Edward Bernays and the Art of Public Manipulation

[ScienceAndEvidence]

What is this shit? You just read Adam Curtis's work on Bernays word for word over top of his documentary footage, you added nothing, this is not your work at all.

The original: The Century of the Self by Adam Cutis.

/watch?v=Kintd8YC4Ow

[neoplastik]

Bernays: un volgare criminale...

[hunarf]

Juden Raus!

[144jr144]

I like the video generally. However, the idea that private enterprise took over politics as in was not already the foundation of political systems from the beginning... may be entirely propaganda. ;)

[markymarkuss777]

Shadow manipulators dictate what type of music gets mainstream. They control what the celebrities wear. They decide which movies are shown at the box office. They manipulate what news items are allowed over the airwaves to the public. They set the fads. They manipulate your mind to believe that success is being able to dribble a basketball, or walk down a runway with lingerie on. They control it all, and subsequently, they are able to control us all (the way we think, act, talk, and dress!)

[Wuety06]

we probably do agree on many things... but where i beg to differ is to many people relying on logic. when i look around I see people who have no idea why they do or say most of the things they do. I also see many people who dont even attempt to trace the root cause of motivations or feelings they just go with them. i see an abundance of "i feel it, it must be right". human rationalization doesnt always = logic. teaching logic and probability for error is what i see as the way to make people sane

[Zecamala1234]

Greed.

That's what guides them.

What a shame.

[stuarttrewern]

Edward didn't "inform" the newspapers of the Lucky Strike press stunt - he used his old friend Walter Lipmann's media empire - I just spent the last year in Harvard at Walter Lipmann house, the home of the Neiman foundation for journalists - interestingly Anne Bernays (the daughter) still works there, but of course this is only the surface.....

[ineshayward2009]

can somebody tell me the name of the narrator please?

[Yoshi5020]

People's emotions aren't irrational. They are often better than logic. It is logic where you can snare people-- a string of logic can be infallible, but based on false premises. Emotions aren't always right though-- they are simply the best approximations of the whole brain's knowledge. They can be changed by learning new things. The best advice: seek truth as best as you can, then go with your "gut feeling".

[Wuety06]

@Yoshi5020 let me get this str8:

logic: worse because even though the operands/rules are perfect, if you apply them 2 false assumptions u get an answer that the rules say is right

emotions are better because they are best/quick approximations of all of your brains knowledge. which can b wrong.

you missed that one of the rules of logic says that the answer is only as good as the assumptions Google GIGO. brains can be flawed by bias and physical defects. ur argument is self defeating

[Wuety06]

@Yoshi5020 put simply its illogical to even claim absolute truth of an equation if you cant prove the premises/variables truth values.

your "gut feeling" is your brain firing biological logic circuits. u r right they change with learning; the issue is some of what you learn by the media and gov is designed to make those circuits short out/incorrectly connect.

reasonable advice: question your emotion and trace out why you feel that way and why you believe the why.

[Yoshi5020]

@Wuety06

Thanks for taking my comment seriously. You did a nice job restating what I was saying.

Hey, logic is great-- we should try to use it as much as possible. I said what I said because people have too much faith in it. Rationalization can be used to support just about anything, and is often self-deceiving. A common false premise is that we think we know our own motivations, when often we don't. Anyways, I'm out of space, but we probably agree for the most part.

[Wuety06]

@Yoshi5020 ment the last one 4 u... but to finish the train of thought. look at what they have taught u. you are supposed to be instantly decisive or you are weak(they want us to make impulse buys so this is helpful) logically this is horrible. yes there are times when ur gut is the best option but most of the time, sitting down thinking about a solution, thinking about issues with it and even asking a few others if they see holes in ur ideas would yield a better result.

[hallmobility]

Not truly threatening until _all_ the mass media unite to promote the same destructive idea, like under a government bent on war, or a cartel of banks seeking national, then international, domination. See the deceptively named "Council on Foreign Relations", explained here on You Tube.

[JohnBigmon]

Whoa. Yeah, great video. It's hard to even view the world the same after understanding what he and others like him did. Deeply nuts. Straight up evil.

[TheRickmurray]

Wow, Great video man.. very informative! This monster should never be forgotten.

[TheEthanwashere]

lol century of the self

[einrib4truth]

“THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH??”

Or maybe... “The Greatest (Mentally Numbed-Down) Nation on Earth? AMERICA!! “WAKE-UP!!” BEFORE IT TRULY IS TOO LATE!! He who Controls the Media - Controls the Information... He who Controls the Government - Controls the Rules... He who Controls the Money - CONTROLS EVERYTHING!! And JEWS... CONTROL ALL!! “THEY” STOLE “THE AMERICAN DREAM!” It's time for AMERICA to “WAKE-UP!” and TAKE BACK... THE DREAM!! FREEDOM FOR ALL!! Read: wake-upbeforeitstoolate(dot)co­m

[thepixieful]

do they sell us religion too?

