Psyops Are Not New, Just More Dangerous
Author Alan Lash of the Brownstone Institute presents, in a very interesting essay, a brief history of psychological operations (psyops) aimed at controlling or manipulating the consciousness of the masses, from the tactics of Edward Bernays, the father of “public relations”, to the Covid Operation. We present it below.
Since the international hysteria began three years ago in the spring of 2020, several compelling theories have emerged regarding those who have used this time to suppress freedoms and control the population.
For example, Debbie Lerman has effectively argued that lockdowns in the US were not about health, but about the authorities getting to control the population, with no intent to let go of those coercive measures once applied.
Aaron Kheriaty stated that we have entered a new realm of the Security State, all our actions being monitored, tracked, and controlled.
Most disturbing of all, Jeffrey Tucker disclosed that scientific consensus has overwritten personal choice, giving us a vaccine which we all were required to take, and which in reality leads to eugenics.
In reading these kind of well-positioned articles, and the reactions to them on the virtual communication networks, it’s easy to get the impression that we have entered a terrifying Brave New World.
However, these are not new ideas. The so called elites desire power over world’s population. But even the parts of the recent attacks on humanity that may seem new, did not appear for the first time. As outlined in the articles above, one such idea is that the government and companies have been performing psyops against us, to control our emotions and dictate our actions.
But how did they manage to convince the population that this new way of existence (accepting and even blindly obeying the measures that were imposed) is the desirable one? They have changed the way most people think, which the so-called elites have been doing in an evil way for decades.
In his brilliant documentary, The Century of the Self, Adam Curtis describes how companies and governments used the psychological ideas of Sigmund Freud to manipulate people’s emotions for their own purposes and ends throughout the 1920s.
Edward Bernays, the nephew of Freud, was chiefly responsible for bringing these ideas of mass manipulation to large corporations and the US government. In one example explored in Curtis’ documentary, the taboo against women smoking was preventing the large tobacco companies from selling to half of their potential market: the ladies.
Bernays hired a group of debutantes to appear in the Easter Sunday parade of 1929 in New York, under the guise that they represented the women’s suffrage movement. During the parade all these women smoked cigarettes, referencing the phrase “torches of freedom.”
What’s key here is that Bernays did not just get the women in the parade, he also alerted the press. The journalists happily took photos and repeated “torches of freedom” in articles written for papers around the country. So the press (complicitly) aided Bernays in his campaign to encourage more women to smoke. After this, tobacco sales to women began to rise tremendously, as the cigarettes became a symbol of the emancipated ladies.
Even as doctors became increasingly aware that cigarettes not only did not promote freedom, but could easily kill people, they did not try to stop the trend. Cigarette campaigns used the medical establishment to give consumers the idea not only that cigarettes are safe, but even that it is beneficial to smoke.
Bernays’ work with the US government included what now would be called a color revolution in Guatemala. Guatemala had a dictator who worked well with the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita), harvesting bananas to sale them in the US. The problem was that the workers were essentially slaves, and they revolted, electing a new leader, Dr. Juan Jose Arévalo, who installed a Constitution modeling the US.
He was followed by Jacobo Arbenz, who took the lands away from the banana company. They didn’t like that and went crying to Uncle Sam. Bernays came to the rescue, and staged pro-Communist rallies, including of course, a big dose of violence. No matter that Arbenz did not call himself a Communist, nor did he have any ties to Moscow. It didn’t take long for the American people to be frightened of a new Communist threat to the south, and agree to American authorities’ idea that this new leader was a threat and must go. He was forced to leave office, and a USA-friendly dictator was put in his place.
Bernays even came up with a new phrase for how he had manipulated the consciousness of Americans; he called it the engineering of consent. And this wasn’t the first time Bernays added a phrase to the lexicon. When he started with big business in the 1920s he thought the word propaganda had unpleasant connotations, so he came up with a new one: public relations.
