Er, I hope "we get to laugh about this" too.
I'm befuddled by most of your posting ... Anyway, you say, at my
convenience clue you in re: Cointelpro. Cointelpro is an
admitted program of the FBI which had (has?) as its goal the
infiltration of various peace/native american/environmental
groups. (See "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse," about Black
Hills/AIM situation involving COINTELPRO and Leonard Peltier --
big thick book, very informative if ya got the time). See also
now-public documents about how the FBI secretly invaded the ranks
of the Yippies during the 60s. Their modus operandi, once
they've invaded, is to create dissension within the group in
various ways (another example, more recent, is Earth First!).
One way is to propose disruptive ideas that are persuasive enough
to draw part of the group away from the other part. For example
-- in the Yippies, during a peace march, the FBI plant would get
in the lead and then propose trashing a government building or
some other stupid destructive idea, and thereby fracture the
group into a peaceful group and a "let's go get 'em" type group.
Similarly, in the Rocky Flats anti-nuke group (with which I was
peripherally involved away-back when) a dude later identified as
an FBI plant proposed destructive action against the plant as
opposed to our normal peaceful, sit-in type stuff. Similarly, in
AIM (American Indian Movement) the plants convinced some people
in the group to adopt divisive, radical and destructive actions
and ideas, thereby splitting AIM into two irreconcileable camps.
Purpose: To cause such groups to fight amongst themselves rather
than to work for the common goal and common good.
I'm not saying Cointelpro is necessarily the explanation for what
I see as dissension among Rainbows, but it all feels familiar enough to
give me the shudders.
--Marianne