Replies

Here's a link to Century of the Self, a 4 hour documentary about Freud and his nephew and how their ideas were used to develop political propaganda, among other things.

Long but very well done. I wish it was required study in our school system.

Thanks. I'll watch it as soon as I have time.

Both of these men were pioneers - and pioneers often don't see the entire picture, and they often make mistakes. They are not to blame for the misuse - or misinterpretation - by later generations, of their ideas. They should be lauded for sticking their necks out, against the zeitgeist of their respective times.

(I mentioned previously some of the original scientists who studied parapsychology; many of them have been condemned on various grounds as well. But they were also pioneers.)

We have to judge the accomplishments of all of these men on their personal merits, and according to their own times. There is value in everything, if you view it dispassionately and as a 'jumping-off' position.

I was able to listen to some of this last night, and will listen to more as I’m able. I agree with you that it would be a good idea to require it in the school system, along with Vance Packard. (How, though, when the school system has so greatly become a mere propaganda machine itself?)

But I don’t think these uses of psychological awareness were new with Bernays and the rise of PR. We’ve had propaganda, ‘engineering consent’ and ‘subliminal seduction’ since long before Cleopatra barged up the Cydnus.

Propaganda can be used for good or evil, and psychology is neither; it can be used constructively or destructively. In the end, Individuals have to take responsibility for their own minds.

And of late, some attempts at these tactics have actually been hilarious - like ‘Pajama Boy’ to promote Obamacare; Al Gore dressing in Earth Tones (whether Naomi Wolf told him to or not); and Hillary Clinton trying to fake a Southern/AA accent and just coming across as a doofus :-)

(And let’s not forget Biden: “They’re gonna put y’all back in chains!”)

The recent crop of Democrats has not been very adept at this stuff...