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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. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. …In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons… who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.

– Propaganda (1928) pp. 9–10

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Nationalism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Nationalism is an ideology and movement that promotes the interests of a specific nation and emphasizes loyalty to that nation. It prioritizes national interests over those of other groups or individuals. Nationalism can also be defined as the attitude of a nation’s members when they care about their national identity, or the actions they take to achieve or maintain self-determination.

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How Hindu Iconography Became an Extension of Right-Wing Nationalism

April 11, 2024

Tags:Art artist brainwashed hate hatred Hindu Hinduism India mind nationalism politics propaganda psychology racism racist rightwing

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“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.

We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.

Our invisible governors are, in many cases, unaware of the identity of their fellow members in the inner cabinet.”

– Edward Bernays, Propaganda

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PBS = The Propaganda Broadcasting Service

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July 17, 2016

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The Standardization of Human Thought

These facts were flagged as dangers to human freedom in the 1930’s by thinkers of the school of Frankfurt such as Theodor Adorno and Herbert Marcuse. They identified three main problems with the cultural industry. The industry can:

1. reduce human beings to the state of mass by hindering the development of emancipated individuals, who are capable of making rational decisions;

2. replace the legitimate drive for autonomy and self-awareness by the safe laziness of conformism and passivity; and

3. validate the idea that men actually seek to escape the absurd and cruel world in which they live by losing themselves in a hypnotic state self-satisfaction.

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When works of art are presented like rare butterflies on the walls, they’re decontextualized. We admire their beauty, and I have nothing against that, per se. But there is more to art than that.

— Hans Haacke

June 21, 2016

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