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The Century of the Self

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How politicians and business learned to create and manipulate mass-consumer society. Continue

 News Media Scam

By Ken Bowers

September 16, 2009 "Salt Lake City Conservative Examiner" -- Here's a quotation that should awaken every American.

The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments of the dominant political mythology.  (Michael Parenti, political scientist and author)

Have you ever heard of Edward Bernays? No? That is understandable. He never sought the limelight, but he is undoubtedly one of most influential people of the Twentieth Century. When he died in 1995, the New York Times ran an obituary on him, calling him the "Father of public relations." He truly was.

He was hired to be the chief adviser to William (Bill) Paley, head of CBS radio in 1928. From that humble beginning, CBS News became the dominant news organization in the world for many years. And the elevation of CBS News to that lofty position can justly be ascribed to the amazing public relations abilities of Edward Bernays.

Room does not permit a complete summary of his accomplishments. Unfortunately, Bernays not only sought to report the news but to manipulate the public into accepting what CBS News thought the public should accept. In other words, he sought to brainwash us.

Think that's crazy? Listen to what Bernays said in his own book, Propaganda, 1928:

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society.  Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country . . . we’re dominated by the relatively small number of persons . . . it is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.  (Propaganda, Liveright Publishing Company, New York, 2005, excerpts from pp.  9-19)

Do you like the idea of being "manipulated," having someone "pull the wires [to] control the public mind?" Or do you think that they can't manipulate us? And what do you think of his statement that the brain-washers "constitute an invisible government?" I think it's scary. But it happens today all the time.

In 1915, Bernays was asked to sell the idea of entering WWI to the American people and he did that successfully. Americans at that time were very much of the opinion of George Washington that we should stay out of the intrigues and quarrels of Europe. But with his pitch that we should "make the world safe for democracy," we went over there anyway.We've been ripe for brainwashing ever since.