[thepixieful]

thank you for these cliff notes on bernays, most do not ever know who he was or the advertising power he had. it is only taught in advertsing (portrayed in the AMC drama Mad Men show) in real life it is worse they sell it to us, get our money and we pay them on credit and most humans get happy about it. great video very educational.

[SignoreBanani]

very interesting BUT already @1896 Gustave Le Bon puplished his book

"The Crowd- how to control the public" - which probably influenced Hitler.

Bernays didnt comeup out of nowhere

[thepixieful]

@SignoreBanani thanks for that history note, I was not aware of the title you mention. Bernay's certainly did influence "madison avenue" and the big NYC ad machine of the 1950-1970's and is still loved by ad execs. I am waiting for them to portray him on AMC's show Mad Men. I was surprised he lived to be old and was on David Letterman (shown in this you tube series).

[sirluisray1974]

Great video I will link this

[Sonofspam64]

Pretty much explains Fox News.

[WorldAsWiIl]

amazing video, thanks.

[TinkToll]

@ DrCruel

Well im not a marxist and neither was Edward Bernay's. The point is this manipulation of the masses through media is as popular today as it was 70 years ago. That brings me to my point. 70 years of it and nothing better has replaced bernay's suspicians that we are an unthinking irrational herd that needs to be controlled.

[GreenDevilAngel]

very great job.

thanks

[TinkToll]

I disagree with the ending statement that Bernays turned us into this irrational herd we are today. Instead he understood us and our innate desires. All his methods worked and today we are still too stupid to realise what we want and dont want. We are all still this unthinking herd.

[Edvin1010]

@TinkToll

you forget people can be just as much improved as well. This is a reinforcing spiral, whether its an upwards or a downwards one, depends on the place and time in question

[DrCruel]

@TinkToll I think that Marxists consider us a stupid herd ("the masses") that will buy any ideology, no matter how nonsensical, so long as it is incessantly and forcefully presented. The problem with selling Marxism nowadays, for example, is that people rather prefer the consumer choices they have in a free market society. Thus the need to push the idea that the things we buy and use aren't REALLY what we want - that it's all the trick of the capitalists or the Jews or some other such nonsense.

[mkdelta69]

DrCruel ...... YOUR NAME FITS YOU FASCIST SCUM

[DrCruel]

@mkdelta69 If the Marxists ever decide to enslave us as tehy have so many others, I will definitley make that name count.

And fuck you too, you Left fascist scum. Give up on your hypocritical aims of imperial conquest or be prepared for a messy death. Either way's fine with me.

[EugeneRushmore]

everyone can argue endlessly with their big fancy words... but the underlying messages / ideas executed by bernays are a sobering realization of just how easily humans can, have been, and still are, being manipulated through propaganda / advertising. 'individuality' seems to be what we strive for to distinguish us from our neighbor, but the truth is that we are all pretty much the same. order a coffee from your local cafe, sit outside, and watch the crowd of people pass by... listen and observe.

[jalorin1]

we are not a democracy... we are an intended REPUBLIC ... i guess bernays got to your heads



[Arkinight]

@jalorin1 Contrary to massive scholarship, newspapers and intellectual culture for the past century or more, right? Yeah, the John Birch Society has been pushing that horseshit for a while now, not surprisingly it's reaching more and more people. We have everyone on one side (whether they believe it or not) championing how wonderful democracy is and so forth, and on the other we have the John Birch Society and its commissars.

[Searching4Truth1]

'Women will smoke because then they would have their own penises' ~Abraham Arden Brill

.

[DrCruel]

@Searching4Truth1 Men do not feel the need to set their sexual organs alight and put them in their mouths. Why would women want to do so with their phallic symbol? And if dick envy is why women smoke, what's all that nicotine for? Why don't they just buy dildos?

Pardon, but this entire argument sounds like an elaborate joke put together in a college dorm room. Isn't Marxism idiotic enough? What's the point of hammering that home further with crazy, sexually explicit conspiracy stories?

[puertorock0828]

How is it possible for you to be a libertarian and still be left wing. Call me stupid, but at the end of the day I will never consider myself left of anything.

[trufiend138]

lets face our goverment is corrupt because we as people are morally and spiritually bankrupt/corrupt..we allow it to continue on everyday...and worse thing is each generation becomes more apathetic, self involved, and greedy.

[bamboostinger]

Too bad, I got my iPhone 4 last month and now I'm looking for the iPhone 5.

[GodsWildfire]

Well, this is scary has heck.

