When facing a difficult challenge, it's not uncommon to look for external factors to blame for our predicament. It's easy and costs very little, but also does nothing to solve the challenge. Sometimes, in doing so, we make grandiose statements and use extreme metaphors to make a point, but at times, that grandiose language goes too far describes a situation that has nothing to do with the challenge at hand.
Let's do a little experiment, go read this (very short) post on LinkedIn and see how it resonates with you. Go ahead, I'll wait for you here.
The military language in this post goes too far because it attempts to reframe a problem (challenges architects face while marketing their firm) into a disaster of such epic proportions that the profession doesn't know how to deal with it, the so-called "silent war".
It is misguided on several levels. The first assumption is that architects have no control over their predicament, which couldn't be further from the truth. If anything, the profession as a whole is primarily responsible for many of the challenges it faces, some of which are described in the post. But there are also many examples of firms who don't let circumstances dictate their future and have successfully broken free from many of the common architecture ailments.
It also implies that Architects are due respect like the other professionals they mention, such as doctors and lawyers, but the problem with this idea is that it implies these other professions earn some kind of due respect because of who they are. I'm pretty sure lawyers earn respect because, as expensive as they may be, most of them still offer invaluable expertise, but also aren’t shy to charge what they think they're worth and doggedly fight for that ridiculously high hourly rate. The same goes for doctors, they will walk away from tire kickers and low-ballers.
So no, this so-called war is not a cabal of mean-spirited people trying to take down architects. The respect they think they deserve has to be earned. Anyone claiming otherwise is peddling bullshit.
The truth is, to come out of this vicious circle takes tremendous courage and effort, but it's not rocket science. There are many precedents of firms who have claimed narrowly specialized expertise and have done very well as a result, the reason why we don't see more of those is that taking the first step is terrifying, so much so that most people don't want to face it.
But the prospect of sinking ever deeper into the commoditization spiral, its attendant low fees and lack of respect should realistically be a more terrifying prospect.