The Unified Terran Community [UTC] Part 12

Maeldune:  Well, it seems we have a little time to fill.  We should continue with your instruction in the early history of the Community and the end of the time of Dictators.

Eris:  It’s a priviledge to have you as a mentor, your knowledge of such matters seems inexhaustible.

Maeldune:  Truly, the time of the Dictators was a dark time for civilisation.  The rise of the dictators themselves was insidious, although it did not go unnoticed.  Indeed many of their conspiracies were so crude and ill disguised that those very factors stretched the credulity of the people of the time.  The people couldn’t believe that their leaders would be so bad at covering up their secret activities.

Eris:  So they hid in plain sight?

Maeldune:  Quite simply, yes.  That’s exactly what they did.  On other occassions they simply didn’t bother to try and hide what they were doing at all.  Blatant vote rigging, that kind of thing.

Eris:  I’m not familiar with vote rigging

Maeldune:  It’s part of the method of social control they used at the time.  Remember? the one called Democracy?

Eris:  I remember, that was a good one.  Anyway, vote rigging?

Maeldune:  Well, not content with total control on the candidacy for leadership and indeed the way in which the total votes were interpreted, sometimes the leadership needed to engineer specific results so they would indulge in the practise of vote rigging.  Essentially, they just make the result whatever they need it to be.  For example in one island nation of the time, they were holding a sub election where one side of the party was expected to lose heavily to the other side of the party.  Now, its important to remember to the people of that dark age, this party was percieved as being several opposing parties.  The party expected to lose was the faction that was officially in charge at that time.  Instead of losing, the ruling faction won by a landslide.  When those playing the role of the ‘Opposition’ demanded a recount, it was discovered that all the votes had gone missing.

Eris:  Not very subtle.

Maeldune:  Indeed, but it further obfuscated the illusion of choice between parties.  It was still some time before the people realised they had been duped.  By then of course, much worse things had happened.  State sponsored Bio Terrorism and other crimes against humanity.

Eris:  The Nations used Bio Weapons against each other?

Maeldune:  Among many other types of weapon, but in this case, no I was referring to attacks on the Nations own people.

Eris:  Huh.  Why on earth would you do that?

Maeldune:  For any number of reasons!  I’ll give you an example, during the period of the Imperial Coalition the dominant wing of the leadership was known as Corporation.  Corporation was heavily involved in perpetuating the system of slavery they used called ‘Money’, remember?  Anyway, the system requires that the people spend money on goods and possessions, so Corporation spend its time devising ways to seperate people from their money.  Corporation was keen to boost its profits.  Profits was their term for the money they took for you in exchange for things you either didn’t need or shouldn’t have to pay for.  Clear so far?

Eris:  Perfectly.  Will you arrive at the point soon, do you think?

Maeldune:  Hmmph!  Impertinent child.  Anyway, they created a hybrid virus and engineered its release into the various Nations.  Careful manipulation by the state controlled media made it seem as though the strain of virus was particularly deadly.  Once a suitable panic had been whipped up, Corporation offered a drug for sale, which might or might not actually do anything to alleviate the symptoms.  They made billions of units of their currency in profits.  This also allowed another wing of the leadership to implement a plan of their own.  They announced mandatory vaccinations against the ‘killer’ virus.  Under this guise they were able to carry out a number of tests on an unwitting public, with the perfect alibi.

Eris:  That’s really grisly.  What happened to these people?

Maeldune:  Well, that’s another story…