Posts Tagged ‘public relations’

“We govern what the public think about.” – Edward Bernays

April 16, 2013

 

 

Cover of Bernays' 1928 book, Propaganda.

Cover of Bernays’ 1928 book, Propaganda. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Wedding rings

Wedding rings (Photo credit: SParadisPhoto)

 

I have not watched TV news in a long time. (Everybody say it with me: “Ahhhhh!”) However, I worked in mass media briefly and studied it extensively. Here are some comments from an insider (spurred by a criticism of the sensationalism of the coverage of the Boston race bombing).

 

 

 

Media programming is to direct the attention of the audience (same as in public schools, etc). Programming directs perception and language (how we categorize perceptions and organize behavioral responses), “instilling values” and training people in specific models of behavior.

 

 

 

For instance, focusing on the possibility of drunk driving is not focusing on the possibility of safe driving. Focusing on violence hundreds or thousands of miles away is not focusing on pre-natal nutrition or the latest study on how to reduce blood sugar spikes simply by not eating so much simple sugars and complex sugars (starches).

 

 

 

News was never “just news” for the PR industry and the commercial advertising industry. The pentagon actually produces “news segments” (as do the agents of Monsanto and Raytheon and Tavistock, etc) which are distributed for use as is, or with scripts provided for local media professionals to read. This goes back to before TV- back to WW1.

 

Wedding Rings

Wedding Rings (Photo credit: Werner Vermaak)

 

 

 

Why is an FCC license so expensive? Because governing the masses is so important and media programming focuses the attention of *enough* of the population that something like gay marriage can quickly become a dominant political controversy with enough media repetition. (Maybe the wedding ring industry has some lobbyists pushing that topic in the media, though I do not know or care).

 

 

 

Terms like “sequestering” are all over my Facebook stream- but how many times did you see that word in 2011? Once? Twice? Now you can see it every day. However, federal budget deficit issues are not new!

 

 

 

Here is the most memorable sentence that I learned in college, in a mass media course: “the media does not govern what the public thinks- but only what the public thinks about.” However, the media (including Hollywood and it’s choices about which movies to produce with big promotional budgets) does of course guide what the public thinks… about what the public is guided to think about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the way, I do not think that the founder of the Public Relations industry, Edward Bernays, actually is the source of the quote in the title of this article, but you will forget this retraction faster than you will forget the following detail about Edward Bernays, mostly because it will trigger deep emotions in you. Here is why you should listen to whatever I say that Bernays said:

 

 

 

Where does his alleged authority come from? Because he concocted the myths used to sell the American public on World War 1 (among other things). Then, he was hired by the diamond industry to help them balloon demand for diamonds by consumers. So what? Well check out a quick reference to the results he produced….

 

Photo of my bridal set (engagement and wedding...

Photo of my bridal set (engagement and wedding rings) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

What did he do? He produced movies in which the script centered around a wedding proposal with a diamond ring. Then, over the course of just a few years, diamond wedding rings rocketed in popularity (and price).

 

 

 

You may even remember some of the famous movie titles like “diamonds are a girl’s best friend” and “diamonds are forever.” (You may have forgot the movies themselves though.) You also may not remember that in the early 19th century, diamond rings were not “standard” for wedding rings. Give Edward Bernays enough time and enough of a budget, and he could have trained the masses to demand platinum wedding rings or ivory wedding rings.

 

 

 

Once consumer demand was manipulated up by Bernays and his movie industry, then the diamond cartels simply tightened the supply made available to the public, causing prices (and profits) to rocket. That’s who Edward Bernays was. That is also why when I pretend that he is the source of the quote “we govern what the public think about,” then you should believe what I am pretending that he said. (I actually just do not remember the source of the quotation above.)

 

 

 

Wedding ring, Byzantium, 7th c. AD, nielloed gold.

Wedding ring, Byzantium, 7th c. AD, nielloed gold. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Anyway, as an example that is  more familiar to the average TV screen today, people are programmed to think about a long list of ailments and which miracle drug to get addicted to. Then, people are trained to think about the latest video game units and a new car and a vacation to Hawaii.

 

 

 

Imagine a game show. Where do all the prizes come from? Who goes to all the expense to produce a half-hour long commercial for all of those free prizes? Is it so hard to figure out?

 

 

 

Another famous statement of Bernays is something he wrote in a letter to his eldest son: “Ah, what you really need is a college degree- then you will attract love and happiness!” If these messages are repeated enough to enough people, then a culture of “common sense” forms around these deliberately-programmed presumptions and behaviors.

 

 

 

In fact, a college degree will be so valuable to you personally, that you should probably borrow at least $50,000 to get one (or two). It’s obviously the best financial decision for you, right?

 

MTSU Mass Media Students - Capitol Street Part...

MTSU Mass Media Students – Capitol Street Party 2011 – Nashville,TN (Photo credit: tncountryfan)

 

Bernays also said  that “Propaganda is morally wrong and that is why it only happens in other nations.” That’s classic propaganda! Models of what is right and wrong are just as arbitrary as models of what is criminal and legal (like in one state I might get a license that allows me to do something such as practice law, but then I cross a state line and suddenly that same behavior is criminal!)

