The implied value judgment about the "informed public" versus the "mass public" is revealing in this passage:
"Trust is not uniform across societies. Globally, trust in institutions among the informed public—defined as people who are college educated, are in the top 25 percent of household income in each market, and exhibit significant media consumption—has risen during the past 20 years whereas more than half of the mass public during the past decade repeatedly say the “system” is failing them. The gap in trust in institutions between the informed public and the mass public has increased during the past decade... Similarly, the gap in trust in business quadrupled during this period..."
The "uninformed" mass public seems to have a better grasp on reality than the "informed" public, i.e., the upper-class people who staff the media, gov't, think tanks, and tech firms.
I can't help but think that the proliferation of identity politics in the US is intentional and that its consequences of segmenting and weakening society are the desired end. You can't find a program on a major news or media outlet which doesn't include obviously divisive language and attacks on traditional morality and ideas. More and more I think that this is a main device being used to divert public attention and subvert public resistance whilst the fabric of our society is being changed into one with fewer and fewer and fewer freedoms.
I also highly doubt that the CIA is not involved in domestic matters such as what we are presently witnessing. During the development of the A-12 Oxcart plane (later renamed the SR-71 Blackbird), they set up and ran front companies here in the states through which to source the large amounts of titanium which only came from Russia at the time. Yes this was regarding an external security threat, but there are many other recent examples of CIA activity here.
Clearly missing here is an account of how and why people are losing trust I major public and private institutions. The magic words that are missing are "systemic corruption" or to put it in another way institutions exist to exist rather than provide the services they claim to provide. This is most dramatic in the US where nearly all institutions are corrupt starting with Congress that has devolved into a bribery factory not because politicians are corrupt but because the system forces them to be corrupt.
Reading the passages above from the CIA report, the phrase "apocalyptic cascade" comes to mind. The more we all--individually and collectively--seek to enact our will above that of others, the more we shore up the system itself as the sole means of victory. To cease shoring up the imperium (Macintyre) is to abandon the field to those who would scapegoat (Girard) their "enemies" by their unequivocal victory. To avoid this we create a nearly inescapable incommensurable "us vs them", now going/gone exponential. In short, the war of all against all. Scapegoating vs. counter-scapegoating, with seemingly no way out. The more such demands are put on the system, the more likely it is to collapse from its sheer incoherence. (Cf. "A Canticle for Leibowitz").
"First, shared global challenges—including climate change, disease, financial crises, and technology disruptions—are likely to manifest more frequently and intensely in almost every region and country. These challenges—which often lack a direct human agent or perpetrator..."
A NIC product is from the Intelligence Community; it's not a CIA product. Also, we don't want IC analysts to comment on domestic US trends; it's not their job, it would cross an important line, and they're probably not qualified to do so anyway.
The implied value judgment about the "informed public" versus the "mass public" is revealing in this passage:
"Trust is not uniform across societies. Globally, trust in institutions among the informed public—defined as people who are college educated, are in the top 25 percent of household income in each market, and exhibit significant media consumption—has risen during the past 20 years whereas more than half of the mass public during the past decade repeatedly say the “system” is failing them. The gap in trust in institutions between the informed public and the mass public has increased during the past decade... Similarly, the gap in trust in business quadrupled during this period..."
The "uninformed" mass public seems to have a better grasp on reality than the "informed" public, i.e., the upper-class people who staff the media, gov't, think tanks, and tech firms.
I can't help but think that the proliferation of identity politics in the US is intentional and that its consequences of segmenting and weakening society are the desired end. You can't find a program on a major news or media outlet which doesn't include obviously divisive language and attacks on traditional morality and ideas. More and more I think that this is a main device being used to divert public attention and subvert public resistance whilst the fabric of our society is being changed into one with fewer and fewer and fewer freedoms.
I also highly doubt that the CIA is not involved in domestic matters such as what we are presently witnessing. During the development of the A-12 Oxcart plane (later renamed the SR-71 Blackbird), they set up and ran front companies here in the states through which to source the large amounts of titanium which only came from Russia at the time. Yes this was regarding an external security threat, but there are many other recent examples of CIA activity here.
The CIA: We accidentally started WW3 with the gay sex ops. Oops!
Clearly missing here is an account of how and why people are losing trust I major public and private institutions. The magic words that are missing are "systemic corruption" or to put it in another way institutions exist to exist rather than provide the services they claim to provide. This is most dramatic in the US where nearly all institutions are corrupt starting with Congress that has devolved into a bribery factory not because politicians are corrupt but because the system forces them to be corrupt.
Reading the passages above from the CIA report, the phrase "apocalyptic cascade" comes to mind. The more we all--individually and collectively--seek to enact our will above that of others, the more we shore up the system itself as the sole means of victory. To cease shoring up the imperium (Macintyre) is to abandon the field to those who would scapegoat (Girard) their "enemies" by their unequivocal victory. To avoid this we create a nearly inescapable incommensurable "us vs them", now going/gone exponential. In short, the war of all against all. Scapegoating vs. counter-scapegoating, with seemingly no way out. The more such demands are put on the system, the more likely it is to collapse from its sheer incoherence. (Cf. "A Canticle for Leibowitz").
"First, shared global challenges—including climate change, disease, financial crises, and technology disruptions—are likely to manifest more frequently and intensely in almost every region and country. These challenges—which often lack a direct human agent or perpetrator..."
Mmmhmmm...
Keep it comin, please!
Interesting read again.
See my short piece below on the possible fragmentation to come in North America :
https://thenomadhistorian.substack.com/p/the-coming-obsolescence-of-north
A NIC product is from the Intelligence Community; it's not a CIA product. Also, we don't want IC analysts to comment on domestic US trends; it's not their job, it would cross an important line, and they're probably not qualified to do so anyway.