According to a news story in the San Francisco Chronic, coups are going out of style. From the 60s through the 90s, the coup was the fashionable way to remove governments.
The article actually quotes an expert on coups, who said that coups are in decline because political regimes have done more to give the appearance of democracy or of responding to the will of the people. Maybe.
Or maybe it's because people don't wear enough berets. You know? You hardly ever see people in berets - real berets, mind, not the flattened skullcap things the Army are wearing now, but poofy, Che-worthy, Patty-Hearst-lookin'-sharp-n-sexy-with-a-gun, honest-to-Pierre berets. In general, it seems obvious, hats play a critical role in the development of ideological consciousness and revolutionary fervor. I think berets must work especially well, and more significantly, they give a person a jaunty, or rather junta-y (which is an anagram of jaunty, after all) look.
Somewhat relatedly, it turns out you can't really walk into yer average neighborhood Target store and buy a pair of form-fitting Levi's these days.
The Revolution Will Not Wear Ball Caps and Wranglers.
Guess they printed that article just a little too soon.
ReplyDeleteWhy, just last night, they had a wonderful coup in Thailand... all the best revolutionaries were there!
Actually, the coup in Thailand was the occasion for the article. Apparently some bright journalism-school graduate saw the feed on the Thai coup and thought, "gee, whatever happened to coups?" And, of course, there then ensued song-and-dande duet number.
ReplyDelete"Whatever happened to coups?
ReplyDeleteCoups. . .
Oooooooh, there ain't no dictators to mop up all the floooooors with you,
There ain't no maniacs, just bureaucratic bores in view,
And even kids just turn away and watch the Tube--
Nobody's got no coups!"
Chicago was a damn good show. They never should've cut out the cooky "complaining about a lack of violence while in a prison for violent criminals" scene, for the movie. . . .