How the masses are controlled

I just found an interesting article on how minds of the the average person in the U.S. and around the world are being and have been shaped by the media. It's very interesting.

One name that pop's up again is "Edward L. Bernays". I've read about him elsewhere..

Check it out here: The Doors Of Perception: Why Americans Will Believe Almost Anything

We are the most conditioned, programmed beings the world has ever known. Not only are our thoughts and attitudes continually being shaped and molded; our very awareness of the whole design seems like it is being subtly and inexorably erased.

The doors of our perception are carefully and precisely regulated. Who cares, right?

It is an exhausting and endless task to keep explaining to people how most issues of conventional wisdom are scientifically implanted in the public consciousness by a thousand media clips per day. In an effort to save time, I would like to provide just a little background on the handling of information in this country.

Once the basic principles are illustrated about how our current system of media control arose historically, the reader might be more apt to question any given story in today's news.

If everybody believes something, it's probably wrong. We call that Conventional Wisdom.

In America, conventional wisdom that has mass acceptance is usually contrived: somebody paid for it. Examples:

Pharmaceuticals restore health

Vaccination brings immunity

The cure for cancer is just around the corner

When a child is sick, he needs immediate antibiotics

When a child has a fever he needs Tylenol

Hospitals are safe and clean.

America has the best health care in the world.

And many many more
This is a list of illusions, that have cost billions and billions to conjure up. Did you ever wonder why you never see the President speaking publicly unless he is reading? Or why most people in this country think generally the same about most of the above issues?

i agree we are programmed, i was one of those people who ran for the tylenol bottle everytime my kid got sick, after the first two years with my first child, i learned better.

if you haven't noticed, we are currently being programmed again, forget street drugs, they are all bad and horrible, the new savior, pharmaceutical drugs are being shoved in our faces constantly. There's at least two current ads being shown constantly on tv for drugs, that relieve you of the anxieties of being a human, promising to take the edge off of life for you.

that's just one example of how the media programs us, i'm not even gonna touch the war on terrorism and the news media, but it's obvious to me at least to see how we are being conditioned.

Completely agree WW. What people often don't realize is that the more one takes a medication the more a tollerance is built up against it, but the real consequences of this is that the bodies natural defences to fight off ailments suffer because after the tollerance is built up, the natural defences do not have the strength or experience to deal with the original problem.

... don't forget to read the ingredients listing in food and drinks ...

I totally agree!

I can see a huge difference in people who do not watch television and pay attention to the news all the time; but it's also in magazines, television shows, etc. People think your crazy if you tell them that.

It amazes me just how in the dark some people are and how willing they are to beleive some things. I gullable to a point, buy I still question everything. It is so dangerous not to educate yourself and ask questions. It's not paranoia, just common sense.

Its amazing how people just let the TV tell them what to do. Remember the show "Jackass". How many kids started doing their own crazy stunts after seeing that show. And "Jackass the Movie didn't help either. Of course with adult commercials on kids channels things only get worse. I mean how many kids watching Cartoon Network need to see rated R movies. What I hate is commercials that bash rival products. What happens is the rival products contradict each others commercials. Tylelonal constantly tells me its better than Advil yet Advil says the opposite thing. So commercials no longer tell you the facts. They give you propaganda.

Basic thrust of commercial ventures:

Spend money = being happy

government and religion is slightly different:

Do what we tell you = feel good

It is sort of like the donkey and the carrot on a stick. You keep people somewhat unhappy and then dance images of happiness in the direction that you want them to go.

Anyone who doesn't conform to this idiocy you try to exclude and possibly destroy. So you use the fact that people are unhappy and say its because of: unpatriotic people, unreligious people
It's stupid, but it keeps people busy. Busy people don't have much time to question things.

Another thing that helps is if you can get people into a slightly confused state of mind. Then you can keep throwing things at them to keep them off balance and they never have a chance to sort it out. It wears the brain down into a tired state so it doesn't have the energy to look at things clearly in sharp focus, and ask why.
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this is a nation of consumers. happiness is not achieved through aquiring material goods. of course the government would have you think differently. i guess it is just a way for us all to keep busy and to fill the pockets of our elite. look at commercials and how they suck all of the creativity out of our society. so much energy is put into getting us to buy stuff. it is a war that unfortuantly can not be won by the feeble minded average television addicted american. in the words of rush " we need someone to talk to and someone to sweep the floors" rock on!

[edit on 26-7-2004 by kogigaiden]

Its soo amazing, everyone is being led to believe that if it feels good, it okay to do! If everyone is doing it, why can't and shouldn't I?

A great example of the truth in Slank's post

Another thing that helps is if you can get people into a slightly confused state of mind.

Can be understood through one of the techniques incorported by the 'Mind Control' artist Derren Brown who more cane be learnt about here.

Although some may see his most recent stunts as a slightly below the standard which he initially set, I find it fascinating that all of his 'tricks' are based on manipulation on what the mind percieves. When he first appeared on British TV he stated that all of his 'tricks', some including old victorial parlour tricks, were just manipulation of the subjects mind, and in certain cases went on to explain how specific techniques worked.

Going back to the above quote from Slanks' post, if you follow links through Derren Brown's page you can find yourself here.

Where he states:

If we feel that our brains are being overloaded with information, we panic and start to become confused. In this situation, if we're given a simple instruction, we grasp it like a lifeline. This technique is used in tricks to persuade people to behave in ways that are completely out of character. When commands are issued at the end of a stream of confusing instructions, people are so relieved they can finally understand what's being said that they will do whatever they're told.

Jack