The Four Stages of Societal Collapse and Thiel's Libertarian Challenge
“This is what will happen in the United States if you allow all the[se] schmucks to promise all kinds of goodies and paradise on earth which will bring the country to crisis” Yuri Bezmenov
Rewatching this video of a defector from the Soviet Union in 1985 in context of our post Covid society connected some dots. Those dots were about what Yuri describes in this video as the "Demoralization" stage of the four-stage KGB process.
Separately, Peter Thiel recently offered his view of three dystopian futures being offered by competing ideologies, and the challenge to the Libertarian right to offer a competing better vision of the future.
But first, the 4 stages of Societal collapse as Yuri Bezmenov describes above offer a nice roadmap to how we got here to begin with. The four stages of US societal collapse as the KGB prophet says are:
- Demoralization: in which people are (re)educated according to your own ideology- Pressure to conform
- Destabilization: in which essentials like economy, foreign relations, and defense pacts/systems are disrupted- E.G. supply chains, Nato, Etc
- Crisis: a confluence of events on the back of the previous two steps creates existential crisis for the status quo.- Constantly threatened
- Normalization: during the crisis a “force for good” will appear that promises some return to normalcy. We welcome despotic solutions to immediate problems.- Rise of authoritarianism and reduction in liberty
This reads like a playbook for the last two years, and perhaps going as far back as the GFC of 2009. The stages occur simultaneously and need reapplication like so many vaccine boosters until compliance is 100%.
The Media’s Role in Demoralization
The MSM has been revealed beyond the pale to be a water-carrier for elites (a Trump dividend BTW) and in return for their subservience the media gets to manipulate and monetize our emotions.
Social media, despite it also being a tool of manipulation, has enabled our education on this same fake-news revelation to be in real time.
Unfortunately, this now enables even less reliable sources (influencer types) to step into the truth-breach created by our enlightenment and post bullshit that years ago would have been seen as just that, Bullshit.
So now in light of being sensitized to just how much we’ve been lied to, and how right the conspiracy theorists have been (and continue to be) on so many issues, many give equal weighting to this Bullshit as to the conventional MSM. The water has been so muddied we do not know what to believe anymore. That is prime hunting ground for political and ideological opportunists.
As our KGB friend says above:
The goal is to change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that despite the abundance of information, noone is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interests of defending themselves, their families, their community and their country.
The smart opportunists ( Soviet, Maoist, and now WEF types) see this lack of ability to believe as making dividing (atomizing) and then conquering (brainwashing) people that much easier. In fact, Atomization is the process whereby they get us to give up on trying to come to sensible conclusions on anything.
Perverting Libertarianism
We want to focus on Political Atomization a bit here. To describe Political Atomization, it might be better to first define Atomism on which it is based.
Atomism Societal Theory Says:
All social values, institutions, developments and procedures evolve entirely out of the interests and actions of the individuals who inhabit any particular society. The individual is the "atom" of society and therefore the only true object of concern and analysis.
Sounds logical to us. Sounds like a Libertarian concept. And it is right. Coherent societies are based on shared beliefs of individuals that understand the intersection of what is best for them also being what is best for societal longevity. Venn diagram stuff. Everyone has some libertarianist in them no matter how far left they view themselves. A big component of it is self-interest. The other part is how that self interest helps keep society well mannered.
Enter Political Atomization, a perversion and opportunistic application of Libertarian Atomism.
In physics: Atomization refers to breaking bonds in some substance to obtain its constituent atoms in gas phase. By extension, it also means separating something into fine particles, for example: process of breaking bulk liquids into small droplets. like a spray bottle.
If water is really just a bunch of molecules bunched together we can manage and recombine them for our own interests as we see fit if we first divide them. That is, spray them in the air and isolate them. Atomize, re-sort to preferred groupings, then recombine as you need. Turns out it works with people too.
Divide and Conquer Through Atomization
Political Atomizaton is a process where people are divided by twisting the principle of individualism and using that belief (the libertarian in all of us) to first divide us. Then the atomizers can remold us (by telling us to reorganize into different sub groups) as they see fit for their own purposes. Purposes like: to get votes, add power, make money etc.
It is a process whereby beliefs are changed on the lines of self-interest without societal cohesion by first dividing societal members amongst themselves. Put them in different rooms and send cops in to work on them basically. The prisoner's dilemma applied to a country, if you will. Remember what Covid did? The more we are atomized (divided) the easier it is for us to be conquered.
Weak-Minded Minions
Most weak-minded (weak-willed etc for whatever reason) people are sorted by this eventually. You know who they are. The types screaming for special treatment when there just aren’t enough resources to handle these increasingly narrow requests. They become willing tools of the powerful. Minions who do not even know they are minions.
Those types have either been atomized and retrained or educated at birth (as the KGB guy says). That leaves those who are not weak-minded: The vocal dissidents (independent voices) and the quiet (middle class) holdouts.
The dissidents will have been de-platformed (i.e. permanently banned, censored, or worse). The holdouts (middle-class libertarian types) will have re-prioritized their lives and dropped out of the fight.
Eventually, one by one, those that are neither weak-minded nor disposed of get tired of arguing (being manipulated to argue) and drop out of the bullshit. Loss of faith forces these people to pull in the reins over time.
That intelligent but isolated (atomized) libertarian holdout will eventually withdraw, choosing to believe nothing except his core values after having his buttons pushed by so many oppositional forces. Some will go off the grid. Most will “grin and bear it” as they live day by day to support loved ones. This is the empty space created by societal division and apathy.
It’s that apathy the power ideologues want which will enable the truly corrupt types to then take control. Then we get the next stages of Destabilization ( which we may be in right now), Crisis, and Normalization described above.
And that will be the beginning of the end. The crisis starts, and then the Normalization can happen. A solution is proffered by the new savior who will help return things to normal again. But what he is really doing is normalizing despotic tyranny.
Thiel is Right: Libertarianism Has Not Offered an Alternative Vision Yet
Note in the EU ‘s case that savior is “hyper-environmentalism”. But democracy and individual liberty isn’t even on the list anymore.
FWIW: to be fair: Thiel is saying the Libertarian right has not offered a narrative or story to counter the other stories. People are influenced by narratives. The Libertarian narrative-story is "Freedom" which ain't selling these days sadly.
Consider what Thiel is saying as a European. There are two different worst-case scenarios (stage 3 Crises in the KGB playbook up top) floating around over there: Sharia immigration over-running Europe, and Russo/Chinese totalitarianism. But you also have the WEF benevolently saying “Hyper-environmentalism will save all of you if you just submit to it”
Back in the US we are in a better place than Europe. But we are still on the same path. Good Luck
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