advertising to the group mind ...

When one finds a reason to turn off the television and think
- really think clearly
... which means an extended break from TV

It is possible to glimpse the mire in which we live out our days.

We think of advertising as something which encourages or compels us to buy *things*

Our vision of those "things" is often limited to appliances and processed (manufactured) food, or entertainment devices such as radios and iPods, DVD players and big-screen TVs, automobiles and snow skis, "holiday recreation" travel packages and airlines, home improvement materials and tools, etc.

Seldom does our thinking reflect that government, politics, elections and such - even religion - have also become "products" sold through advertisements which are presented in the same "time slots" as any other ads.

Election ads or "homeland security alerts" may be presented as PSAs (public service announcements) and we assume the station or network is paying for the time.

Either way, we likely change the channel, looking for a prettier face - male or female ...

... and there it is - even the best of American presidents might not be elected today.

How do we "package" a face like Lincoln's for television "consumption" ... ?

" Given how critical it is to keep the production-consumption process flowing smoothly, advertising obviously occupies a place of considerable importance.

It has been assigned the specific duty of keeping people buying, buying, buying and therefore working, working, working to get the money to do so. It is the system invented to break the skin barrier, as it were, by entering the human being to reshape feelings and create more appropriate ones as need be. "
- Jerry Mander

We spend much of our time arguing among each other which of our "trusted news sources" are biased, and in whose favour (the arguments go both ways) - never reaching any sensible conclusion.

We say that ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, UPN, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Daily News, Time Magazine, Newsweek, People Magazine, US News and World Report and countless other media under report, or fail to report, certain stories, and yet in closer examination we find those "certain" stories WERE reported.

Internet links to those stories my "mysteriously" disappear, but the pattern is almost always the same:

A curious reporter from a major media organization reports a "major, blockbusting" story ... then after the story has "penetrated the media screen" the story is "spiked" by those higher up in the organization before it reaches a wider audience - in some cases through over censorship, but more often the story is simply left to die on its own.

"Constant repetition is the foundation of all successful advertising and marketing," so a story which is only "reported once or twice - no matter how sensational - will quickly fade from the public memory long before it has a chance to leave a lasting impression."

Seldom, if at all, does it occur to us that process is intended to cause us confusion ...

"Didn't I hear it reported that ... ?" you ask, but when you want to read the story again you find:

"This story no longer exists."

... if you find any reference at all.

"If we understand the mechanisms and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it," Edward L. Bernays argued in "Propaganda" - one of his first books.

"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 .... 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."
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