03-11-2008, 05:04 PM
I don't think the propaganda subforum would be complete without a brief mention of the man who literally wrote the book (Propaganda, 1929), and whom I discovered only recently while browsing the net.
Edward Louis Bernays (!892-1995) was the nephew of Freud and used Freudian psychoanalytic techniques to mould public opinion at the time of nascent mass communication in America. In fact, he stated that a necessary feature of any democracy was the manipulation of public opinion by a select few.
His campaigns were audacious and brilliant. The Youtube clip is part of the excellent 2002 BBC doco 'The Century of Self" by Adam Curtis, dealing with Bernays' life. Note the ingenious way he transformed a taboo on women smoking in the 1920's into a generation of newly "liberated" women smokers:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZYTrFokPH...re=related
The king of spin. It's a little scary seeing how we've been manipulated like sheep for so long.
Edward Louis Bernays (!892-1995) was the nephew of Freud and used Freudian psychoanalytic techniques to mould public opinion at the time of nascent mass communication in America. In fact, he stated that a necessary feature of any democracy was the manipulation of public opinion by a select few.
His campaigns were audacious and brilliant. The Youtube clip is part of the excellent 2002 BBC doco 'The Century of Self" by Adam Curtis, dealing with Bernays' life. Note the ingenious way he transformed a taboo on women smoking in the 1920's into a generation of newly "liberated" women smokers:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZYTrFokPH...re=related
The king of spin. It's a little scary seeing how we've been manipulated like sheep for so long.