Propaganda by Edward Bernays
Pg 39 In theory, everybody buys the best and cheapest commodities offered him on the market. In practice, if everyone went around pricing, and chemically tasting before purchasing, the dozens of soaps or fabrics or brands of bread which are for sale, economic life would be hopelessly jammed. To avoid such confusion, society consents to have its choice narrowed to ideas and objects brought to its attention through propaganda of all kinds. There is consequently a vast and continuos effort going on to capture our minds in the interest of some policy or commodity or idea
Pg 48 Universal literacy was supposed to educate the common man to control his environment. Once he could read and write he would have a mind fit to rule. So ran the dramatic doctrine. but instead of a mind, universal literacy has given him rubber stamps, rubber stamps inked with advertising slogans, with editorials, with published scientific data, with the trivialities of the tabloids and the platitudes of history, but quite innocent of original thought
Pg 52 Modern propaganda is a consistent, enduring effort to create or shape events to influence the relations of the public to an enterprise, idea or group
Pg 57 Only through the active energy of the intelligent few can the public at large become aware of and act upon new ideas. Small groups of persons can, and do, make the rest of us think what they please about a given subject
Pg 74 Men are rarely aware of the real reasons which motivate their actions
Pg 102 If you hire a “Rihanna” to sing for bacon you increase the cost of the bacons by the amount of her very large fee. her voice adds nothing to the product but it adds to its cost
Pg 109 The dogma that the voice of the people is the voice of God tends to make elected persons the will-less servants of their constituents
Pg 109 The voice of the people expresses the mind of the people, and that mind is made up for it by the group leaders in whom it believes and by those persons who understand the manipulation of public opinion
Pg 147 The Great enemy of any attempt to change men’s habits is inertia. Civilization is limited by inertia
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