumstances, otherwise unforseen, that might arise that would make it easier for a coup to take place" provoked some ambivalence on my part--perhaps it's a good thing to know or think about. But it also seemed a little alarmist--these hypothetical, "maybe, if circumstances were just so etc. then there might be a coup" scenarios which seemed to involve things like biological warfare, isolating/quarantining cities and so on. It sounds scary, but how plausible is it--versus how likely is it to just be pure, blind worst-case scenario thinking that we've been conditioned, by media hysteria about pandemics, to believe is plausible?

It's a little frustrating to not know how likely things like that really are. But I guess the reason we don't is because it's an opinion thing--I'm sure that even biologists with some expertise in the subject would have differing views on how likely each scenario is, depending on their particular world views and attitudes towards what may or may not happen--as well as the extent to which they are able to separate "possibility" from "likelihood".

And on that happy note, I will leave you for the day--and possibly for the weekend.
::Posted by Anduril Elessar @ 9:13 AM::::
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