Rereading the first few lines from a book published in 1928 got me thinking. If there is any truth in the passage below, how are we to know, then, what is knowledge and what is belief?
Here it is:
“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 are 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 smoothly functioning society. Our invisible governors are, in many cases, unaware of the identity of their fellow members in the inner cabinet” Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda, 1928.
So, our minds are moulded, our ideas suggested, by the invisible governors for our own good. The “inner cabinet” must have covered a variety of topics, from standards of living to healing, industry, food and medicine.
In modern times, and in order to have a “smoothly functioning society”, the people that run everything, must have decided to use the power of authority, the scientist, the professional, to reveal to the contemporary peasants how things work. These “professionals” were also generously helped by the evermore powerful public relation companies. Mr Bernays was more direct and just called them propaganda outfits. The artists of mass-mind. He would know, he was the best.
How can we explain the detrimental increase in chronic disease and obesity, if we also invoke in our mind the popular image of an objective scientist, in a tireless quest for truth and public good? Could it be that the objective scientist got side-tracked with grants coming from industries owned by the “inner cabinet”? Could it be that the same “inner cabinet” is not so gracious and benign?
Why should we take anything that Mr Bernays says seriously, you ask? He died when he was 104 so we can assume that he had a lot of worldly knowledge. His deeds and creations reveal what kind of man he was, and how he may have connected to the “inner cabinet”. This “master of spin” had a very famous uncle. He used his uncle’s expertise in the workings of the human mind, to work his propaganda magic. Edward’s mother was Sigmund Freud’s sister, and his father’s sister was Freud’s wife. Talk about keeping it in the family!
Anyway, lets list some of Edwards achievements:
– In 1913 Editor of “Medical Review of Reviews and Dietetic Hygienic gazette”, distributed free to thousands (137 000 by some estimates) of doctors in America. One of the first magazines of its kind where the advertising covered the expenses.
– Created the “Medical Review of Reviews Sociological Fund Committee” only in order to fund the play Damaged Goods. This fund was supported by powerful people, lets drop some names: J.D. Rockefeller, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the Vanderbilt family. Another interesting supporter was also the importer of the new treatment for syphilis. Mr Bernays called this play “propaganda” for sex education.
– Hired by the Committee for Public Information (CPI) to build public support for the US to enter WW1. He refers to his work as “psychological warfare”
– After the end of WW1, he is part of a USA team at the Paris Peace Conference. He was there to keep up the “world propaganda to disseminate American accomplishments and ideals”.
In his own words:
There was one basic lesson I learned in the CPI—that efforts comparable to those applied by the CPI to affect the attitudes of the enemy, of neutrals, and people of this country could be applied with equal facility to peacetime pursuits. In other words, what could be done for a nation at war could be done for organizations and people in a nation at peace.
— Edward Bernays, Cutlip (1994)
A few more interesting facts:
– Working for the American Tobacco Company, he persuaded women to start smoking, by linking woman’s rights to cigarettes, and the act of smoking to be seen as a gesture of freedom.
– Created the “Dixie Cup” campaign to convince the public that only disposable cups were sanitary by linking the image of the overflowing cup with subliminal images of vaginas and venereal disease
– Helped the “Aluminium Company of America” turn its waste product into a “healing and beneficial” process of water fluoridation. Consulted on this topic for the National Institute of Dental Research. Fluoridation was a process “recommended by your Doctor and Dentist for healthy teeth”. In a 1993 interview Bernays opens up: “Selling fluoride was child’s play…. you can get practically any idea accepted if doctors are in favour…. a doctor is an authority to most people. By the law of averages, you can usually find an individual in any field who will be willing to accept new ideas, and the new ideas then infiltrate the others who haven’t accepted it”.
– Created propaganda for: the Procter and Gamble company (creators of Crisco oil), the American Tobacco Company, Cartier Inc., CBS, the United Fruit Company, General Electric, Dodge Motors etc.
We could go on and on with the accomplishments of Mr Bernays in the art of persuasion, but the above mention of the Crisco cooking oil takes us into the mysterious world of dietary recommendations and industrial food creations.
How did oils get into the kitchen? Historically, they were mostly used to make lubricants, soaps and candles, but cooking with them was something new. It was certainly not thought of by the majority of housewives around the world. How was the public persuaded to view the natural animal fats as bad and these industry creations as healthy and beneficial? As good old’ Bernays would say “a doctor is an authority to most people”. They are willing to accept new ideas just as much as any of us. If the new ideas, are also materially rewarding, support is so much easier to administer. Ideas are just like plants, they must receive constant nourishment in order to thrive.