prescient

Seen in the comment threads at Instapundit:

KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov, in a video from nearly 30 years ago, talks about the long, slow process of deconstructing America. As you listen to his spiel with dawning horror, you will recognize that everything he talked about then has been happening since then, if not before, and we are in the end stages now.

The project: "...to change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that, despite the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country."

When I hear that quote in my head, I think of postmodernism's rejection of things like objective truth and universals. In PoMo thinking, no one can ever have anything in common because we are each so radically contextualized and individualized that a meeting of the minds via common ideas is impossible. Thus, "coming to sensible conclusions" is also impossible.

Bezmenov describes "four basic stages" for this brainwashing:

(1) Demoralization. This takes 15-20 years, the time it takes to miseducate one generation of students, exposing them to the ideology of the enemy—Marxism, Leninism, etc.

(2) Destabilization. 2-5 years for this stage: economy, foreign relations, defense systems. The influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in defense and the economy is visible now.

(3) Crisis. This could take about six weeks. Look at Central America, where countries have been taken to the verge of crisis—violent changes in power structure and economy, leading to so-called...

(4) Normalization. This period lasts indefinitely. The period begins when "you allow all the schmucks to bring the country to crisis." The people are promised all sorts of gifts and benefits, "paradise on earth," etc. The economy has been destabilized; free-market competition has been eliminated; a Big Brother government is installed in DC, with "benevolent dictators" promising the moon; there will be illusions that the situation is under control; a generation will grow up believing it is living in "peacetime," but this is false. Make no mistake: the reality is that US is at war, full and total, right now. 

Unless the nation wakes up and fights, it is doomed. Bezmenov concludes this portion of the video thus: "This is it—this is the last country of freedom and possibility."

It's a scary video to watch, and the comments beneath it, on YouTube, all say pretty much the same thing, which is the thing Jesus said at the Temple: "This scripture is now fulfilled in your hearing." Here's a sample of some of the comments:

It's really scary how accurately he's describing America at this present time. His statement about showing people FACTS, but they don't hear them, is sobering.

Got red-pilled a little over two years ago. Everything this man is saying is frighteningly accurate. You see it in our movies, TV shows, games, schools, etc., and it’s sickening.

He is literally describing my experience with the school system. I had zero critical-thinking skills when I graduated. It has taken me 20 years to overcome the brainwashing that was done to me, and to stop accepting facts and instead question everything. This is why I am very anti-"government systems that control us." Taking away children's abilities to question and think for themselves, being silent and doing as you are told, or receiving severe punishment—that's where it all starts.

The most patriotic US citizens I have met are naturalized immigrants from the former USSR and Warsaw Pact nations. They are not lying, exaggerating, or joking one bit.

If I had watched this 5 years ago, I would've called this man crazy. I now realize that this man is completely correct.

This guy is having the biggest "I told you so" moment in the history of mankind.

It's 2023, and I must say he's so far nailed every point he made.

More Americans need to see this man speak. He is describing TODAY, decades ago.

This video is going to be hard to shake.