“..The manufacturing of consent is endemic within modern societies.
Throughout history, the need to “persuade and influence” has always been manipulated by those people in power as a means to maintain authority and legitimacy.
In more recent years, the overall manipulation of the mass public mind has become less about making speeches -
- and more about becoming a pervasive presence within the lives of each individual.
Edward Bernays has often been called “the father of public relations,” as it was his teachings and research that spurred the postwar years of propaganda.
Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, utilized psychological and psychoanalytical ideas to construct an informational system – propaganda – capable of manipulating public opinion.
Bernays, apparently, considered that such a manipulative apparatus was necessary because society, in his regard, was composed of too many irrational elements – the people – which could be dangerous to the efficient mechanisms of power (or so-called “democracy”).
Bernays wrote that, “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society.”[1]
Bearing in mind that Bernays was working in the early 1920s, we can expect the mechanisms of propaganda – mass manipulation – to have progressed to a very advanced degree since then.
Within the context of our modern mass societies, propaganda has morphed into a mechanism for not only engineering public opinion – but also for consolidating social control.
Modern programs of social influence could not exist without the mass media.
Today it exists as a combination of expertise and knowledge from technology, sociology, social behaviorism, psychology, communications and other scientific techniques.
Almost every nation needs a controlled mainstream media if it is to regulate and influence its citizenry.
By way of the mainstream media, a controlling authority is able to exert psychological influence upon people’s perception of reality…”
(cont..)
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Messing With Our Minds: The Ever Finer Line Between News and Advertising.