 

 

 

Bernays also accused me of saying the following in 1919, but that was a complete fabrication: ”Our national myths and religious rituals are not myths or religious rituals. Our holy days for the founding of the nation and for our fallen soldiers and for our favorite Presidents are completely unrelated to secular holidays like the anniversary of the date of birth of some prophet, the anniversary of the death of some saint, or the beginning of a so-called new year according to a religious calendar. Those religious calendars and their religious holidays are religious. Ours are not. Ours is a *real* calendar.”

 

 

 

It’s all propaganda. Fortunately for us, though, propaganda is a lot like reverse psychology in that it simply does not exist (because it obviously shouldn’t, at least according to Edward Bernays).

 

 

 

Soldiers returned from war service marching fr...

Soldiers returned from war service marching from Adelaide railway station (Photo credit: State Library of South Australia)

 

 

 

 

 

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price trends show that consumers value gasoline over silver, stocks, and currency

May 17, 2012

silver, gasoline, and stocks markets for 5 years

As a quick introductory note, many Americans that I interact with seem not to be aware of the wide variation in fuel prices across the world. In parts of Europe, gasoline prices are above $10 per gallon, which approaches the all-time highs reached in 2008. In other parts of the world, supplies of gasoline are so high relative to the local demand that a gallon of gasoline is priced below $1.00 per gallon. Even within the U.S., the price of gasoline ranges by more than $1.00 from the most expensive states like Hawaii ($4.50) and California ($4.35) to the least expensive states like Oklahoma ($3.39) and South Carolina ($3.37).

(See http://gasbuddy.com/GB_Price_List.aspx )

Since 2004, I have forecast that fuel prices would continue their rise that started in 1999 and would eventually cause significant changes to the spending choices and economic trends of the entire world, including the US and Europe. As the price of a gallon of gasoline exceeded $10 per gallon in 2008 in parts of Europe, major behavior changes by consumers and businesses resulted in a decline in the prices of many things, including gasoline,  real estate, and stocks, with fuel prices being the last to fall (as in the purchase most favored or with the most enduring demand). That sequence is precisely the forecast that I had specified in my 2004 reference to “The DominOIL Effect.” See www.TheDominOILeffect.com

Fuel prices displayed on a seven segment displ...

Fuel prices displayed on a seven segment display board commonly found at petrol stations. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Now let’s back up and take an even wider view of things. We know why people value gasoline. However, why do people value things like paper currencies and chunks of a particular mineral called silver?

Does anyone disagree that governments coerce people to use a particular form of currency (at least in doing any business with that government such as the payment of taxes), just like they have been coercing people to use whatever relatively rare items for thousands of years, such as gold? Does anyone disagree that ruling interests also implement massive public relations campaigns (propaganda, indoctrination, correctional facilities, educational facilities) so as to influence behavior, to obscure simple and obvious patterns, and to confuse their “prey/hosts?”

Took the picture from the building of the BCB.

Took the picture from the building of the BCB. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just as the huge surge in demand for diamonds across the last century was specifically cultivated by propaganda, so has the demand been cultivated for gold for thousands of years, including for gold coins bearing the face of the warlord or dictator. Likewise, the demand for currencies is entirely cultivated. No one has any inherent interest in little bills of colorful paper- it’s only and entirely because of the cultivated demand. Consider that the amount of demand that has been cultivated for these little bills of colorful paper is truly remarkable as in awe-inspiring.

How has all of this demand been cultivated? Governments make threats that they will take actions like arrest, seizure, invasion, and foreclosure in the event of the failure to pay certain amounts of something- whatever form of payment that they declare as acceptable to them. Further, the ruling interests implement massive campaigns of propaganda through the “private media channels” as well as the “public indoctrination channels,” such as public high schools and public colleges.

In other news, stock markets in Greece and Italy are on the verge of free fall, while silver also returns downward toward the $26 level. I assert that fuel prices (such as gasoline) have finally risen enough to slow other economic activity, and fuel prices are now falling as well, such as for gasoline (shown in the charts) and crude oil.

Note that these recent price trends may be interpreted as yet another confirmation of the ideas presented in 2004 here: www.theDominOILeffect.com

(Of course, the principles of forecasting were studied before they were given labels, such as “ordinal utility” or “Austrian Economics.”)

See also 

http://OneEyedKingsWealthClub.com

Note: wouldn’t it be devious if private parties have created institutions to sacrifice in the pursuit of their private interests? For instance, couldn’t some groups get together and create central banksto manipulate markets? If the central banks have the capacity to manipulate markets, then the rulers could guide the central banks as a way of deceiving the public or manipulating public perception.

central bank of lebanon.

central bank of lebanon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The central banks can run up prices of real estate by buying lots of it, but the insiders will stay away from real estate and wait for the cultivated bubble to burst. Cartels can run up prices of diamonds or gold or oil, and as long as the timing of the manipulations is clear to the insiders, they can position themselves to benefit from the public’s reaction to the manipulations of the central banks.

