Right on target again! We have a really huge problem that the majority of people have not recognised at all the machine that they are living in. (Despite the Matrix trilogy!) It is surely not beyond most people to come to recognise it, we just have shine the light from the right angle untill suddenly - Aha!
I think progress is being made though - we just have to keep at it! This is a great piece and as every, serious stuff handled with a light touch. The hallmark of 'The Art of Freedom'!
Thanks, Michael! From the right angle... from EVERY angle. That's what I tell myself sometimes when I sit down to write. It's tempting to think "this information is already out there, so why bother repeating it?" But then I remember that we hear selectively. Sometimes it's the person we hear the message from, or the time in our lives in which we hear it... or a slightly different take on it...
Agreed - sometimes here something a dozen ways and don't 'get' it - then somebody else says it a different way, or when we are in a different receptive state, or both, and finally it goes in. That means there's a job for all of us!
"Propaganda becomes ineffective the moment we are aware of it."—Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister 1933-1945
Yet waking up to propaganda can be very difficult. This quotation I recently saw resonated with me: "Many people do not want to know the truth because they do not want their illusions destroyed." What "illusions" do we hold onto because letting of them could lead to our losing friends, opportunities, or social status? I have been there myself with some "illusions" (and am certainly not immune to the effects of propaganda, marketing, etc.) Being compassionate, understanding, and patient seems like the best way forward.
I appreciated learning about the women's smoking campaign. Wow! And my son studied Bernays' text in college. It would be good required reading in all college classes. Yet, as Naomi Wolf recently pointed out in her speech at Yale University, many Ivy League schools are among the institutions of higher learning who are not encouraging critical thinking nor promoting individual choice. Conformity and compliance over courage they promote. And still, "Propaganda becomes ineffective the moment we are aware of it." May we all become AWARE.
Waking up IS difficult. You really do have to want to see it, and as your quote astutely points out, most people "do not want their illusions destroyed." That is the beauty of The Matrix, isn't it?
As far as education goes, most schools are really just training ground for assembly-line, conformist thinking. Perfect for the industrial age, and now moving into technocracy. Just do what we tell you! I'm actually kind of stunned that your son studied Bernays in college -- Mark Crispin Miller for years taught a class on propaganda at NYU, but it was cancelled last year, I think?
I love that Dr. Wolf called Yale out! Talk about courage!
Thank you for this comment, CB. You bring up some excellent points. Yes, may we ALL become aware.
Well done, Mary. I appreciate you pointing out some of the techniques that propagandists use to manipulate us into believing and behaving in ways that support one agenda or another. Propaganda is very insidious, so we can never learn enough about how to protect ourselves from it's influence.
I'm glad that your toe is all healed, by a laser, of all things. I wonder if lasers can be used for neutralizing some of these bad actors who are tying to control and eliminate us.
Thanks also for the recommendations of other tools that can have a detoxifying effect on our having been exposed to the bad stuff.
One tool I use is to watch some of the comedy clips on youtube from the old tv shows, or old actors' and actresses' dance routines from old movies. Sounds crazy I know, but for me laughter is very therapeutic. Check out this ridiculous clip from the tv show Bones. https://youtu.be/IrJyom-W6qY They think they're going to a Country Western bar. You gotta love it. 3:55 min. Thanks again, Mary.
Right on target again! We have a really huge problem that the majority of people have not recognised at all the machine that they are living in. (Despite the Matrix trilogy!) It is surely not beyond most people to come to recognise it, we just have shine the light from the right angle untill suddenly - Aha!
I think progress is being made though - we just have to keep at it! This is a great piece and as every, serious stuff handled with a light touch. The hallmark of 'The Art of Freedom'!
Thanks, Michael! From the right angle... from EVERY angle. That's what I tell myself sometimes when I sit down to write. It's tempting to think "this information is already out there, so why bother repeating it?" But then I remember that we hear selectively. Sometimes it's the person we hear the message from, or the time in our lives in which we hear it... or a slightly different take on it...
So you're right. We do have to keep at it.
Agreed - sometimes here something a dozen ways and don't 'get' it - then somebody else says it a different way, or when we are in a different receptive state, or both, and finally it goes in. That means there's a job for all of us!
Your whole article is thought-provoking, Mary.
"Propaganda becomes ineffective the moment we are aware of it."—Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister 1933-1945
Yet waking up to propaganda can be very difficult. This quotation I recently saw resonated with me: "Many people do not want to know the truth because they do not want their illusions destroyed." What "illusions" do we hold onto because letting of them could lead to our losing friends, opportunities, or social status? I have been there myself with some "illusions" (and am certainly not immune to the effects of propaganda, marketing, etc.) Being compassionate, understanding, and patient seems like the best way forward.
I appreciated learning about the women's smoking campaign. Wow! And my son studied Bernays' text in college. It would be good required reading in all college classes. Yet, as Naomi Wolf recently pointed out in her speech at Yale University, many Ivy League schools are among the institutions of higher learning who are not encouraging critical thinking nor promoting individual choice. Conformity and compliance over courage they promote. And still, "Propaganda becomes ineffective the moment we are aware of it." May we all become AWARE.
Waking up IS difficult. You really do have to want to see it, and as your quote astutely points out, most people "do not want their illusions destroyed." That is the beauty of The Matrix, isn't it?
As far as education goes, most schools are really just training ground for assembly-line, conformist thinking. Perfect for the industrial age, and now moving into technocracy. Just do what we tell you! I'm actually kind of stunned that your son studied Bernays in college -- Mark Crispin Miller for years taught a class on propaganda at NYU, but it was cancelled last year, I think?
I love that Dr. Wolf called Yale out! Talk about courage!
Thank you for this comment, CB. You bring up some excellent points. Yes, may we ALL become aware.
Well done, Mary. I appreciate you pointing out some of the techniques that propagandists use to manipulate us into believing and behaving in ways that support one agenda or another. Propaganda is very insidious, so we can never learn enough about how to protect ourselves from it's influence.
I'm glad that your toe is all healed, by a laser, of all things. I wonder if lasers can be used for neutralizing some of these bad actors who are tying to control and eliminate us.
Thanks also for the recommendations of other tools that can have a detoxifying effect on our having been exposed to the bad stuff.
One tool I use is to watch some of the comedy clips on youtube from the old tv shows, or old actors' and actresses' dance routines from old movies. Sounds crazy I know, but for me laughter is very therapeutic. Check out this ridiculous clip from the tv show Bones. https://youtu.be/IrJyom-W6qY They think they're going to a Country Western bar. You gotta love it. 3:55 min. Thanks again, Mary.
Thanks, Rocket! Yes! I'm partial to Andy Griffith, myself... :-)