“Many people, including most publicists don’t know how the field of PR evolved and why. In a nutshell, it was started by Edward Bernays, Freud’s nephew, who was enlisted to use Freud’s approach to help corporations make money. The rest is history.
He originally wrote about this and called it ‘Propaganda.’ An Austrian by birth he witnessed the effects during WW1 and decided to put it to use during peacetime. The purpose was to turn a ‘needs’ based society into a ‘wants’ based society. Get people to buy.
He wrote: “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 are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, and our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of… It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind.”
Change Your Thoughts And You Transform Your Life
Part people from their cash. Control them. Get them to follow as you want them to. Condition them to follow. Look into the history of this and you’ll readily understand. You’ll understand how the USA, our media and marketing works. The same applies to other countries.
You’ll discover why we embrace certain forms of economics and not others. It is worth studying because there’s no defense against it EXCEPT to become aware of it. Once aware, it is similar to light turned on in a dark room. You begin to notice what you had not.
Bernays had an impressive list of corporate clients. Some of what he did was convince children to bath, women to smoke, and to sell products he used fear to sell more. Joseph Goebbels embraced Bernay’s work to build a cult around Hitler and promote the Nazis.
Change Your Thoughts And You Transform Your Life
It’s called PR or branding today and follows Bernay’s original agenda to turn citizens into consumers. Make their happiness contingent on what they can purchase. People were conditioned to buy things NOT when they needed them but to be happier. Get this!
We’ve been conditioned to believe this. Get it?. Bernays became known for successfully boosting corporate business by causing changes in public opinion. This was and is not lost on governments as was demonstrated by the Nazis and others, including the U. S.
During WW1 he joined the U. S. government’s Committee of Public Information. He got American businesses overseas distributing literature citing America’s reasons for entering the war. He learned wartime applications could be valuable during peacetime.
Change Your Thoughts And You Transform Your Life
He wrote a couple of books Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923) and Propaganda (1928). At age 100 he stated “any dope, any nitwit, any idiot, can call him or herself a public relations practitioner.” What he began long ago is still used today and updated. It is insidious.
Why am I writing about this? Because we have been conditioned to grow up believing and valuing certain things about ourselves, our world, our government, religion, financial institutions and world circumstances to control us in whatever country we live.
I am not referring only to nefarious thought worms but to those about working, marriage, family, money, leisure, retirement, self-worth, ‘keeping up with the Jones’, science, poverty, the rich, the poor, capitalism, socialism etc. The only defense is awareness.
Change Your Thoughts And You Transform Your Life
Repetition of anything results in habit. Habit of thought, feeling and behavior. The reason why affirmations can work is because a lie repeated often enough can be substituted for truth in your life and in the world. You can believe anything you hear or say enough.
There are positive uses and not-so-positive uses. Used wisely, you can prosper. BUT allow it to continue on as it already has and you live for, and decide for, what SOMEONE ELSE decides for you. Get this! If you don’t claim your life back you’ll live someone else’s.
‘We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.’ – Edward Bernays
Change Your Thoughts And You Transform Your Life
He also said, ‘Modern propaganda is a consistent, enduring effort to create or shape events to influence the relations of the public to an enterprise, idea or group. This practice of creating circumstances and of creating pictures in the minds of millions of persons is very common. Virtually no important undertaking is now carried on without it, whether that enterprise be building a cathedral, endowing a university, marketing a moving picture, floating a large bond issue, or electing a president. Sometimes the effect on the public is created by a professional propagandist, sometimes by an amateur deputed for the job. The important thing is that it is universal and continuous; and in its sum total it is regimenting the public mind every bit as much as an army regiments the bodies of its soldiers.”
The more aware we are of the manipulative approaches used to inculcate us, which is an ongoing, ceaseless process the more we are able to research and decide what we choose to believe and value. Instead of being sheep we might begin to think for ourselves.
If we don’t we will continue to perpetuate that which was and is put upon us. Subliminal, or not, people have gotten better at this kind of influence. It is everywhere. Notice it. The best offense is a good defense. Don’t allow yourself to be used this way. Stop being a sheepl. Get it? Celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes
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