Of course: that’s another quote from Edward Bernays’ “Propaganda” (p. 135). Apparently even 100 years ago, there was nothing easier than to accuse the mass of men with leading lives of lacking motivation. It seems that throughout time the slogan “Just Do Something” would also have been less popular than to “Just Do Nothing”. Yet… Continue reading The great enemy of any attempt to change men’s habits is inertia
Nuances in Milieus
The state university prospers according to the extent to which it can sell itself to the people of the state. Edward Bernays, “Propaganda”, p. 124 Many millennia ago, not a single human activity was remunerated — (perhaps) simply because the concept of money had not yet been invented. Today, there seems to be no human… Continue reading Nuances in Milieus
Business Languages
After much thought, I have come to the conclusion that I want to extend my interest in “Wants” (see http://Wants.Blog ) to more professional, career oriented “business interests“. Over the years. I have noticed that very few people seem to be aware of the fact that business actually refers to the state of being busy.… Continue reading Business Languages
Rational Media + Business Communications
Besides trudging through Edward Bernays’ book (“Propaganda”) I am also currently on vacation trudging through mountainous terrains in central Europe — perhaps I will update with more images later, but let me start off with this image of collaboration between business and communications first: I also offer (as somewhat of a preview) another quote from… Continue reading Rational Media + Business Communications
Our Engagement = Strictly Business + Professional Relationships
Reading “Propaganda” has been fascinating (so far). This week I have been ploughing through one of the longest chapters, which addresses issues that seem to me have been largely neglected over the past century. The new technique of public relations counsel is serving a very useful purpose in business by acting as a complement to… Continue reading Our Engagement = Strictly Business + Professional Relationships
Rational – Irrational – Differently Rational
I find it very difficult to write about this topic, because most people seem unwilling to see my point of view. For most people there is only the dichotomy “rational” versus “irrational” — “differently rational” is not a category they feel comfortable with. [1] It is evident that the successful propagandist must understand the true… Continue reading Rational – Irrational – Differently Rational
AI = PR
Today, “propaganda” is closely associated with dictatorship. It is the boot stamping down on faces. Here in Germany I hear it mentioned time and again in messaging about historical facts together with historical footage — usually Adolf Hitler screaming into a microphone. Yet propaganda also has a more innocent-looking face, which is (perhaps) in fact… Continue reading AI = PR
Pavlov, Natural Language, Rubber Stamps, Repetition, …
Nature and natural language are certainly forces to be reckoned with, and so Pavlov’s experiments showing that to some extent interpretations of the real world can be influenced by what has become referred to as “behavioral conditioning” were truly groundbreaking. At the same time, we need to recognize that human natural languages are a special… Continue reading Pavlov, Natural Language, Rubber Stamps, Repetition, …
Publicacy 101: Edward Bernays + Propaganda = Industrialization of Institutional Knowledge Acquisition in the Twentieth Century
A short course on publicacy and the relationship of this concept to literacy and also related fields such as public relations, business and general communications, etc.
Let’s Kill “Social Media”
In the early 2010s, teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones and the phone-based childhood began: their social lives moved on to social media. Jonathan Haidt, “How screens stole childhood — and how to get it back” (“TED Talk”, April 2026) Jonathan Haidt and his colleagues have been on a long-standing concerted campaign to… Continue reading Let’s Kill “Social Media”
