The PR Mind-Control of Edward Bernays
"Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested largely by men we have never heard of… In almost every act of our lives whether in the sphere of politics or business in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind."
Why is present-day corporatism so successful? How do they manage to pull off lies like smoking tobacco is good for you, that nuclear power will be too cheap to meter, or that the jury is still out on global warming? In reality, the crony capitalists, have a secret weapon: mind control of the public through a new sophisticated method of public relations based on the science of psychology.
Aiding them in their evil quest to retain control is the nephew of Sigmund Freud, Edward Bernays, the “Father of Spin”. He uses psychology to build image and help corporations “position” their products, even if the product is not good for people—or might even kill them. Uncle Sigmund had taught Bernays one thing: emotions have a profound effect on the subconscious. So Bernays cleverly uses psychological images to sell his client’s wares, tapping deep-down emotions to bend the perceived reality about the product. All large companies and governments, including the Nazis—who study Bernays’ method and master it—soon utilize his methods. The politicians are not far behind in learning how to spin for themselves and their corporate contributors, creating an intricate web of Mechanistic big lies and little lies—one that is impenetrable to the casual observer. The result is the world you see today.
After advising the Republicans and Big Oil in the Twenties on how to win the fight to suppress ethanol and put lead into gasoline, Bernays scores another coup during the 1929 Easter Parade in New York City when he arranges for the “Torches of Liberty” to march. The Torches are cigarette-smoking suffragettes, who proclaim that cigarettes are part of women’s liberation—that women have the right to smoke like men. Ever since the Torches of Liberty, women have seen smoking as a sign of their independence. Score one for emotion, zero for reason.
Bernays states that emotion can be used to triumph over fact, and that a subtle lie repeated over and over will eventually be believed by the majority of the listening, viewing and reading public. His books
Crystallizing Public Opinion, Propaganda and
The Engineering of Consent are the foundation of Public Relations, giving corporations and governments a tremendous new power over the mind of the general public. Since the PR campaign works on manipulating subconscious emotions, the person doesn’t even know they are being subjected to PR “mind-control”. The advertisers can now get you to think almost whatever way they want you to about a product, making you think you absolutely have to buy it as soon as you can. Bernays’ technique is to reframe the issue so that the product is perceived in a more desirable light. In his book Propaganda, he says the public is a “herd that needed to be led”. It is this herdlike quality, a pliable group mind that makes the population ‘susceptible to leadership’ and makes it possible to "control the masses without their knowing it."
One of the greatest triumphs of Edward Bernays is forging the decades-long marketing alliance between the AMA and the tobacco industry. Despite many opinions to the contrary, the AMA agrees to state in ads that cigarettes are actually beneficial to health. Even doctors believe it, and a huge number take up cigarettes themselves. Smoking is recommended as a treatment for nerves for decades. This particular deception is successful for a half a century until the Surgeon General’s Report on smoking comes out in 1965. Still another campaign involving doctors gets all of America eating bacon for breakfast.
This man literally is responsible for the deaths of tens of millions over the decades, responsible for more deaths than Hitler and Stalin.Bernays realizes that by using “independent” third-party associations, corporate propaganda can be fed through a seemingly objective source, which then issues press releases saying their product is safe. The safety is determined, however, through falsified studies by the phony institutes and foundations he has his clients set up. As technology delivers more and more power into the hands of fewer and fewer media owners, who typically sit on the Boards of major corporations themselves, the circle of deception is complete. The security of modern corporatism and "Mechanistic" paradigm institutions has so been assured—no matter what outrage greed and Mechanistic technology may produce.
EDWARD BERNAYS -- now you know what Karl Rove knows...
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
