"...systems strongly resist changes in their information flows, especially in their rules and goals. It is not surprising that those who benefit from the current system actively oppose such revision. Entrenched political, economic, and religious cliques can constrain almost entirely the attempts of an individual or small group to operate by different rules or to attain goals different from those sanctioned by the system. Innovators can be ignored, marginalized, ridiculed, denied promotions or resources or public voices. They can be literally or figuratively snuffed out."

Meadows, Donella, Jørgen Randers, and Dennis Meadows. "Tools for the Transition," in The Localization Reader: Adapting to the Coming Downshift, eds. Raymond De Young and Thomas Princen(Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2012): 313.