I grew up in the era when you could trust school teachers and, in our small town, the police and the neighbors. You might get in trouble (as most of us boys sometimes did) but, unless you were a real screw-up, you wouldn't have a target on your back and you could usually work out your redemption with extra homework or mowing a few lawns. If you managed to flunk a class, well, summer school only took up half the day for half the summer.
But that's only how the world looked from my youthful perspective and was almost totally divorced from reality.
If you have not done so yet, I strongly urge you to read "Unrestricted Warfare" by Liang and Xiangsui, pub. by Echo Point Books & Media (echopoint.com) in both paperback and hardbound. It is a summary translation of a publication of China's People's Liberation Army, Beijing.
The first few pages are basically theoretical background to set the stage, but, by page 14, there is meat on every page.
I bought this book about a year ago based on a recommendation found here, but was immersed in a couple other books at the time. I'm glad I read 2 of them and stopped mid-way with the other three as not being worth my time – but they all could have waited.
Shortcut this book to the top of the stack because it puts this board into perspective and will make you more effective both here and IRL. Note 2.3 (page 191-2) is particularly worrisome.