The Century of the Self — Film Describes the Effect of Propaganda on Our Culture
I just finished the watching the 4-part BBC documentary “The Century of the Self” by Adam Curtis. And it’s really amazing. It feels older than its 2002 release date somehow (could be because the DVD I got from the library looked like it had been digitized from a VHS version of the film). Also, sometimes the film-making goes a little over-the-top with “artistic” image effects to underline the insidious nature of the message. This makes one wonder sometimes about the credibility of the film. Is it actually made by some kind of conspiracy-minded crackpot? Nevertheless, the quality of the writing and the insights the documentary offers are truly thought-provoking and eventually win out.
Here’s the first part of Part 1, which serves as a kind of thesis for that episode and sets the stage for the rest:
So this episode is pretty incredible because it reveals the story of Freud’s American nephew, Edward Bernays, who basically invented the concept of propaganda after reading his uncle Sigmund’s early work on the subconscious motives and desires that drive the human animal. He comes across on film (he was still alive for the filming of the documentary) as a very nice and unassuming man, but after watching the full episode, it’s clear that he was an incredibly influential figure throughout much of the century.
Some ways that Bernays has influenced the world:
He invented public relations (his self-conscious term to re-brand the concept of pure propaganda which he helped create)
Early on he used his PR skills is to created a movement to get women to become smokers
He was an inspiration to Goebbels and the Nazi party
He helped topple the government of Guatemala and inspired the CIA to do some really despicable things
And he basically helped usher in the Mad Men era of advertising—a whole industry based upon the premise of manipulating the masses by drawing upon their subconscious needs, wishes, and desires
So in many ways, despite being barely known to the American public, Bernays is the godfather of the situation we have now found ourselves in. He has been the puppet-master behind the scenes, guiding the corporate and political leaders to continue to refine the way they control the public.
Disillusioned With Democracy
There is a lot that could be discussed in this set of films. My conclusion though, after finishing the 4th episode, is that we are in a very strange place in terms of our democracy. Curtis is British, so he shows how this has played out similarly in both the U.S. and British systems. Frankly, it feels a little like our government is like the lunatics running the asylum. Our politicians bend over backwards to pander to an increasingly under-informed and irrational voter base.
The documentary brilliantly demonstrates that over the decades since WWII, our culture has become more a collection of consumers rather than citizens. We’ve been systematically trained by corporations to respond to marketing, and to allow advertising to guide our actions, so we treat our voting rights more as an entitled customer at the shop counter. We select our candidates like major brands, based more on what they can give us versus their ability to lead. And so we get what we deserve—politicians who pander rather than responsibly guiding policy.
It leads me to wonder: Should everyone actually have the same right to vote? I’m lumping myself into the category of the general public. Frankly, I don’t believe I have ever invested the time and attention to make the most informed decision at the polls. I’ve read the voter’s pamphlet, but that’s not really a substitute for someone who follows the issues every day in the news, who reads the editorials—basically geeking out on politics. So I wonder, why should I even be consulted on some of these issues? I’m out of my depth and I’m not ashamed to say it. Though I wish I could trust that there were better informed and wiser citizens making the decisions, but apparently that’s not the case.
Perhaps a better system could be based on all voters proving themselves on an online social platform. Everybody could still be given the right to vote, but maybe more weight at the polls would be given to those people who truly invest themselves in issues and who can prove it with online metrics via some kind of social platform that might include regular tests that would indicate the individuals grasp of the basic facts. I can imagine a day when something like Facebook is helping to run our government. Everyone would be invited, but status in the social hierarchy and more voting “credit” could be earned by those who truly invest themselves. Meanwhile the huge masses of dumb shits like me would not be wildly swinging the policy-makers so much to craft their platform to cater to the lowest common denominator just to win a popularity contest in this idiocracy we’ve found ourselves in.
Watch the movie. It’s really interesting and useful to have a larger framework to observe the madness around us. Hopefully someday our system will be structured to reward wisdom rather than salesmanship.