Bernays also worked for American politicians, such as Calvin Coolidge, to get them elected. And his work influenced the Nazis. From his 1965 autobiography:
“They were using my books as the basis for a destructive campaign against the Jews of Germany. This shocked me, but I knew any human activity can be used for social purposes or misused for antisocial ones.”
But how did Bernays feel about the people that he so willingly and profitably manipulated? In The Century of the Self, his daughter is interviewed.
She called his techniques “enlightened despotism.” She continues, “In his opinion, people who worked for him were stupid. He also considered children to be stupid. If people did something in a way that he didn’t like, they were stupid. It was a word he used over and over and over. Dope and stupid.”
There is no doubt that all of Bernays’ campaigns were, in fact, anti-social.
There are also many examples of the use of such consciousness-manipulating tactics since Edward Bernays. Remember the Iraq war? The Americans invaded and largely destroyed that country, but found no evidence of weapons of mass destruction, even though they had previously convinced the US population that they existed, in order to get support for the military action.
Another example: after 9/11, with the overwhelming support of the people, the US administration created a brand new government department to track down and capture terrorists: Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Since then, however, DHS has targeted its spying on American citizens. The public has been manipulated into accepting joyfully this completely new department that actually goes after people whose views are not to the government’s liking.
But Americans feel much “safer” now, when they are required to arrive at the airport a few hours early, be fully scanned and even take off their shoes to be carefully checked. What would Edward Bernays say about them? Oh, yes: that they’re stupid.
Bernays perceived himself not only as the controller of opinions of the masses, but as “a beneficial force in society”, encouraging people “to explore their desires and simultaneously bolster the economy and promote the American way.”
But what it actually did, among many other deeply evil aspects of its manipulation, was to undermine the basic structure of society and destroy the implicit trust between supplier and consumer.
What does this trust-based economic link mean? It means “I’m giving you something you need. You are willing to compensate me for my effort.”
Psychological manipulation does not enter into this equation. But by doing so [introducing psychological manipulation], he has removed dignity from human interactions by amplifying and using primal instincts.
This was exactly what Freud warned against in his research of the consciousness. These forces exist for all of us, and they should be understood so they never get out of hand. Unfortunately his nephew saw this new understanding as a means of personal profit and societal control.
What has occurred in the last few years is straight out of the Bernays “playbook”, but is far more sinister.
The sphere of influence is wider: this time, psychological manipulation has been applied to all mankind.
The attempt to control us, including physically, has been much harsher: global organisations, with the help of local authorities, through perverse and assiduous propaganda, have wanted to impose on us what to put into our bodies in order to participate in basic activities in society. Over 12 billion doses of the so-called covid “vaccine” have been administered worldwide.
Fear generated by sinister manipulation has been used to induce ideas such as “Beware of unvaccinated neighbours, and even loved ones, because they might make you sick.” “Denounce dissidents!” “Trust science! Blindly follow orders from the authorities!”
Here is a small part of what these criminal actors have committed in recent years:
– The division of society into those who have the right to decide (authorities, doctors, police, gendarmes, etc.) and those who should obey without a word.
– Ostracizing and labelling those who challenged the dominant narrative.
– Using fear to institute a policy of constant surveillance, where everyone’s every move and action is tracked.
– Identifying the unvaccinated and marginalising them as “the others” to establish a new platform of biological control.
– Censoring freedom of expression by putting pressure on the media to block clear and honest voices.
– Erosion of communities that connect people: closing churches, banning social gatherings, shutting down local businesses.
Some elements of the global conspiracy are undeniable. Take these aspects seriously.
Just as terrifying totalitarian regimes have applied these techniques on their own people to instigate murderous rage, similar tactics could be prepared for us. People need to be able to discern that they are being manipulated, to understand that they are being used, to want their independence and freedom, so a peaceful and meaningful life could be possible for us all.
yogaesoteric
June 2, 2023
Also available in:
Română