INCEPTION isn't just a movie, it is reality

[MrScorpio]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception

The planting of a foreign idea into ones mind through lucid dreaming, without the knowledge of the target was, of course, the subject of an excellent movie by director, Christopher Nolan. But you, I and everyone we know have been subjected of a form of Inception, not in the depths of our dreamscapes but in the real world of flesh, sinew and bone.

This Inception is known by its more familiar name of Public Relations, the mass opinion shaping technique designed by the nephew of famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, Edward Bernays. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays

Public Relations is an absolutely necessary device, bought, paid for and employed by the rich and powerful elites within free and democratic nations.

Unlike dictatorships, where the elites simply tell their subjects what to think, in democratic countries like the United States, the premise is supposed to be that the opposite is true. Our leaders are supposed to follow what the people actually think.

However, if you're paying attention, you would know that that isn't the case.

We live in a world where the rich are powerful usurp the meaning of democratic representation and such a thing did not come about by independent consensus, it was planted into our national psyche through the techniques of Public Relations. There are people walking around today who live under the mistaken impression that the idea that the masses should defer to the comfort and care of the elites in our society is one of their own. That idea is not a natural outcome of democracy, it was began in the minds of the rich and powerful elites and planted into the minds of the masses, many of which, without their knowledge.

It's the antithesis of democracy when ideas, inserted into the body politic like a virus, can be bought and used. It damages the democratic process to the point where it become dysfunctional. When the elites who are, themselves in control with the consent of the masses, find that their designs on society are flawed and failing, who are they supposed to turn to? They were put in charge, their mechanisms are inculcated into the very fabric of society where their unworkable rules are supposed to be followed. Without the will to direct change, a level of gridlock convenes within society.

Where failed measures are preserved and repackaged, only to fail again. Doubling down on things that don't work and no one either knows or wants to change direction.

That's where we are today.

We really can't decide who is supposed to be in control. People are under this mistaken impression that anyone can graduate to elite status and thus, be some of the few who control the fates of the many. But think about this, if you are part of the storied elite, why would allow your power to be diluted? You wouldn't, of course and the best way to preserve your elite status by creating an illusion shared control.

The very dreams of elite avarice comprise the real world that we all live within, the idea planted inside of our collective psyche that money and power defines ones intrinsic worth.

Your thoughts many times are not your own, and it's perfection for the designers of those thoughts when you no idea from where they came from.

[flamingdem]

1. And our national lucid dream was poked by the British this week

They taught us that twits are not people

[Zorra]

2. WOW! A most excellent post, Mr. Scorpio.

The very dreams of elite avarice comprise the real world that we all live within, the idea planted inside of our collective psyche that money and power defines ones intrinsic worth.


Welcome

[Bolo Boffin]

3. Bernays' "Propaganda" was itself propaganda

It was an advertising flyer for the fledgling public relations industry.

And everybody who views public relations as a sinister mind-control technique gives public relations far more credit and power than it really has. It gives more power to public relations than Bernays could ever have dreamed.

So there's that.

ETA: I invite you to discuss this topic in Creative Speculation.

[Selatius]

4. As an aside, I think "Public Relations" is too kind of a description.

I like to call it corporate propaganda. The only difference is that this propaganda isn't being officially disseminated through some government agency or bureaucracy but from corporate news outlets. That's the kicker.

The fact that propaganda isn't being disseminated through state channels is enough of a shield for corporatists to insist that we have freedom of the press in the United States. While technically true, the point of propaganda is to mislead, to misinform, to redirect, to omit, and generally to keep people from getting all the facts. It doesn't have to come from state organs to have the same effect.

The fact that Britons saw Mitt Romney as potentially being another George W. Bush and was quickly derided and ridiculed as a fool shows how much the political discourse in the United States has shifted towards a pro-authoritarian, pro-corporate position. He is seen as an extremist by British standards.

[Zalatix]

5. I've got 2 words for you that sum up your OP:

mass hypnosis.

It has happened before.

[HiPointDem]

6. kr

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. At least the article admits we are not a democracy.

[RagAss]

8. yes......Iraq and WMD.

PR is not benign.

[lunatica]

9. Question everything

is a good motto.

[ljm2002]

10. Excellent observations, MrScorpio...

...I think this gets to the heart of the matter: "their mechanisms are inculcated into the very fabric of society where their unworkable rules are supposed to be followed"

We seem to think that the current structures are "just the way things are" and "what can one person do about it anyway?" -- and on top of that, we are running out of time to correct the problems of this flawed system that are destroying the very planet that gives us life.

K&R