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 legitimate advertisers and advertising in helping to break down unfair competitive exaggerated and overemphatic advertising by reaching the public with the truth through other channels than advertising. Where two competitors in a field are fighting each other with this type of advertising, they are undermining that particular industry to a point where the public may lose confidence in the whole industry. The only way to combat such unethical methods, is for ethical members of the industry to use the weapon of propaganda in order to bring out the basic truths of the situation.
Edward Bernays, “Propaganda”, p. 79-80
That is quite a mouthful, and I wonder whether any person today would have enough confidence to speak so boldly … perhaps besides the late great John C. Dvorak? (see “Life is a scam” [ https://obit.news.blog/2026/07/26/life-is-a-scam ] ) Bernays proposes that publics can be “managed” — whether to buy cigarettes or to follow Adolf Hitler or start wars, drop bombs, build secret laboratories … and maybe even to annihilate all of civilization. In the so-called “Western World” (primarily in the USA) so-called “private corporations” in the Twentieth Century took on the challenge, stepped up to the plate, time and again wrecked havoc, and were repeatedly ultimately “bailed out” by so-called “governments”. And yet apparently no one really wants to think about so-called “irrational exuberance” … or about whether we are satisfied with a situation in which most of the so-called mainstream headlines revolve around whether this or that so-called “leader” will be able to so-called “save” humanity … or NOT.
Almost single-handedly, Edward Bernays introduced the notion of a “truthful” leader, whom the public relations counsel could manage to behave rationally. He was able to sell this idea over and over again to people willing to become such leaders all over the globe (see also “There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute“).
At least until now. At what point will an offer to “join the circus” become viewed as something perhaps NOT completely rational?
Socio Business blog 