Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Free Speech Free-for-All
The crescendo of demonstrations istaking place against the backdrop of “forever wars” in the Middle East andUkraine, the invasion of illegal immigrants into the US, the severe economicdisconnect between the stock market and consumer prices, and rising violent domesticcrime.
In the meantime, we are approachingthe home stretch to the contentious DNC and GOP conventions followed by the USpresidential elections in a year of potentially game-changing electionsglobally.
The arrival of seasonalsweltering summer weather will undoubtedly match the intensity of politicaldemonstrations nationwide.
THE PROTESTORS
The Deep Core of Protestor Anger
Although it appears that thestudents are genuinely supportive of the Palestinian people, I believe the corereason is of self-interest. Their pro-Palestinian efforts actually represent aconvenient cover for several factors which are fueling their anger which affectsthem personally.
Since the end of WW II, a collegedegree has been the “ticket” to at minimum a comfortable middle-class lifestylethat surpassed the previous generations.
However, the quantum leap in hightech has reduced and sometimes eliminated these college degree jobs initially tocountries with a a well-educated, English-speaking citizenry for a fraction ofthe cost and fewer restrictive labor laws.
In a perverse twist, corporationsare onshoring many jobs that require a highly educated workforce, but these arenow assigned to domestically based AI-programs and robots. The quantumefficiency and cost-effectiveness of high-tech at scale has been a gamechanger.
This trend leaves recent andsoon-to-be college degree holders nothing but crumbs with respect to high-payingjobs.
For this reason, their return ontime & investment in advanced education is more likely to be negative forthe rest of their lives, as they struggle financially, burdened by debt andunable to save enough to purchase a modest home on subpar job salaries. Forthis reason, this young and recently feisty generation has taken to the streets.
The young generation has a similar,but not equally comparable, solidarity with the Palestinian citizenry in abroad way; both groups are suffering from a multigenerational governmental oppressionand erosion of freedoms with dwindling options.
“Technocrat Terror”
The factors that have broken theproverbial “straw that has broken the camel’s back” are the following:
· Increasingly restrictive freedomof speech, particularly those against the present-day official narrative.
· The creation of a socio-economic serfdomengineered by the public/private cabal of mega-corporate interests confirmed statisticallyby an historical widening of the Gini Index.
· A complicit government that legallyrigs the system allowing an open interpretation of new & existing laws whichsupports a pervasive intrusion and expansion of mega-corporate powers.
In the past corporations influencedgovernment decision-making. Today, thanks to powerful lobbyists,mega-corporations dictate US policy. The interests of the public/privatesectors are profoundly intertwined economically & politically creating abond in which they are beholden to each other.
Many elected officials weremiddle or upper-middle class when they entered office. Many have become multi-millionaireswithin one term in office on a low six-figure salary through investments incompanies and/or sectors which [ironically] many are government regulated.
This creates a disincentive to fullyserve the public and represents a painful betrayal of public office.
For this reason, theaforementioned conditions have pushed students into a corner in which they havelittle or nothing to lose and are willing to get arrested with future consequenceswhen applying for jobs and housing.
Learning from the Old Guard
The mainstream media seems toharp on the chaotic, impulsive actions of student protestors. However, this isa dangerous assumption. The student protestors may not know their history, butthey know how to leverage connections such as elder protestors, their versionof Obi-Wan Kenobi, from the 1960s and 1970s.
These elders are providing sage advicefrom the late 20th century to their 21st century protégéswho are leveraging this wisdom with 21st century technological social mediatools.
In any movement anywhere,especially one that is high profile, high stakes, the young, present-daygeneration seek advice, wisdom and support from their elders. Like militaryhistory, although the present-day “war” is always different than previous ones,the fundamentals remain unchanged such as command & control, swiftadaptability through effective communications and esprit du corps.
This process is multi-generationalwith the participation, collaboration and support of specialty groups with similargrievances and compatible agendas.
Defining Agitators
Agitators are anyone, everywhere,within or outside the core protesting group.
· Within the main protesting group,usually hot-heads who are exceptionally adept at stirring trouble.
· Within another group marching forsolidarity with a similar cause and objective.
· Anarchists seek to provoke chaos, notawareness and solution. For this reason, all anarchists are agitators. Theproblem is identifying them as anarchists.
· The media whethermainstream or citizen journalists sometimes plays the role of that guy in theplayground that shoves one opponent into another during a stare down or just asthey’re about to decamp, just to see some action.
TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGES &URBAN SECURITY
Exposing The Evils of AI DeepFakes
The tragedy at Kent State Universityon May 4, 1970, 54 years ago, resulted in 4 deaths and 9 wounded by the OhioNational Guard during a demonstration against the Vietnam War. It was agalvanizing moment as this tragedy triggered massive nationwide protests anddraconian law enforcement security measures.
The virtual nuclear weapon isAI-created deep fakes whose images have become uncomfortably indistinguishablefrom real-life.
Because demonstrations areincreasing in intensity worldwide, the probability of a fatality increases aswell. For sure, there are groups seeking to take this to the “Next Level” bycreating a 21st century version of the Kent State tragedy throughclever AI-imagery and supporting disinformation.