[xenophrenia]

Edward and Ivy Lee ... the 2 men who are the epitome of evil as far as I'm concerned ... thank you for this ... people need to know about this stuff

[MezlaFilms]

This is nothing but a summary of the video "Century of the Self" by the BBC. It's free to watch on Google Video.

[caketheory]

Wow nice video, I've added it to my fava list.

This is what psychoanalysis and psychiatry have always been about, upholding and justifying the capitalist mode of production. Notice how psychologists don't cure anyone by they sure know how to manipulate and make money.

[MrBipBipp]

Yes, marketing has too much power. Now tell me what would happen if noone bought what companies have to sell? You live in a society where there's abundance, you have to find ways to increase demand.

I advise you to search for "crises of overproduction" to see what I really mean. Most developed economies are service based for some reason.

[srusing]

This video is completely biased. Topics of this matter should always be discussed in terms of the mechanisms by which they occur and the principals that allow them to happen. All this video does is take the fact that the public mind is a force that is molded and manipulated (is and always will be) and associate the fact with negative outcomes to paint a negative picture. YOU are being manipulated.

[elguerojusticiero]

@srusing hooo so i was not the only one who tought that..

[toneemontaigne]

This is a crib right off Adam Curtis's Century of Self. C'mon!

[WESTAZTEC]

For the facts Visit AWAREOFTRUTH. COM

[xadam2dudex]

and we wonder why everyone in the world hates the US....the corporations have been murdering people for decades...Bernays worked for the destruction of the US..good thing he is dead hopefully in hell

[elguerojusticiero]

@xadam2dudex cold...

[elguerojusticiero]

@xadam2dudex cold...

[xadam2dudex]

@elguerojusticiero he's a scumbag

[SuperMasonic]

...(the Islamists and even a lot of the pro-shah royalists, in fact the son of the shah does not dare speak disrespectfully with regard to him). I let someone else talk about Arbenz because I don't know about him but next time before yu speak do your research and think, of course this is too much to ask from followers of Sarah Palin, thinking is one thing they will not do!

[SuperMasonic]

DrCruel,

You are repeating total crap: Mossadegh was totally afraid of soviets and hated the communists (he was an aristocrat and from a noble family) . So to convince yourself of the fulsehood from Fox News and the like you have to repeat or create a lie that Mossadegh had relationship with the KGB!! Mossadegh is universally known in Iran as a pretty democratic politician with immpecable reputation with highest integrity even by his enemies ....

[aelius93]

i heart u.

[Geertvanh]

This is a little bit to close to plagiarism to me ... Check out 'Adam Curtis'

[cruyffianslip]

This 9 minutes on Edward Bernays is brilliantly put together... so now we understand it.. how do we set about reversing it.....

[JustinTymeToday]

can you recommend any books that contain information like this about behind the scenes operations of government, cia, media, manupulation? thanks

[JustinTymeToday]

can you recommend any books that contain information like this about behind the scenes operations of government, cia, media, manupulation? thanks

[alixx316]

does the person who posted this video has the permission because the script and video belongs to the BBC award winning documentary "the century of the self".

i wonder if this is plagiarized because i dont see reference to original doc.

[wmcdonald76]

Contrast (if you're a truly free thinker) Bernays' "Torches of Freedom" with the National Socialist War on Cancer. How many Holocaust films are churned out year after year? How many films illumine the Jewish origins of Communism or it's willing executioners? How many deaths has Bernays' P.R. and marketing schemes caused? How has his name remained so obscure? Talk about "invisible government." If you want to know who controls a society, look to those you cannot criticize. Hint: starts with a "Z".

[karmicfabio]

Could PR be used to promote left libertarian ideals?

[karmicfabio]

Could the use of PR not be used for the promotion of Parecon/libertarian values?

[kayaker98258]

Thank you for the video, we need to know more about our leaders and there ways of controlling us.

[funkyflea89]

Such a gread video!

[waffiki]

evil has no boundaries.

[panicearly]

Any understanding of the human psyche can and will be manipulated either at the mass level or at the individual level for power and profit.

But by learning from the Bernays examples,individuals can also learn the existence of our own fears and motivations, and break free of that manipulation.

[DrCruel]

I've repeatedly heard this sort of "bait and switch" before - how Marxist coup plotters aren't "really" Marxists if they are stopped before they can take power. Castro is a prime example (given aid as a "democrat" by the Eisenhower administration before eventually, suddenly, "magically" transforming into a Marxist despot once the weapons shipments arrived from the Warsaw pact). Daniel Ortega, Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez are cut from the same mold.

Same old Marxist crapola line.

[DrCruel]

Especially galling is the idea that selling consumer goods to people who want them constitutes "violence", "manipulation" or or "exploitation". I suspect this is so often a common refrain, because of the traditionally low interest Left regimes have for the interests (or indeed the base survival) of the average people living in these "proletarian paradises".

