This achingly sweet paean to progress is the EXACT principle upon which propaganda is premised. Ellul (1964) called it "the shaping of men's minds." Earlier, Bernays (1928) wrote (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_(book)) The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised 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.
You don't try to change people's minds. You try to SHAPE them, by suggestion, mis- and disinformation, and eventually the Big Lie, when the "marks" are ready for it,
For example, listen to the repetitive litanies of grievance enunciated now in the wake of Lord Dampnut's traitorous tenure as CEO. It's not a coincidence that they are virtually identical in content and tone of voice from state to conniving state. Those are the words and forms they have been taught by their constant immersion in pathologically repetitive Righturd media like FauxNooz.
If we understand the mechanisms and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it In almost every act of our daily 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 which control the public mind.
Propagandists don't worry about what the target audience THINKS, because they control what that audience thinks ABOUT and HOW it thinks about it, down to the very words used and the pragmatic, grammatical and semiotic forms in which they are arranged.
Bernays melded emergent studies in Pavlovian behaviorism, scientific management/group psychology, mass communication and his uncle Sigmund Freud's insights on love and death to create an epistemological system for the corpoRat world in which we are ensnared to this very day.
I have long held that a major difference between liberals and conservatives is that conservatives never look and liberals do. Usually because conservatives hold hypocritical or contradictory beliefs. And as a follow-on, liberals ask themselves "what have *I* missed"? I think that's why getting liberals focused on a problem is like the proverbial cat herding.
ReplyDeleteI live to be there to say the words that can't be unhear changing lives forever
ReplyDeleteIt's why I like seed planting liberals who DON'T go to the Big Lie.
ReplyDeleteThey still recognize that unsown seeds never bear fruit.
This is why AOC is so spot on.
It has ever been thus...but with social media it is happening SO much faster. A seed can sprout in no time and spread its seeds around the whole world. Which is why this pandemic is refusing to end. Misinformation and propaganda.
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