The creation, ersatz orreal-life, of a martyr will galvanize the protest movement and harden theresolve for all sides.
It wouldn’t be surprising if thesedeep fakes have already been created and are on “standby”, ready to be unleashed.Once the dark genie is free from its virtual cage, damage control will bedifficult even if acted upon immediately.
We’re in the midst of a highlyemotionally charged period with wildfire news impatient for fact verificationthat creates a firestorm which is difficult to discern or dispute from actualfacts.
Because many once trustworthyorganizations have lost enormous credibility, even the savviest news readerwill have their doubts and will believe what they want to believe, not what hasbeen proven false.
Many of the aforementioned issueswere discussed in my article entitled The Fog of Media, published January 16, 2024.
Crowd Control Challenges
The looming unprecedented urbansecurity challenges with simultaneous demonstrations at various locations, lawenforcement may be forced to “cannibalize” human and equipment resources fromelsewhere exposing at-risk, crime-ridden communities.
Policemen and women have beenretiring in droves with not enough new recruits to fill the gap and exacerbatedby municipal budget cuts. Thus, the police are stretched to the breaking pointdespite all the new, high-tech gadgetry.
Inevitably, the National Guard,inexperienced and untested in these affairs, will be called to support the overworkedpolice. Overwork leads to fatigue and inevitably bad decision-making at everylevel, possibly with fatal results.
This situation leaves certaincommunities vulnerable to devastating mass looting & destruction. Chainstores and independent businesses, already closing shop, may become extinct inthose communities, never to open up again.
Once one community has beenhollowed out, the criminals, like locusts, will move to the next community tofeast on. Exacerbating the violence, illegal migrants are ghost criminals becausetheir real identities and biomarkers such as fingerprints are not in anysystem.
High-Tech Security
Mass surveillance sweeps cantarget a protest generation weaned and dependent on internet social media, easyto track and identify beforehand. Many protestors have probably been identifiedelectronically “tagged” through facial recognition and consequently through theirsocial media connections.
The limitations are that this ismostly a reactive forensic technology rather than a “Minority Report”preventive one. Nonetheless it’s now an era of new tools with new rules.
Is Chicago Burning? LessonsLearned?
It’s a Twilight Zone historicaldéjà vu, the forthcoming tumultuous summer and fall of 2024 in many ways echoes1968 with respect to chaos. This trend represents an historical “reunion” withthe past with everyone coming back to Chicago.
The confluence of fluid, volatileand unpredictable dynamics makes it anyone’s guess as to how this all will playout prior to, during and after Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicagoin August.
One could have an untenable crowdcontrol security situation despite intensive law enforcement electronicsurveillance blankets and the National Guard on standby to handle thousands ofprotestors from near & far during a sweltering hot summer.
To take an infamous line from theclassic movie Cool Hand Luke (1968), “What we have here is a lack ofcommunication” exposed gaps and faulty communication to authorized lawenforcement officials as to the impending high-risk of chaos prior to the January6th US Capitol building takeover.
The upside is that lawenforcement already is extensively preparing for a showdown with demonstratorsin Chicago this August replete with high-tech surveillance and localizedlockdowns. These methods are effective for a known, upcoming major event at aspecific location and its nearby environs.
The downside is whether lawenforcement’s efforts will be sufficient at containment. One zone might be temporarilycontained, however the protest intensity may eventually breach that zone and/ora spillover into other less protected zones. Like raging water, demonstratorswill seek the path of least resistance, go to lightly defended areas and taketheir frustrations out on whatever and whoever is in their path.
If law enforcement realizes thatcontaining the demonstrators is becoming untenable and the demonstrators breachall the security ring(s), panic will ensue.
The Menace to the ConstitutionalInfrastructure
An intriguing possibility toconsider is to what extent a third-party, notably a foreign nation state, isusing unwitting American citizens as an accelerant to a dangerous flashpoint?
Infrastructure is not only anengineering matter. It also encompasses the US Constitutional that is thesupporting document to preserve the American way of life. We can weather abridge collapse, or many bridges collapsing, but not an institutional one.
The confluence of major eventswithin a short period of time, notably the upcoming DNC and GOP conventionsthis summer, major elections in the UK (ironically on July 4th) andthe US in November, not to mention the Summer Olympics next month in Paris,provide opportunities of mischief for dark forces.
Conclusion & Takeaways
Demonstrations in US cities will growmore frequent and intense at or near high profile locations as the Palestinianissue will continue to be flaunted more like a brand rather than a cause byprotestors.
As we head down the stretch tothe aforementioned major events, the only unpredictable variable is the levelof intensity on the streets and whether it can be safely contained with minimalhuman consequences. This factor will remain in place well after the electionswith the losing side inevitably claiming improprieties at the voting stations.
It’s certain that whoever winsthe election will guarantee a tumultuous and volatile next four years.
© Copyright2024 Cerulean Council LLC
The Cerulean Council is a NYC-basedthink-tank that provides prescient, beyond-the-horizon, contrarian perspectivesand risk assessments on geopolitical dynamics and global urban security.