"Century of Self" by Curtis is a Leftist propaganda piece masquerading as a documentary. Your bit doesn't even rise to that level.

[DrCruel]

An intriguing argument against democracy and for collectivist totalitarianism, much better than the standard fare from Marxist sources. The idea is that people are basically too stupid to make a democracy work, that elected governments as exist in the West are the product of marketing by rich, evil men, and that Marxist militarists like Mossadegh, Allende, Arbenz, Castro and Chavez are what we really need as leaders.

You won't convince any smart people, but it's a nice try.

[TheLeftLibertarian]

@DrCruel: For starters, I'm not a Marxist and many of my videos make counter arguments against State Socialism. I don't think people are too stupid to make democracy work. In fact, half of my videos praise democracy. I've spent quite a bit of time trying to explain how I think we can expand democracy. Of course, I'm sure you like the people who took Mossadegh, Allende, Arbenz place and you would probably love to have Castro replaced by Batista again.

[DrCruel]

I see virtually no difference between the Marxist leaders and those they claim to replace "in the name of the people". The means of control in these countries is not through advertizing and consumer satiation - it's via state terror and the rule of the gun.

Given the ugly mess that Castro made of Cuba, I would say Batista was substantially better. What there is of development on the island seems to have mostly stopped in 1960. But I don't support despots of either type personally.

[DrCruel]

(Incidentally, for those who claim this is a cut-down version of the "Century of Self" - it's actually a cut-down version, which cherry-picks bits and pieces from the series to push the Leftist worldview.

If you aren't a Marxist, you seem to have their worldview down pretty well. You'd be hard put to find a different narrative about the US government and 'big business' from Trotskyites at any standard ISO meeting.)

[TheLeftLibertarian]

I wish I had you simplistic black and white ideology of the world. People like Allende, Arbenz, Mossadegh, etc. did not rule by state violence but pushed for something closer to the socialism we see in Europe today. You may not be a fan of it, that does not mean you get to use your state violence (capitalist socialism) to enforce it. I am so tired of people assuming what position I hold. Castro and Stalin killed or jailed thousands of Left-Libertarians.

[TheLeftLibertarian]

Let me show you how annoying you're being: DrCruel wants to use violence to kill anyone who doesn't believe as he does. He loves people like Pinochet and the Shah of Iran because they use torture, rape, murder to push his world view. DrCruel loves socialism especially if it is used to enforce his laws, his beliefs, and his economic system. Any reform that helps average people he is against because that would be Stalinism! If the state helps corporations, that's not Stalinsism, it's freedom!

[DrCruel]

@TheLeftLibertarian What bull twaddle. Am I to suppose then, that the Revolutionary Guard of Iran beats and kills women to "champion the rights of average people", rather than promote some medieval mystical worldview? Am I to assume that the advocacy of Leftist for these tyrants is based on anything other than their mutual hatred of all things American? Am I to suppose that the Marxists of Chile were more angelic than the Tupac Amaru, FARC or FMLN?

[DrCruel]

@TheLeftLibertarian I believe George Orwell had your sort of intentional lunacy in mind when he came up with the terms "Newspeak" and "doublethink". Thus, how I am a supporter of socialism and state terrorism because I am opposed to them.

I am no doubt very annoying to someone like you. I suppose most educated people would be, especially when they finally respond to your whinging on about Bernays, Superbowl advertisements, world domination, and so on ...

[DrCruel]

That you'd characterize my worldview as "black and white" means you clearly don't know what my worldview is.

Arbenz initially gained power as part of a coup. Mossadegh tried to take power via a coup. All of the people mentioned had documented relationships with the KGB.

I'm tired of hearing the same old debunked Leftist crap recycled as "revealed truth" every decade or so.

[TheLeftLibertarian]

@DrCruel:Arbenz was part of a military coup to overthrow a DICTATORSHIP. After that, he was elected by the people. Mossadegh did not try a coup but used his legislative power to expand democracy and thereby limit (what you call a coup) the Shah. Mossadegh believed in private property and was against Soviet and all foreign interference in Iran. This is why he was not apart of Tudeh Party and why he disliked them. PBhistory shows that Arbenz was absolutely not a Soviet stooge and dislike them.

[DrCruel]

Arbenz had weapons shipped to Guatemala from Warsaw Pact countries, in particular Poland and Czechoslovakia. And Mossadegh, whose legal power by Iranian law came from the Shah, was trying to depose the Shah and make himself supreme leader - which might be why the Shah relieved him of his duties. Next door, in Afghanistan, similar machinations by the KGB and their insider allies led to the assassination of several Afghan leaders and an eventual takeover by the USSR.

[IndividualAutonomy]

@DrCruel

Very good. You do know your history. However, it is important to point out that Arbenz bought weapons after he was threatened by US operatives and received information about a planned invasion. He was responding to the US. Mossadegh himself was no saint but he was not a Marxist and I don't understand why you would appeal to a King as a basis for authority if you support individual freedom.

