Closed loop

The Intellectual Circle Jerk and Why We Can't Stop
https://www.joanwestenberg.com/p/the-intellectual-circle-jerk-and

The credentialing cartel. Same top-tier universities, same books, same thinking. If you do not think like them, you do not get the degree. You do not get the internship. You do not get the job. A World Bank economist becomes an EU regulator, then joins a NGO board, then consults for a UN agency.

Fact-checking each other to ensure nobody deviates from the approved script. Monopoly on legitimacy. Dissenters are denied the credentials required to enter the room.