I'm not sure this is such a strong statement. Knowledge workers have historically had control over both administrative and broadcast-communications technologies. So, when we talk about any *organized* tragedy historically, "intellectuals are involved" = "it happened".
The term "knowledge worker" implies that they are waged labor in the service of someone with actual power.
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That position provides them with power. A political advisor can be fired for not toeing ideological lines well enough, but he or she nevertheless has much greater political power through that position than a check-out clerk or taxi driver.
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It's not a matter of 'actual power' vs 'imaginary power' but a matter of people temporarily collaborating in order to implement their will. (Power doesn't come out of the barrel of a gun because any gunman is outnumbered. It comes from getting people to gun for you.)
End of conversation
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