My Remarks to American Service Academy Alumni

A speech I recently gave to a group of patriots who are countering the subversion of our military service academies

Comrades: It is an honor to speak with you all today. I have the greatest respect for our military and veterans. You have served our incredible country with courage on front lines around the world.

I am quite different from your previous speakers in that I am anonymous and have not served in the military. Your motto of duty, honor, country inspire me as a civilian. I hope our dialogue today will provide new perspectives and actions on how we all must continue to serve on the front lines of the most important front - subverting ideological subversion. I will be brief so we can make this as interactive as possible for Q&A.

---

No doubt you are wondering who I am and why I write under the nom de plume Yuri Bezmenov. The real Yuri was a KGB defector. Perhaps you may have heard of him or even crossed paths with him.

He is best known for a series of lectures he gave in 1984 warning America about ideological subversion. His recordings on YouTube have millions of views because he outlined the steps of demoralization, destabilization, crisis, and normalization that would destroy America from within. The accuracy with which he describes modern America will give you goosebumps.

---

When I launched my Substack 4 years ago, I chose Yuri as a pseudonym because my writing focuses on countering demoralization. Anonymous writing is a proud American tradition. Many of our founding fathers used pen names to avoid persecution from the regime and win on the merit of their ideas.

Benjamin Franklin published Poor Richard's Almanack as Richard Saunders. He also posted many articles as Silence Dogood, Martha Careful, and Busy Body. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote as Publius for The Federalist Papers. Thomas Paine distributed the revolutionary pamphlet Common Sense without any name attached. Their words moved men, inspired a revolution, and changed the world. Anons are prominent in today’s online discourse because we shift the Overton window as private citizens in similar ways as the founding fathers did.

---

I come from a family that escaped communism. My grandfather and father were subjected to struggle sessions during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. This is a plaque that my grandmother won as her McDonald’s Employee of the Month. She chose to work with dignity in a minimum wage job here than a prestigious job serving the communist party in China. Yet here we are facing CCP unrestricted warfare.

I am lucky to have been born in America and raised during the 90s. But that world we grew up in no longer exists. Communism reared its ugly head during my first week of college. I attended an Ivy League university and had a front-row seat watching how subversive ideas on campus metastasized to the rest of society.

In the mid-2000s, administrators held red guard struggle sessions during freshman orientation. We were indoctrinated about racism, sexism, and decolonization. CRT, DEI, and affirmative action were deeply embedded throughout the university. They spread into your alma mater a decade later. Many of my classmates have risen through the ranks at major institutions, rotting them from within.

I am warning everyone the same way Yuri did. This is a civilizational battle. Only one side played to win and dominated the field for half a century. These people are all American citizens, but they are as fanatically anti-American as the Taliban. The enemy is inside the wire. We need to appreciate the urgency of our situation.

---

After graduating, I moved to New York. Professionally, I built a career in venture capital, technology, and finance. Personally, I met my wife and had my first daughter before we escaped from the COVID lockdowns, rampant crime, groupthink that consumed many of our friends and colleagues. We saw firsthand how a once great city deteriorated under the rule of leftist commissars and their awful policies.

As a new father, I felt compelled to speak up. I launched the Yuri Substack with no previous experience in publishing or marketing. Initially I viewed it as a place to share war stories, build a community, and potentially earn some diaper money. I had no expectations. Yet my platform has taken a life of its own that has led to so many great things like our call today.

---

What have I learned as a bestselling anon? And what can we do to subvert the subversion around us? I want to leave you with 3 critical takeaways before we go to Q&A.

The first is that we must win the mimetic war to avoid the kinetic war. Memes are powerful narrative packages in our era of short attention spans. Culture is upstream of politics. The only thing Communists are good at is propaganda. They completed a long march through the institutions that control the narrative: mainstream media, universities, and big tech. Funny memes shattered their monopoly. The left can’t meme because they lack humor and have lost touch with reality.

We must continue to invest in arts and culture. I am working on an ambitious initiative to do just that. Elon’s purchase of Twitter in 2022 was a game changer. For the first time in generation, we have the momentum to reestablish core American values. Free speech, bold leadership, and anons are infusing energy for a brighter path forward. We must repeat important truths to destroy the lies of the left. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. Our information diets are just as important as our food diets. We should help others find the signal in the overabundance of noise. This is how we make duty, honor, and country aspirational again.

---

The second takeaway is that we must build strong offline communities. Internet and social media have allowed us to follow and get in touch with almost anyone on the planet. I know it sounds ironic as someone who has built a prominent online profile, but it is vital to forge trusted friendships in person. COVID revealed who would hide us under the floorboards and who would call the Gestapo. The best part of building this Substack is getting to know incredible people like you.

I am heartened to see your organization to take action. Efforts like yours will save America. Everything we hope to accomplish starts at home. The most critical foundation of any society is the family. That is why leftists do everything they can to destroy it. Data shows that liberals are having substantially fewer children than conservatives. Yet they control schools that indoctrinate other people’s kids to their cause. We can and must build large, stable families with our allies. Are you teaching your children and grandchildren to navigate the propaganda that they encounter in schools and smartphones?

---

My final and most important point is to vote with your wallets. Support causes that align with your values. Stop giving money to people who hate you. Most of corporate America is not worthy of your hard-earned dollars. Fortunately, a parallel economy is growing. Find brands, creators, and small businesses that share your beliefs. I am happy to serve as a guide on that front.

I have followed all three of these points with great results. The serendipity of my Substack led me to an opportunity that aligns with my values and yours. I am actively investing in companies that solve civilizational problems to build the America we want our grandchildren to live in. I am optimistic because I see brilliant, fearless entrepreneurs attack these challenges every day.

---

We are going to win. Yet we need everyone to pull together. Things are better than you think, but they could also get worse than you can imagine.

As the real Yuri warned us: “The time bomb is ticking. With every second, the disaster is coming closer and closer. Unlike myself, you will have nowhere to defect to. Unless you want to live in Antarctica with penguins. This is it. This is the last country of freedom and possibility.”

I stand ready to assist you in your noble cause. Thank you all for joining. And God bless America.

---