Public - private is currently inverted. We're supposed to know virtually everything about what public servants (government) do and they're supposed to know virtually nothing about what private citizens do. Today, the opposte holds more true.
Public - private is a distinction such that birth of 'the age of the photograph' corresponds precisely to the explosion of public into the private... that new social value, which is the publicity of the private: The private is consumed publicly.
Public - private is a distinction that is always in flux. All struggles against oppression in the modern world begin by redefining what had previously been considered private, non-public and non-political issues as matters of public concern, as issues of justice, as sites of power.
Public - private is the double structure of society. Privately, individuals are supposed to autonomously create their specific selves, to develop their unique personalities. Publicly, a culture of solidarity and abstinence from violence is to be striven toward. These two contradictory visions need not necessarily be harmonized.