[DrCruel]

@TheLeftLibertarian Arbenz was part of a military coup to position him as a communist dictator of Guatemala. He had weapons shipped in from the Warsaw Pact to give teeth to his new "People's Army". As for Mossadegh, his idea of "democracy was framed in his Emergency Powers Act that suspended the Iranian Parliament indefinitely - again, making him dictator of Iran.

Like I said. I've heard all this crap before.

[DrCruel]

@TheLeftLibertarian I've heard this one before - Marxists always use brutality and coups to achieve social justice, while anyone who fights back is resisting social justice and is thus "repressive". And of course, Marxist leaders that were stopped from seizing power weren't "really" trying to do the same thing that Castro, Hun Sen, Pol Pot, Taraki, and every other Marxist despot wannabe did once they achieved power.

My problem being that I know too much about modern history to be taken in.

[AnarchyDavey]

@DrCruel

Most of the info can be discovered at the Library of Congress as well as a variety of internal documents. You'll have to do better than the old "left-wing conspiracy" nonesense.

[DrCruel]

@AnarchyDavey The problem being that the available evidence supports all that "left-wing conspiracy nonsense", rather than the alternate Leftist myths of Marxists "championing the poor" or the like. In fact, what happens when Marxists start their nasty business is that either they establish a brutal Marxist dictatorship or their intended target establishes a similarly brutal anti-Marxist dictatorship. Thus partly how the influence of Marxism is driving the states of the world to fascism.

[stickitupyourasteric]

@DrCruel when your trying to fight a or te giant [america] your allies must be enemies of the giant. Buying arms from kgb does not mean your communist, it means no one else will sell them to you.

[DrCruel]

@stickitupyourasteric Strange that the autocratic Marxist ideology has to be taken up too, in each case, with some populist dictator lined up as the "face of the revolution". Always a single man, with lots of weapons from the Soviet bloc.

Like I said. I'm tired of all this evasive, equivocating, hypocritical Leftist bullshit.

[DrCruel]

@TheLeftLibertarian People like Allende, Arbenz, Mossadegh, etc were failed despots. Successful despots of a similar mind were Josef Stalin, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Havez Assad, Hun Sen and Hugo Chavez.

I have a deep understanding of global politics and history. Simply because I point out that your bizarre conspiracy theroies are not supported by the empirical facts does not mean I am an advocate of state violence - in fact, quite the opposite.

[spartacandream]

@DrCruel Did you just call Saddam Hussein successful lmao?

Yeah, umm.... Iraq was a state falling apart. The US government worried about what it would do, so it made sure the next government was pro-US. Iraq had no sovereignty over most of its country, worse, its people didnt even see it as legit. Successful....

[DrCruel]

@spartacandream Yes. Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq for over two decades. By the standards of dictators, he was quite successful - at least as much so as Adolf Hitler, a similarly socialist and nationalist despot.

"Legitimacy" is rarely a concern of Leftist despots like Saddam Hussein, Josef Stalin or Adolf Hitler. Certainly public consensus is rarely courted in Leftist dictatorships, once sufficent force is at hand to keep the public cowed. Such is the nature of the Marxist feudal model.

[spartacandream]

@DrCruel No, Adolf Hitler had the loyalty of his people to the bitter end. Saddam Hussein had no control left over the majority of his country, and was losing control over the area ruled by Saddam himself. We invaded to hit the nail on the coffin, to salvage our interests, because we knew he'd be replaced by someone who didnt serve our interests as Saddam did.

Saddam, a leftist? Hitler, a leftist? Not certain what left right spectrum you're using, but I don't like false dichotomies

[DrCruel]

@spartacandream Hitler had the loyalty of some of his people to the bitter end - so did Saddam. But this isn't as much a measure of success as duration - and Saddam managed to cling to power almost twice as long as Hitler did.

We liberated the country because we suspected Saddam had held onto his chemical weapons capability, and was trying to build a nuclear capability. We were right on both counts. And yes, as Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler were both socialists, they were also Leftists.

[countess1900]

@DrCruel if Hitler and Hussein were socialist, why did they personally control (or try to control) the countries wealth and resources? That would make them fascist or dictators. They were dictators.

[DrCruel]

@countess1900 Because socialism, which originally was supposed to mean common production and common ownership, has instead through empirical observation come to stand for forms of secular, feudal autocracy operating under the fiction of collective ownership and universal brotherhood (or, in the case of neo-Marxism, some other enabling theory like affirmative racism or environmental mysticism) . Thus the validity of the otherwise ironic term "Left fascism" to describe the observed effect.

