DEATH BY PROPAGANDA PART 1 of 2

[Guest guest]

http://www.newswithviews.com/Dean/carolyn33.htm

 

 

 

DEATH BY PROPAGANDA

PART 1 of 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Carolyn Dean, MD, ND and

Elissa Meininger

February 16, 2006

NewsWithViews.com

 

" The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of

great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of

corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of

protecting corporate power against democracy. " --Alex Carey

(Australian academic)

 

Looking back over how corporate power became the dominant force in our

everyday life and how government now follows in lockstep to suit every

corporate whim, it is useful to understand its origins. In all, it's

been a long, deliberate process that continues to become evermore

sophisticated in its manipulation of us, the American public.

 

One of the principle architects in the takeover of the American mind

is a fellow named Edward Bernays, who is considered the father of the

American public relations industry. If his name doesn't ring a bell,

then maybe his Uncle Sigmund Freud's will.

 

In 2002, the BBC broadcast a four-part documentary called " The Century

of Self, " covering the story of the relationship between Freud and his

American nephew, as Bernays learned about the human mind and how to

manipulate the masses. Bernays' goal, from the early part of the 20th

Century, was to be able to teach corporations how to make people want

things they didn't need through a variety of manipulative techniques

appealing to people's unconscious fears and desires.

 

What makes this production interesting is that it covers post-war

America and illustrates how politicians and policymakers learned to

use Freud's ideas in their desire to control the masses as well. It

shows how Sigmund Freud's daughter, Anna, and his nephew Bernays, were

central players, along with the U.S. Government, corporate America,

and the CIA in believing that by controlling the masses via

" engineering consent, " they could avoid the debacle of Nazi Germany

where all the baser elements of the human character had committed

atrocious acts.

 

Interestingly, during the 1960s, thanks to others in the psychological

field, reactions against Freud's ideas emerged, resulting in the idea

of the " Me Generation " where individualism, not Freudian conformity,

became the norm. Corporate America quickly adjusted by using focus

groups, an idea first developed by the psychoanalyst industry, and

learned how to further manipulate us by appealing to the unconscious

desires in all of us to be " individualistic. "

 

" The Century of the Self " has been turned into a feature length

documentary film that is now making the rounds in art movie houses

here in the states. It is not yet available on DVD or VHS, but,

nevertheless, is one of those " must see " films. [Read]

 

The basis upon which all of us are being manipulated, whether we

realize it or not, rests on Freud's basic theory that deep down, all

human beings possess dangerous fears and desires that need to be

controlled. The goal is to condition us like Pavlov's dogs! The moment

we hear our cue, we, in perfect unison, are motivated to think and act

as we have been conditioned to do, even if the conditioning we

received was outside our conscious awareness.

 

In Bernays 1928 book, Propaganda, which was recently re-issued, he

talks about the invisible governance by manipulation.

 

" The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized

habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in

democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of

society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling

power of our country. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes

formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.

This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is

organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner

if they are to live together as a smooth functioning society. "

 

A " smoothly functioning society " molded by advertising is what we now

have as corporate America and Big Pharma think nothing of spending

hundreds of millions of dollars on the promotion of one drug alone.

The fact that the drug may be harmful further illustrates their

understanding of the power of propaganda.

 

Bernays, thanks to his relationship to his Uncle Sigmund, believed

that the " group mind " does not think but, instead, it has impulses,

habits, and emotions. The first of these impulses, according to

Bernays, is to follow the example of a trusted leader. In the area of

medicine and disease, use of doctors, scientists, government

officials, private or public agencies associated with public health,

and prominent social leaders and celebrities all should be drafted to

carry the propaganda message.

 

Bernays had a gift for cooking up extravagant public relations

campaigns and one of his most famous ones was when he was hired by the

American Tobacco Company. The head of the company, George Washington

Hill, want to make Lucky Strikes the most smoked cigarette in America

by opening up a whole new market of prospective smokers - women. At

the time, people thought women who smoked were of low character and

those in the better classes who did smoke, did so in secret.

 

The first part of the campaign was to launch the slogan " Reach for a

Lucky Instead of a Sweet. " Arthur Murray, the famous dancing school

founder was then engaged to claim that his dance instructors smoked to

keep their slim figures instead of overeating the food and punch

offered at public gatherings.

 

This propaganda pitch was quickly followed by finding a doctor to

endorse the idea that smoking after a meal had several health benefits

including being able " to disinfect the mouth and sooth the nerves. "

Hotels were then urged to add cigarettes to their dessert menus! Menus

prepared by House and Garden were circulated that recommended smoking

instead of eating dessert as part of a healthful diet.

 

No venue was missed by Bernays. Homemakers were told to be sure to

stock up on cigarettes as they were now household kitchen staples like

salt, sugar and the like. The popular Ziegfield Girls formed a club so

they could pledge giving up fattening food and take up smoking to

control their weight. Bernays even asked a psychoanalyst colleague of

Uncle Sigmund's to claim that women in the workforce who had no desire

to be homemakers and mothers had a need to see smoking as a feminist

statement that they were equal to men--and cigarettes, to them, were

torches of freedom.

 

A bevy of debutants were then drafted to join the fight for equal

rights between the sexes by strolling down Fifth Avenue on Easter

Sunday smoking their torches of freedom.

