There are only three intellectual genres that can challenge power, the Intelligentsia, the Reactionary, and the Revolutionary.
The Intelligentsia
Intelligentsia are drawn to be educators, skilled practitioners, doctors, nurses, administrators, accountants, strategists, and into any other field which requires a foundation in intellectual pursuits. If the Intelligentsia so desired, they could seize control of systems of power or bring them to a halt, spread revolutionary ideas to entire generations, radically redesign the economy, and end some of earths greatest inequities.
However the Intelligentsia are easily controlled. As long as the Intelligentsia are presented with enough absurdity largely through antagonism with reactionary forces, they will develop a standard of skepticism that disables the ability to draw inference. The intelligentsia are thus rendered more easily manipulated by propaganda presented by "official sources" as long as the sources are coherent and do not appear sufficiently counter intuitive.
The Intelligentsia are also often privileged, and as such are often disconnected and unaware or unsympathetic towards the inequities that lead to revolution. Thus the Intelligentsia are unlikely to challenge established power any more than to advocate for piecemeal reforms and to tolerate progressive change. As such, the threat to power from the Intelligentsia is only significant if the Intelligentsia are forced to rebel as a matter of survival, are sufficiently alienated from position of prominence and privilege, or if sufficiently pervaded by revolutionary dissidents.
The Reactionary
On their own the Reactionary are only a threat if they have no scape goat to turn on, as long as there is someone to blame they will channel all of their energies into destroying and loathing their perceived nemesis.
Any group can be sacrificed, immigrants the elderly blacks the disabled muslims jews, all it takes is a few good sermons and they'll fight on behalf of their oppressors against the oppressed. Should the intelligentsia win too many piecemeal victories and reforms, reactionaries will be manipulated to undo them to maintain the status quo.
The Revolutionary
That leaves only the Revolutionary. Revolutionaries constantly challenge established power, question the legitimacy of power, dissent and undermine it's rule, and radicalize people against established power. As such, the revolutionary is always the single greatest threat to power, should revolutionaries ever sway significant forces of the reactionary and intelligentsia the established system of power starts to lose control.
Furthermore, should revolutionary forces ever achieve sufficient organization, or amass in sufficient force, revolutionaries may actively take up arms against the established power structure and seek to overthrow it. What truly frightens established power is that revolutionaries are often persuasive, drawing on legitimate issues and legitimate grievances, usually with legitimate alternatives to an established system. As such, even the enforcers of power can be swayed, and the intelligentsia and reactionary forces can come under a revolutionary banner.
Because of this terrifying reality, every established power must find a way to either assuage and appease revolutionary forces, or render them incapable of uniting organizing and spreading revolutionary thought.
Methods of Counter Revolutionary Control
A variety of methods are thus needed by any established power to keep revolutionary dissidents in check. The most simple and least effective is bare naked force, this method can and often has martyred revolutionaries and strengthened revolutionary causes so when force is necessary it is often hidden.
A more common method of control is Counter Intelligence and Misinformation, methods such as the infiltration of dissident groups by provocateurs, the amplification of lies and distortions, etc. If revolutionaries can be made to appear insane, and especially if revolutionaries can be made to be insane, it discredits the revolutionary cause and renders the revolutionary isolated and incapable of propagating revolutionary ideas.
Public information that an established power would prefer to suppress may be presented by lunatic shills in order to discredit the information even after it has been declassified and made publicly available. This works in three ways, first the bad information is taken up with the good information by crazies who then further act to discredit the information and anyone who attempts to use it by association, second revolutionaries upon finding the information can be driven towards insane and reactionary elements as sources, and third anyone who is not sufficiently aware of the information will find it absurd and dismiss it, especially the intelligentsia.
Another tactic is diversion, one revolutionaries too often fall for. Agents working to suppress revolutionary dissent may espouse deliberate distortions that the revolutionary will be baited into combating, often distortions about polarizing issues. However the revolutionary reacts to such a ploy, the goal is to alienate the revolutionary from spectators and waste dissident energy.
Attempts may also be made to trick the revolutionary into defending the indefensible by spreading one sided distortions, even correcting the distortions may be seen as advocating for policies or leaders the revolutionary does not fully align with. Further this line of counter intelligence may drive the revolutionary into alignment with or against the perceivedly indefensible actor or policy, thus creating further potential risk of alienation and infighting, rightly or wrongly. This attack serves the purpose of dividing revolutionaries, distracting them from their common goal, and alienating them to those who might otherwise be swayed.
The aim of counter intelligence is to suppress knowledge, suppress dissent, and not merely to suppress revolutionaries but to drive them mad and leave them thoroughly deluded discredited and isolated. Countering counter intelligence is difficult, but guarding against it learning to spot it and finding ways to work around it is much simpler. Remember, the less we know the more easily we are controlled, and the more easily we can be driven into reactionary behavior, delusion, apathy, or paranoia.
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