Comment by rm_-rf_slash
11 years ago
The roots of cultural control go further back than the Cold War. Arguably it was Edward Bernays, father of public relations, who used his uncle Sigmund Freud's theories about humans being irrational economic actors motivated by primal instincts of fear, sex, and so on, to sell them products they didn't need.
The U.S. Government (and many around the world, including nazi Germany, whose head of propaganda admired Bernays) adapted these techniques as means to control people, or at least keep them from going out of control (Bolshevik Revolution, Naziism, etc). The popular image of the happy-go-lucky 1950s wasn't just how things "turned out to be," it was a concerted government effort to create the ideal and stable society that wouldn't overthrow the government.
You can see the same influence today in ideological news networks using compelling and vapid distractions instead of keeping focus on the "real" issues.
The BBC made a great documentary on this subject: "Century of the Self."
Yes, I am a student of Bernays as well. Bernays was a greater genius than Freud, I think-- and his teachings are still practiced enthusiastically as they were laid out back then.
I'm not convinced that the 1950s Americana was a result of intentional crafting from the top-down, though. Sure, bacon and eggs were forced onto the plate by PR campaigns along with countless other things, but a lot of it was the happenstance of having an entire generation come home from the war and then have the tools of prosperity handed to them via the GI bill.
Keep in mind that the 1950s begat the 1960s... hardly a time that can be described as controlled.
Century of the Self is quite good, and I highly recommend it as well. I agree with the vapid distractions problem, as it's very blatantly always in play on the MSM outlets.
I'd argue that Bernays and the modern assembly line directly enabled WW2
The BBC made a great documentary on this subject: "Century of the Self."
The best source is to just read Bernays' own book: Propaganda (1929).
> The U.S. Government (and many around the world, including nazi Germany, whose head of propaganda admired Bernays) adapted these techniques as means to control people, or at least keep them from going out of control (Bolshevik Revolution, Naziism, etc). The popular image of the happy-go-lucky 1950s wasn't just how things "turned out to be," it was a concerted government effort to create the ideal and stable society that wouldn't overthrow the government.
I was up with you until this point. As with most grand conspiracy theories, this seems like a big leap from the emergence of commercialism to a pastoral, planned society for the purposes of control.
Things like suburbs and consumerism were natural, but the reinforcement of that image as the ideal was effective for government that wanted stable citizens, and corporations that wanted predictable consumers. Still works - I didn't think I needed an iPhone 6 until I got one.
The influence of Bernays is correct, and the government has had a longstanding relationship with PR firms in crafting propaganda.
Cultural control has been going on WAY before Edward Bernays.