Every Move A Trial Balloon Part II

This is mainly a reposting of a recent entry, added to provide appropriate disclaimers and context to yesterday's posting. Officials and their scholars will try for as much damage (nihilism in practice) as can be got away with (enter circumspection, stage right) at a given time and place. This refers to those who know what they're about, not so much to the go-along-to-get-along types. There are intermediaries such as journalists, but their net effect can be expected to balance out to neutral, especially now as we have internet sources of unofficial broadcasting and narrowcasting of information. The major premiss, though, as to trying for as much damage as can be done, is necessary to explain what otherwise lies unexplained.
Part I, from an earlier post:

Every Move A Trial Balloon: The Official Anti-Culture is Circumspect Nihilism...
...and this may be determined on the hypothesis that officials and their scholars will, in almost every instance, try for as much damage (nihilism in practice) as can be got away with (enter circumspection, stage right) at a given time and place. This refers to those who know what they're about, not so much to the go-along-to-get-along types. There are intermediaries such as journalists, but their net effect can be expected to balance out to neutral, especially now as we have internet sources of unofficial broadcasting and narrowcasting of information. The major premiss, though, as to trying for as much damage as can be done, is necessary to explain what otherwise lies unexplained.