“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized behaviors and opinions from the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those that manipulate this unseen system of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”-Edward BernaysA seminal and controversial figure in the annals of politics thought and pr, Edward Bernays pioneered the technological technique of shaping and manipulating public opinion, which he famously about Propaganda dubbed the “executive of consent.” During World War I, he was a fundamental element of the united states Committee on Community Details, or CPI, a robust propaganda apparatus that was mobilized to package, advertise, and sell the battle towards the American people as you that could “Make the World Safe for Democracy.”

The CPI became the blueprint for the advertising strategies of future wars.Bernays applied the methods he had learned in the CPI and, incorporating some of the tips of Walter Lipmann, became an outspoken proponent of propaganda while an instrument for democratic and corporate manipulation of the populace. His 1928 bombshell, Propaganda, lays out his eerily prescient vision for using propaganda to regiment the collective brain in a variety of areas, including government, politics, art, research, and education. To learn this book today is definitely to frightfully comprehend what our modern institutions of government and business have grown to be in regards to the structured manipulation from the masses.