[countess1900]

@DrCruel There can be social justice without socialism. When someone attempts to have a conversation about social justice, people like you denigrate the conversation by screaming, "you're a socialist, you're a socialist. To quote you, "weak straw man argument...back to nursery school for you" Because in your tiny world of scarcity you believe that in order for you to have more, you must alternately ensure that someone else must have less.

[DrCruel]

@countess1900 I have "screamed" nothing of the sort.

The argument of this film is that people are so malleable and sheeplike that a single man, with a few psychological tricks, have controlled the general public for decades without their intelligent consent. What is implied is that people are stupid, and that their exercise of choice is an illusion.

The "manipulators" are not the people who sell me toothpaste and beer, but rather the people who try to sell me on dictatorship.

[countess1900]

@DrCruel Look around you. Hasn't society become quite homogeneous? This occurrence is not by accident. BTW, the "manipulators" are those that wish to "rule the gold", and they can do so because anything can be bought, for the right price. And, they don't care what flavor of the day you call it, dictators, socialists, fascists, leftists, even democracy, because at the end of the day the bounty is harvested by only a few.

[DrCruel]

@countess1900 I've "looked around myself", both at home and abroad. I've seen how people live in places without access to even basic consumer goods. Perhaps you could explain to them how pleased they should be, that they have escaped the "manipulative" consumer options presented by Bernays and his ilk.

The "manipulators" are the ones who want to take our choices away from us, and replace them with ideological promises they have no intention of keeping. Those Leftists are your "fascists".

[countess1900]

@DrCruel Talk about "public manipulation". You communicate the same way Fox anchors do: 1. Feign indignation, 2. Say something most people will agree with, 3. Get your talking point in (i.e. "leftists are your fascists"), which leads to 4. Coin a phrase. So, we have come full circle back to your talking point.

You can have the last word. You were just waiting for you turn to talk anyway.

[DrCruel]

@countess1900 So then. I relate to you an answer that is heartfelt, based on my personal experiences. Your response is that I'm "manipulating" you. You even manage a side crack about FOX News - and claim not to be ideologically motivated.

All well and good. You have nothing but disdain for what I have to say, and dismiss it all because it does not fit into your narrow worldview. I feel the same way about your obnoxious, unjust inferences and patronizing mockery.

Adios. And good riddance.

[thepixieful]

@DrCruel oddly, the selling technique is the same, uh oh that's telling....but it is...this next election should be fun as more and more it is a t.v. spin.

[DrCruel]

@thepixieful Actually no, it isn't. No one forces me to buy toothpaste or beer at the point of a gun, or under threat of jail. The people who make toothpaste and beer do not imply that their positions give them license to run my life as they see fit. Toothpaste and beer salespeople use inducements and provide value - they don't coerce or threaten me to push what they're selling.

I think you're getting people involved with commerce confused with socialists.

[thepixieful]

@thepixieful thanks you for the word "inducements" I am clear on government, freedom, republics and democracy and so forth but dispite my years in media the secrets of advertising were ONLY taught to the ad students at my university. thanks I am learning quite a bit. thanks.

[mkdelta69]

@DrCruel weak straw man argument..........back to nursery school for you

[mkdelta69]

@DrCruel Do you realize that your a terrorist supported.....the terror of corporate brainwashing

[DrCruel]

@mkdelta69 I realise that moonbats are lunatics, or simply cynical criminals pretenting to be lunatics. I haven't been "brainwashed" into wanting to use my money to buy things that I like - rather than give it to some Leftist fascist for some contrived ideological reason or other.

I also know that Leftists attack corporations for the same reason that pirates attack merchant ships, or bank robbers hit banks. It has nothing at all to do with any wrongdoing on the part of the corporations.

[PavedStones]

@DrCruel Did you just call Mossadegh a Marxist? Hmm.

You need to realize that there are many people who are deeply committed to democracy, but who think the current form of money drenched democracy that most democratic countries have is in fact not democratic enough and so they would like to move things towards a more genuine, functioning type of democracy where the public has some real power and participation in decision making.

[PavedStones]

I too wish things were always black and white and clear cut, it'd make forming one's opinions much more simple indeed, but unfortunately it's rarely the case.

The fact that you seem to agree with the violent overthrow of democratically elected leaders by foreign interests when they don't have the same political leanings as you do, even though you just said that elections are the end-all of democracy, makes me think your views aren't very coherent anyway.

[bdawgy0]

@DrCruel Your list of "Marxist militarists"---as opposed to elected governments---looks like a list of elected left-wing leaders overthrown with help from the CIA (with the sole exception of Castro). Was that intended to be ironic?

[blaziermissy]

It is a travesty that most of our knowledge, discoveries and technological advances has been utilized to our disadvantage.

It's time to change that and truly evolve from our primitive, barbaric past.

