inside the invisible government; war, propaganda, clinton & trump inside the invisible government; war, propaganda, clinton & trump by 208 




the american journalist, edward bernays, is often described as the man who invented modern propaganda. 




the nephew of sigmund freud, the pioneer of psycho-analysis, it was bernays who coined the term <u+201c>public relations<u+201d> as a euphemism for spin and its deceptions. 




in 1929, he persuaded feminists to promote cigarettes for women by smoking in the new york easter parade <u+2013> behaviour then considered outlandish. one feminist, ruth booth, declared, <u+201c>women! light another torch of freedom! fight another sex taboo!<u+201d> 




bernays<u+2019> influence extended far beyond advertising. his greatest success was his role in convincing the american public to join the slaughter of the first world war. the secret, he said, was <u+201c>engineering the consent<u+201d> of people in order to <u+201c>control and regiment [them] according to our will without their knowing about it<u+201d>. 




he described this as <u+201c>the true ruling power in our society<u+201d> and called it an <u+201c>invisible government<u+201d>. 




today, the invisible government has never been more powerful and less understood. in my career as a journalist and film-maker, i have never known propaganda to insinuate our lives and as it does now and to go unchallenged. 




imagine two cities. 




both are under siege by the forces of the government of that country. both cities are occupied by fanatics, who commit terrible atrocities, such as beheading people. 




but there is a vital difference. in one siege, the government soldiers are described as liberators by western reporters<u+2026>
inside the invisible government; war, propaganda, clinton & trump
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