The Century of the Self, part 2, The Engineering of Consent

A very good introduction to the development of 'perception management', propaganda & manufactured 'fakery'.

"The Century of the Self" is a 4 part 2002 British television documentary series by filmmaker Adam Curtis.

This episode explores how those in power in post-war America used Freud's ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses.

Politicians and planners came to believe Freud's underlying premise - that deep within all human beings were dangerous and irrational desires and fears. They were convinced that it was the unleashing of these instincts that had led to the barbarism of Nazi Germany. To stop it ever happening again they set out to find ways to control this hidden enemy within the human mind.

Sigmund Freud's daughter, Anna, and his nephew, Edward Bernays, provided the centrepiece philosophy. The US government, big business, and the CIA used their ideas to develop techniques to manage and control the minds of the American people. But this was not a cynical exercise in manipulation. Those in power believed that the only way to make democracy work and create a stable society was to repress the savage barbarism that lurked just under the surface of normal American life.

Includes copyrighted material from Zodiak Entertainment.

Originally broadcast on 30th April 2002

Interestingly, Edward Bernays' grand nephew is Marc Bernays Randolph, the co-founder of Netflix.

Other notable documentary films by Adam Curtis are "The Mayfair Set", "The Power of Nightmares", "The Trap" & "Bitter Lake".

XPosted from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEsPOt8MG7E