[woutvsas]

thnx for this great video

[Independentminded1]

yea that sounds like humanity Fuckin dumb there not the first ones, be it churches mosque's generals or states, they always have been able 2 Manipulate scare & take advantage of humanity just long enough to put u in no other position but there position, & then wen. IF! that Person wakes up he realizes that there nothing more than a piece of property & that humanity is already circling the drain, people r fuckin stupid and thats never going 2 change so sit back and enjoy the show I know I am >=p

[d1deej]

5 stars. perfect video. i love your work.

[curiouschem]

another excellent video

[gunman806]

It is for these reasons that Jefferson's conception of democracy can never be realized, we must instead rely upon socialization and the promotion of noble lies.

[gunman806]

The views of Bernays have been vindicated by history, the success of modern marketing, psychometric data and cognitive neuroscience. The ease at which Hitler, the Bolsheviks and Mao influenced the underdeveloped brains of the masses also serves as a clear reflection of this unfortunate truth. Ordinary people cannot be expected to assess ideas in a critical fashion, as they lack the faculties required to do so. The reptile and the paleo-mammal govern their decisions.

[executiveassistant07]

This is why I do not listen to CORPORATE sponsored news, it is generally censored and/or propaganda.

As a born again believer (in Y'shua/Jesus), I put my trust in Y'shua and not the media.

[gunman806]

You cling irrationally to a collection of etiological myths and antiquated moral prescriptions instead. What an improvement.

[SKeene1956]

And the list goes on and on and on if you know how and where to look. Key = Follow the money for there is always a profit motive.

[rasquatch]

Its sad when are lives are forced upon us, how can you be responsible for something when the choices you are making are based on a forced hold back of facts. We are only given so much and expected to know about all the manipulation on our minds and expected to make decisions about the avenue our future will take.

The rabbit hole is is chewing on you and you don't feel a thing, your less than human.

[TenderTrap86]

Good video. But Bernays or any other propagandist isn't responsible for turning people into irrational beings. Individuals do that to themselves through their own decisions and choices. Everyone is responsible.

[TheLeftLibertarian]

@Tender: People have been confused by this part of the video. I wasnt saying that Bernays made people irrational. Human can be both rational and irrational. What Bernay did was create a massive mechanism that fosters irrationality.

[beanfingers]

With the exception of a few sentences, this is a word for word remake of a section of an Adam Curtis documentary, entitled 'The Century of the Self'. You can watch the full original by typing that title into Google Video. I'm suprised the poster hasn't mentioned this, and I hope he's not trying to make out that he made this himself.

[TheLeftLibertarian]

@ beanfingers: Thanks for the link. I put it in the sidebar. I was going to create a playlist just for the documentary. I actually havent seen the whole thing yet. Most of my sources come from a couple of books by Stauber and Rampton, two biographies about Bernays, and one Chomsky book. I also quoted from Bernays book, Propaganda. As soon as I get my blog running, you can see where the information comes from but I did use the footage and quoted a couple of lines from the movie.

[atarilovesyou]

...quoted a couple lines? Your video solely consists of video and concepts taken from The Century of Self, which is a great documentary. Although this is a lite version, it may spark interest for the actual documentary.

[FREEW0RLD2012]

Freud,his daughter Anna,and Bernays,were all very dangerous mind-f*ckErs. Public Relations is just a revised word,a more "user friendly" word for propaganda,which =Mind Control.Thought,behavior control. Bernays said it himself.He changed "propaganda" into "Public Relations"(Advertising is just one area of PR)because the US public were turned off by the word "propaganda".Why do U think there are "commercials" every 6 minutes during a TV show?PR/MIND CONTROL(gawd I hate stupid people).

[mopsius]

What Bernays did must be precisely stated: he did not harness "desire"--which still exists unsatsified unconsciously--he redirected the Ego's perception of what "desire" is, substituting symbolic fulfillmetns associated with the products and ideas he "sold".

In the process he also betrayed his uncle Freud, as Freud later understood.

Alienation remains and worsens in fact.

Marcuse's analysis is the obverse, and still worth close attention.

[Rahab111222]

Peepo are stoooopid.

[oldhacks]

this is fucking awesome.

[joob44]

he didn't turn people into irrational beings. Everyone ALREADY IS irrational. He took advantage of people's irrationality. If they were rational in the first place no one would have fallen for this shit. Why do you think this whole damn country is religious. Fuckin' IRRATIONAL! If Bernays thought he was doing us all a favor by fucking with people's heads than thats totally IRRATIONAL! People arent naturally rational, it takes learning and practice. I personally try, but I'm in the minority.

[iPREnZ]

Or we are becoming more and more irrational as more and more focus is beeing put on enforcing the "irrational" behaviours? More focus sex, fear, egoism, individuality and less on kollektivism and intellect. I wonder how much is society and discource and how much is "human nature" (rasism for instance)?

