More
than 52,000 unaccompanied children have crossed the U.S. border since October
2013, a 92 percent increase from the same time period last year. [i]
I am sure you have noticed the media blast about the “kids
crossing the border.” Do you believe that all of this attention is really about
those kids? Pay close attention to what the spin doctors are cranking out about
them:
(1) physical dangers to their lives
(2) hunger
(3) homelessness
(4) need of healthcare
(5) lack of opportunities
I do not want to imply that these kids should not be
helped, but I have no doubt that the needs of children are why the media is
being flooded with hours and hours of coverage every day – and most of it is coming from interviews with politicians.
What happened? All of the sudden did every politician
become zealously consumed with meeting the needs of children? You might want to
consider a few questions:
(1) Why now?
(2) Why just children coming across the southern border?
(3) Why are they silent about tens-of-millions American children with the
same needs?
A history lesson that isn’t being taught in most schools
and universities is that of the Committee
on Public Information (CPI) and
how it was used to intentionally manipulate the views of American citizens to
enter World War I. It was so successful that it literally changed power
dynamics in the world. Today, it is used not only by governments, but powerful
individuals, corporations, organizations, etc.
The story begins on April 13, 1917 when the Wilson White
House created the most impressive propaganda bureau the world had ever seen --
the Committee on Public Information
(CPI). Wilson named George Creel to head it and he was
joined by one of the shrewdest propagandists in American history, Edward Bernays. Benays brought with him intimate knowledge of
a new branch of human psychology, which had not yet been translated into
English. He was the exclusive literary agent in America for his uncle, the Austrian
psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.[ii] Bernays
would describe his work as “the
engineering of consent.” He acquired the title, “the father of spin,” -- the
technique of manipulating the reality of the masses to produce his desired ends.
New breakthroughs in psychology and communications
technology merged to create a power tool that could be used to persuade the
masses. Bernays wrote two books – Crystallizing
Public Opinion [iii] and Propaganda [iv]
-- that reveal a great deal about his method. In the opening paragraph of
Propaganda Bernays wrote:
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. [v]
Bernays draws a stark contrast between the “intelligent
few” and the “public mind:
It
was of course the astonishing success of propaganda during the war that opened
the eyes of the intelligent few . . . to the possibilities of regimenting the
public mind. [vi]
Regimenting is defined as “to organize rigidly especially for the sake
of regulation or control.” [vii] Bernays
continues:
The
American government developed a technique which . . . was new . . . the
manipulation of patriotic opinion made use of the mental clichés and the
emotional habits of the public to produce mass reactions against the alleged
atrocities, the terror, and the tyranny of the enemy. It was only natural,
after the war ended, that intelligent persons should ask themselves whether it
was possible to apply a similar technique to the problems of peace. [viii]
Take a close look at the things Bernays used to
manipulate the masses. I think you will find that are still being used
frequently & successfully today.
(1) patriotism
(2) mental clichés
(3) emotional habits
(4) alleged atrocities
(5) terror
(6) identifying an enemy
Who are the “intelligent few” that are working to control
the minds of the American citizens? Bernays writes:
Who are the men who, without our realizing
it, give us our ideas, tell us whom to admire and whom to despise, what to
believe . . . There are invisible rulers who control the
destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the words
and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons
operating behind the scenes. Nor, what is still
more important, the extent to which our thoughts and habits are modified by
authorities. . . we are ruled by dictators exercising great power. . . The invisible
government tends to be concentrated in the hands of the few because of the expense
of manipulating the social machinery which controls the opinions and habits of
the masses. . . . The leaders
who lend their authority to any propaganda campaign will do so only if it can
be made to touch their own interests. [ix]
The “invisible few” are not the elected officials. They
are the powerful wealthy elite who can afford to buy expertise, media access,
and influence elected officials. This is not an organized conspiracy in which
they all have the same agenda – even
though they probably want the same outcomes – wealth, power & control.
(1) Why do the “invisible few” want your attention focused on the southern
border?
(2) What do they not want you to focus on?
(3) How do your values compare with their agendas?
Well, time-tested wisdom says – “follow the money if you want to know the truth!”
Add to it the new wisdom that says – “It’s all about positioning & polarizing.”
I forgot to tell you that the “invisible few” have persuaded
our elected officials to pass laws that make it almost impossible to discover
whose receiving their funds. They make it seem like they know they are guilty
of doing something bad.
That’s my cogitations for the day.
JM - The Country Cogitator
[ii] The
Gods of Money; p. 71.
[vi] The
Gods of Money: Wall Street and the Death of the American Century By F. William
Engdahl © 2009; published by edition.engdahl; Wiesbaden, Germany; p. 75.
[viii] The
Gods of Money; p. 75
