(SOTT) – Arthur Miller wrote, “An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted.” It’s becoming increasingly clear that we are living through such a time. The information age is dissolving many of the lies of corporate capitalism. The rapid exchange of knowledge on the Internet has made the excesses of globalization transparent. It’s high time for pointing out the pink elephants and debunking the myths of the system. So here’s some more dirt under the fingernails of the American Empire: fluoride. For half a century in North America the commonly held belief has been that fluoride is good for our teeth. This is a PR lie concocted by the most infamous “mad man” of Madison Avenue, Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud. The truth is that fluoride is poison. Yet on account of the longevity of the lie, to this day there is poison in our toothpaste and in our drinking water. Read the rest of this entry »

(VigilantCitizen) – Mass media is the most powerful tool used by the ruling class to manipulate the masses. It shapes and molds opinions and attitudes and defines what is normal and acceptable. This article looks at the workings of mass media through the theories of its major thinkers, its power structure and the techniques it uses, in order to understand its true role in society. Read the rest of this entry »

Sigmund Freud believed that individuals were not driven by rational thought but by primitive unconscious desires and feelings. Freud’s nephew Edward Bernays believed that this meant that it was too dangerous to let the masses ever have control over their own lives. Consumerism was a way of giving people the illusion of control while allowing a responsible elite to managing society.

Bernays invented the public relations profession in the 1920s and was one of the main architects of the modern techniques of mass-consumer persuasion, using every trick in the book, from celebrity endorsement and outrageous PR stunts, to eroticizing the motorcar. He showed American corporations how they could make people want things they didn’t need by systematically linking mass-produced goods to their unconscious desires.

Bernay’s most notorious coup was breaking the taboo on women smoking by persuading them that cigarettes were a symbol of independence and freedom. But Bernays was convinced that this was more than just a way of selling consumer goods. It was a new political idea of how to control the masses. By satisfying the inner irrational desires that his uncle had identified, people could be made happy and thus docile.

It was the start of the all-consuming self which has come to dominate today’s world. Read the rest of this entry »

You might like my videos if you like: Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Ralph Nader, Sheldon Rampton, John Stauber, Matt Taibbi, Michael Albert, Bakunin, Proudhon, Amy Goodman, John Pilger, Mike Gravel, Naomi Klein. Read the rest of this entry »

(DanielSunjata) – Well, Charlie, you have a witness. I stand in absolute support and solidarity with your request on behalf of the victim’s family members, and in the names of those we lost on 9/11 and those who have been murdered in its aftermath, for you to be granted 20 minutes to present your 20 questions to President Obama. It thus bears repeating (from my previous essay): Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a quotation that should awaken every American.

The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments of the dominant political mythology.  (Michael Parenti, political scientist and author)

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Our brand of capitalism relies on prolific consumerism as a means to globalization, where needs are created and where everything and everyone is for sale. We tend to sell the public various goods, services, people, politicians, Presidents, and even God for the right price. Read the rest of this entry »