[TheLeftLibertarian]

Thanks for all the great comments. Ive been very busy so hopefully I will get the time to write you all back. Thanks again!

[raughn3]

love your channel. What will you next video be about?

[qwertypipe]

But a significant difference between politicians and businesses maintaining power is that politicians seek votes only once per term which may be between two to six years, whereas each and every day the consumer casts his or her votes by buying or not buying whichever products he/she chooses.

I hope I haven't fallen short of my goal of paraphrasing concisely what I have learned from reading some of Ludwig von Mises's books. If you have an argument with what I say you should check in his writing.

[qwertypipe]

This is crap.

Democracy doesn't have self perfecting features, and government can't give anything without taking it away from someone else first.

To pretend that individuals as business men are immoral, but individuals as politicians are kept moral by Democracy is logically and empirically false.

Politicians only need to convince people to vote for them to stay in power, and in this way can maintain their office by the same means that you defame when used in business.

[countess1900]

It can hardly be called free trade when people are being lied to or given misleading information. How is the consumer to make informed decisions?

[GodsWildfire]

@countess1900 By thinking and researching.

[countess1900]

@GodsWildfire Thinking and researching is the easy part. However, there was a study published years ago (wish I could remember the citation but can't) that stated that each household needs a full time person who will manager information, resources and maintenance. That person stays current on local and nation politics, budget shopping. keep current on health issues effecting the family, such a product recalls. This person waits on the insurance appraiser, the cable guy, and the repairman, etc.

[countess1900]

@GodsWildfire 

[countess1900]

@GodsWildfire We are inundated with information that is often times unverifiable except after we have bought the product or service. Because that one household information person does not exist if we make a wrong decision that money is lost. Case in point: "as seen on TV" products that sell for $14 yet when you get it in the mail it nowhere delivers on its promises. But, that company makes a fortune because they know you don't have the time to fight for a $14 refund.

[countess1900]

So, @GodsWildfire this wonderful system we had here of mercantilism where the consumer is king, has been corrupted by the greedy (you know the 1%ers who own 3/4rds of the U.S. wealth) that have fooled the some of the American people into fighting to protect their interest by protesting healthcare reform, supporting supply side economics, and tax breaks for the rich.

[GodsWildfire]

@countess1900 See, I think you disagree because you have this backwards. The Conservative appreciates entrepreneurship and saving money, not spending and materialism. Greed is not wanting to retain the money you have earned instead of being taxed and manipulated. Ask me about what I believe-- you have it wrong.

[countess1900]

@GodsWildfire Its not about agreeing or disagree, nor is it about what you "believe". The fact is the "game" has been rigged. Its a fact 1% own 3/4ths of American wealth. Do you think they "earned" it or "took" it. Your definition of greed is incorrect; Merriam-Webster - greed: a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is "earned" or needed. " " is my addition. It is not surprising: however, that you whipped out your "conservative" coat of arms.

[maineladydi]

Very interesting...History is definitely repeating itself.

[badattitude77769]

Thank you. Just as tattoo's, piercings, harley davidsons were taboo not too many years ago, but with hollywood and advertising some of us are not cool for not having them!

[GOPequalsBernays]

All too true and all too hidden from the masses. Great job putting this out there.

[Scoppertop]

Thanks for your great work! Looking forward to the next installment....

[givebirthathome]

Thanks for sharing. I'd heard about the tragic Guatemala-Arbenz overthrow, but this fills in details of how and why it occurred.

On flaw is the statement that Bernays thought that people "had" to be controlled. If Bernays said that, I still doubt that it was anything more than a rationalization to cover willfully degrading people to exploit them, not with any altruistic motive. After all, American democracy had survived for over 125 years without Bernays help.

[givebirthathome]

And 80 years later, we still don't teach "Media Literacy" in the schools. At least with people able to make their own videos now, that will intrinsically teach some awareness of how to manipulate attention with images, music, juxtaposition.

[tomheppy]

as always amazing

[rotocon]

I wouldn't call the private sector "all-powerful", but it's still a cool vid.

[Aiden057]

Good job. Adam Curtis' film, I think it's entitled "Centure of the Self" goes into this extensively, but you've covered the major points here very well. This is a good introduction to the subject.

[Aiden057]

D'oh! You give the link to that very film in this video's masthead. Really good job.

[TheCreativeNothing]

I agree with previous comments and this is a great vid. I would recommend researching the next Edward Bernays... Dr. Clotaire Rapaille. He is the premiere marketing consultant for Fortune 500 companies on what drives consumers.

[Elizruth]

Thank you for the excellent video. It's like the Constitution/Bill of Rights versus Edward Bernays. It's so clear to see how we are now run by a corporate-politic and how it shapes our foreign policy. How sad and sickening.