 

In my book, Death by Modern Medicine, in addition to providing

detailed information about how Bernays built his reputation as

America's PR wunderkind, I also describe how Albert Lasker picked up

where Bernays left off and became the " Father of Modern Advertising. "

 

This is another important branch of America's propaganda industry.

More importantly, I cover in detail Lasker's central role in creating

the money hungry machine we call the National Institutes of Health,

which began when he retired as the richest man in the history of

advertising.

 

Lasker and his wife, Mary, longtime board members of the American

Cancer Society, realized that really big money could be had for

research, if only the public could be convinced that tax dollars -- if

poured into research year after year -- might lead to cures for all

sorts of diseases, particularly cancer.

 

Over the years, Lasker had developed a number of Madison Avenue

propaganda techniques similar to Bernays that he applied to motivate

people to generously fund the American Cancer Society (ACS). Lasker's

campaign strategy was based on our fear of death and the hope that

with enough money, we could cure cancer. He coached his friend, Elmer

Bobst, president of the American branch of Hoffmann-LaRoche and later

Warner-Lambert drug company, to start every fundraising speech with

the following statement, " One in five of us here - every fifth person

in the audience - will die of cancer. " He would then turn the fear he

had engendered into hope with his next line, " We want to cure cancer

in your lifetime…donate generously. "

 

Starting in the 1950s, those public donations he and his colleagues

raised turned into vast pools of annual government funding when Lasker

sold Congress on the idea of massively expanding the scope and size of

the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to cover all diseases. Since

then, charities like the American Cancer Society, the Arthritis

Foundation, the American Diabetes Association and other charities have

become the public relations arm for their respective diseases.

 

Disease charities, both nationally and at the local level, keep each

disease visible through well-organized local fund drives, special

public events, and the like, but most people don't know that much of

the money they give to these organizations locally may go to lobbyists

in Washington to garner the big bucks –from our tax dollars! From a

meager $3 million budget in 1945, and thanks to a well-oiled

propaganda campaign that has gone on ever since, the NIH had been

transformed into a fat $28 billion world headquarters for medical

research by 2003. Today, there are 27 institutes and centers financed

by taxpayers who all fear disease and all hope for a cure –if only

enough money can be raised.

 

Albert Lasker coached his ACS associates on the need to keep cancer in

the minds and hearts of the general public as much as possible. The

idea was to make sure that when the annual fund drives came around,

the people, like Pavlov's dogs, would dig deep into their pockets and

give. And so would Congress, convinced by Mary Lasker and her minions

that the American people would be willing to use tax dollars to fund

the search for cancer cures. And, more importantly, while each of us

gives money, " to help the cause, " we also become " feel good "

representatives to what has become a massive propaganda machine

immersing us with all manner of fear and hope messages 24/7 so we are

trained to want to raise billions for cancer research.

 

These days, the American Cancer Society promotes no fewer than 23

special propaganda campaigns each year, scheduled by the month for

campaigns with names like " National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, "

" National Minority Cancer Awareness Week, " " Skin Cancer Detection and

Prevention Month, " " National Cancer Survivors Day, " " Childhood Cancer

Month, " and the like. As each of these cancer awareness calendar dates

rolls around, appropriate press releases, photo ops and special

publicity events are staged to make sure that there is not only news

coverage of the moment, but also free advertising time (aka " public

service announcements " ) provided to make the public aware of this

" feel good " cause.

 

Corporate America has by no means been left out in the cold on cancer

promotion projects. While many corporations give checks and are

willing to lend their name to sponsor public events, some go all out

and make corporate commitments to raise money, using the full assets

of the corporation to achieve what has become part of the official

good-corporate-citizen agenda.

 

One of the most all-encompassing propaganda campaigns about the issue

of cancer is that which is called " The Pink Ribbon Campaign. " This

campaign is quite likely the largest propaganda campaign ever

organized and has, over the years, followed, to the letter, Bernays'

formula of getting the most prominent people, corporations, public

agencies, celebrities private foundations involved in a single

project. – Raise money to educate people about the perils of breast

cancer.

 

All anyone has to do is google " Pink Ribbon Campaign " on the net to

see just how much this campaign has become part of our shared global

culture. It is not just the old American Cancer Society with a million

volunteers going from door to door in their neighborhoods. It's

corporate America " partnering " with the project and carrying the torch

to every hamlet and village on the planet.

 

Annual " Walk for the Cure, " " Race for the Cure, " and other public

events are staged in the name of the Pink Ribbon Campaign. Fabric

companies have manufactured special " pink ribbon " designs so quilters

involved with " quilt for the cure " quilting contests can do so with

the official pink ribbon fabrics. Entire lines of clothing, especially

jogging togs, have been designed along with accessories and hundreds

of individual products so every entrepreneur can get in the act, not

just the usual souvenir T-shirt folks. In addition, every corporation

and retailer that wants to be a visible part of the local event has

something tangible to sell " for the cause. " For part 2 click below.

 

Click here for part -----> 2

 

 

 

ACT FOR HEALTH FREEDOM NOW:

Go to www.friendsoffreedominternational.org view and purchase the new

movie on Codex and Free Trade called " We Become Silent " by Kevin Miller

 

Also purchase " Death by Modern Medicine. " Proceeds from the sale of

these products are crucial to help us fund our health freedom action.

For state action go to: www.nationalhealthfreedom.org.

 

© 2006 Carolyn Dean -