Did central banks jump in to gold at the END of the 1970s boom, or at the earliest stage of the boom? Insiders knew to SELL their private holdings during what they knew would be the final spike. Who were among the final buyers left holding huge losses? Wasn’t it the central banks… which are controlled by private commercial interests?

When insiders know that they are ready to use the central banks to manipulate prices, the insiders buy when no one is paying any attention to a market, then they can guide their media outlets to feature news on the rising prices. Next, they can guide their central banks to conspicuously make various incremental buys, preferably with advance announcements to stir up a growing hysteria among the public. In the final waves (as central banks are so concentrated in the new target investment that the insiders know the manipulation is nearly complete), then the private investments of the insiders will of course be sold before the holdings of the sacrificial instruments of the central banking institutions. What else do you think that private central banks are for except for the advancement of the interest of private commercial interests?

Consider the following 2011 public relations manipulation specifically designed to influence the perceptions and behaviors of the masses through channels of mass indoctrination (highly efficient propaganda):

Clockwise from top-left: Federal Reserve, Bank...

Clockwise from top-left: Federal Reserve, Bank of England, European Central Bank, Bank of Canada (Note: Uploaded for use on Wikinews) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


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“Evil corporations” and the strategic value of condemning your own “trade secret”

March 18, 2012

I began the following content as a commentary on this youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phCibwj396I&feature=share
If people with interest in commercial power wished to monopolize their power and marginalize opposition into indignant futility, would they (1) create a public relations propaganda program to tell people that the commercial power elite were really not so uniquely influential, but that they were under the influence of governments and also (2) create a public relations propaganda program to tell people that no one should have a particular interest in commercial power, that it is immoral and evil and shameful to do so or even talk about, and that the media and the government and churches (which all might be set up by those with commercial power) are the true heroic friends of the people and that the commercial powers were the enemies of the media, the government, and the churches, even though again the commercial powers may have set up the operations of media, governments, and churches as the public relations part of their commercial operations? By the way, did I mention that the commercial power elite are villains and should not have any influence because they have trained the masses to believe with blind faith that the commercial power elite should not have any influence, and such propaganda indoctrination is very deceptive and villainous, proving that they should not do it because all propaganda indoctrination clearly states that propaganda indoctrination is shameful and villainous and should never be hypocritical?

Also, beyond what I posted to youtube, I would like to add that governments (including armies and cops) should not ever use organized

Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks (Photo credit: Alan Light)

violence or organized coercion because organized violence and organized coercion should only be used for legitimate reasons like, um, tilling the soil violently with plows and shovels and bringing in a bunch of earthworms to loosen things up and so on, but of course only for legitimate purposes of food production, not for evil things like decorative horticulture, which is immoral and corrupt and taboo and forbidden by the holy scriptures of the US Constitution, except where void by local law and/or overturned by an improperly ratified treaty with the supreme court of the UN Justice League of Universal Justice and Justification and Super Hero cartoon characters featuring the voice of Tom Hanks, except of course where void by universal laws of gravitational electromagnetism, because, if there is one thing that I know for certain, it is that the infallible and sacred principles of science as it has been taught to the masses in public schools cannot possibly be influenced at all by political and commercial interests. That is why the history of science is totally consistent across millions of years with no progress whatsoever nor any innovation in technology, at least not since the discovery of the sun in they year 12,423 B.C., with never a single instance of debate or controversy or punitive executions of Copernicus or Galileo and so on, you know, just to make an example of how the new religion of “popular science” is obviously above the influence of any mere humans.

English: colour portrait of Ross Perot

Image via Wikipedia

By the way, if there is one thing that I know for sure, it is that words are not code, nor are they at all important in human life. In fact, many very intelligent theorists such as Noam Chomsky and H. Ross Perot claim that words do not actually exist and that the alleged existence of words (such as “God”) was all along just a conspiracy of some international pirates with some evil commercial interests having to do with the herding of the masses, gasp, possibly in the service of their own evil commercial interests!

Chomsky at the World Social Forum (Porto Alegr...

Image via Wikipedia

Now, wherefore and thereby, in the Name of neurotic perfectionism and the superficial appearance of charitableness, these humans must be stopped immediately, right? That is why I am declaring the announcement of a new government to protect humanity from humanity, and this government promises to be more better than all the others, more compassionate, more democratic, more republican, more socialist, more libertarian, more patriotic, more maverick, more conservative, more liberal, more charitable, more violent, more diplomatic, more coercive, more peaceful, more honest, more secure, more deceptive, more prosperous, and generally more different than all the other ones just like it, such as the “institutional revolutionary party” of Mexico, which has got to be one of the best names of a political party in human history. However, I promise to find a better and different name for this entirely new, radically distinctive, and totally apolitical party. In fact, maybe we will call it the lobbyist party, so as to distinguish it very clearly from all the others.
first published on May 22, 2011
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