A twisted truth

I did not know who Edward L. Bernays was or his importance until we watched Century of Self in my Alternative Voices class.

I found out he is the nephew of Sigmund Freud but he spent much of his life across the ocean in America.

He is one of those responsible for developing public relations, which he explained was propaganda but they could not call it that because of its association with Nazi Germany.

As with propaganda, he would help companies and government play to peoples irrational feelings or what Freud describes as the subconscious where the remnants of our animal instincts are which drives peoples behaviour.

This is very similar to what Naomi Klein describes in her book No Logo where the corporate world attaches an emotional connection to material things, making us believe we are not quite right until we have it.

Government and companies use these psychological techniques to control, in a sense, the minds of the masses. Ann Bernays, Edward's daughter, said her father thought everyone was stupid and would tell them so.

Are we stupid for buying into all of these lies? I think as the public we need to be more critical of our government and companies that are trying to appeal to us. I believe the key is to rid ourselves of desires that we sometimes mistake for needs.

This means not buying in to what is fed to us. It is difficult because our western society has bought into this material culture for so long. The combination of democracy and capitalism has been a powerful weapon shaping our society into the monster it is today.

This leaves us asking who we can trust. It is difficult to discern the good, the bad and the ugly because often things are somewhere in between.

I believe we need to design a political system which involves and truthfully informs all society. Part of this means teaching children at a young age about politics and propaganda.

Why did it take so long for me to find out about Bernays?