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"The Century Of The Self" by Adam Curtis is a great documentary series on Bernays and the PR industry he invented. Gets scary towards the end when you realize t

"The Century Of The Self" by Adam Curtis is a great documentary series on Bernays and the PR industry he invented. Gets scary towards the end when you realize that mainstream political discourse is now managed using the same PR methods that took over the business world a generation before.

pengaru 6y ago
For those wishing to watch this, it's all on youtube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s While dated by now, it's rather disturbing how clear the lineage is from where the show ends to the current "social media" era. The breadth and efficacy of public manipulation is arguably greater than ever, and it's a clear threat to democracy IMHO.
- lihaciudaniel 6y ago
  It is a constant and universal truth that irrationality of the masses exist. And then there are those who think that they can manipulate through propaganda
  - AndrewBissell 6y ago
    Given the way they are pushing the systems they control to the breaking point for the sake of ever-more-marginal gains in their already staggering wealth and power, it's harder and harder to view elites as any more rational than the masses.
- nikofeyn 6y ago
  i think it's less a threat to democracy and more that it's already ended democracy (what little was implemented in the first place) in the u.s. (i'm just repeating your use of the word democracy, as there's an implicit assumption there that democracy is a cherished thing being destroyed.) adam curtis' other documentaries build upon similar ideas, converging to the (relatively) recent hypernormalization.
cronix 6y ago
I was going to post something similar. AC is where I first learned of Bernays.
mthoms 6y ago
This documentary series forever changed my view of the world and how it works. Everyone should see it (and to be thorough, read it's criticisms). I also recommend his follow-up series "The Power of Nightmares" for the same reason — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTg4qnyUGxg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTg4qnyUGxg
aspenmayer 6y ago
Great recommendation. His newest long work "HyperNormalisation" (2016) [0][1] is even more timely and covers PR in a modern context, and explores how it fits in with modern hacktivism, international proxy wars, warlords current and former, Occupy movements and Arab Spring, and he even manages to fit in the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Barlow's Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, and early phreaker culture icons Phiber Optik and Acid Phreak. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperNormalisation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperNormalisation [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh2cDKyFdyU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh2cDKyFdyU (full 166 minute documentary)
- olivermarks 6y ago
  This Adam Curtis link now has deleted youtube videos but is still useful for searching episodes by title http://adamcurtisfilms.blogspot.com http://adamcurtisfilms.blogspot.com I've watched everything he's done and flew to NY from the west coast to see Massive Attack vs Adam Curtis which is probably the best live event I've ever been to. https://youtu.be/yv_S8GdylEA https://youtu.be/yv_S8GdylEA
- nosuchthing 6y ago
  Here's a better source for Adam Curtis's series: https://thoughtmaybe.com/by/adam-curtis/ https://thoughtmaybe.com/by/adam-curtis/ The Century of The Self https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-century-of-the-self/ https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-century-of-the-self/ HyperNormalisation https://thoughtmaybe.com/hypernormalisation/ https://thoughtmaybe.com/hypernormalisation/ All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace https://thoughtmaybe.com/all-watched-over-by-machines-of-loving-grace/ https://thoughtmaybe.com/all-watched-over-by-machines-of-lov... The Power of Nightmares https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-power-of-nightmares/ https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-power-of-nightmares/ It Felt Like a Kiss https://thoughtmaybe.com/it-felt-like-a-kiss/ https://thoughtmaybe.com/it-felt-like-a-kiss/
  - aspenmayer 6y ago
    Nice set of links. Do you know much about the site thoughtmaybe.com? Seems interesting but I am always wary of sites like these with subscription links and unclear provenance of the videos they use. For what it's worth, here are some links to Adam Curtis videos on the Internet Archive and a bonus link to Curtis chatting with the director of the Dick Cheney biopic "Vice," Adam McKay. https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Adam%20Curtis%22&and[]=mediatype%3A%22movies%22 https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Adam%20Cur... https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/18/adam-curtis-and-vice-director-adam-mckay-on-how-dick-cheney-masterminded-a-rightwing-revolution https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/18/adam-curtis-and...
stuxnet79 6y ago
I almost regret watching this documentary 2 years ago because it caused me to question various fundamental assumptions about _who_ I am and as a result triggered an identity crisis that I'm still in the grips of. Definitely a top doc. It's a good starter, but I'd recommend any viewers to continue exploring adjacent topics further with the primary reference materials mentioned in the doc.

pengaru 6y ago

For those wishing to watch this, it's all on youtube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s While dated by now, it's rather disturbing how clear the lineage is from where the show ends to the current "social media" era. The breadth and efficacy of public manipulation is arguably greater than ever, and it's a clear threat to democracy IMHO.

lihaciudaniel 6y ago
It is a constant and universal truth that irrationality of the masses exist. And then there are those who think that they can manipulate through propaganda
- AndrewBissell 6y ago
  Given the way they are pushing the systems they control to the breaking point for the sake of ever-more-marginal gains in their already staggering wealth and power, it's harder and harder to view elites as any more rational than the masses.
nikofeyn 6y ago
i think it's less a threat to democracy and more that it's already ended democracy (what little was implemented in the first place) in the u.s. (i'm just repeating your use of the word democracy, as there's an implicit assumption there that democracy is a cherished thing being destroyed.) adam curtis' other documentaries build upon similar ideas, converging to the (relatively) recent hypernormalization.

cronix 6y ago

I was going to post something similar. AC is where I first learned of Bernays.

mthoms 6y ago

This documentary series forever changed my view of the world and how it works. Everyone should see it (and to be thorough, read it's criticisms). I also recommend his follow-up series "The Power of Nightmares" for the same reason — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTg4qnyUGxg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTg4qnyUGxg

aspenmayer 6y ago

Great recommendation. His newest long work "HyperNormalisation" (2016) [0][1] is even more timely and covers PR in a modern context, and explores how it fits in with modern hacktivism, international proxy wars, warlords current and former, Occupy movements and Arab Spring, and he even manages to fit in the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Barlow's Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, and early phreaker culture icons Phiber Optik and Acid Phreak. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperNormalisation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperNormalisation [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh2cDKyFdyU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh2cDKyFdyU (full 166 minute documentary)

olivermarks 6y ago
This Adam Curtis link now has deleted youtube videos but is still useful for searching episodes by title http://adamcurtisfilms.blogspot.com http://adamcurtisfilms.blogspot.com I've watched everything he's done and flew to NY from the west coast to see Massive Attack vs Adam Curtis which is probably the best live event I've ever been to. https://youtu.be/yv_S8GdylEA https://youtu.be/yv_S8GdylEA
nosuchthing 6y ago
Here's a better source for Adam Curtis's series: https://thoughtmaybe.com/by/adam-curtis/ https://thoughtmaybe.com/by/adam-curtis/ The Century of The Self https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-century-of-the-self/ https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-century-of-the-self/ HyperNormalisation https://thoughtmaybe.com/hypernormalisation/ https://thoughtmaybe.com/hypernormalisation/ All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace https://thoughtmaybe.com/all-watched-over-by-machines-of-loving-grace/ https://thoughtmaybe.com/all-watched-over-by-machines-of-lov... The Power of Nightmares https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-power-of-nightmares/ https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-power-of-nightmares/ It Felt Like a Kiss https://thoughtmaybe.com/it-felt-like-a-kiss/ https://thoughtmaybe.com/it-felt-like-a-kiss/
- aspenmayer 6y ago
  Nice set of links. Do you know much about the site thoughtmaybe.com? Seems interesting but I am always wary of sites like these with subscription links and unclear provenance of the videos they use. For what it's worth, here are some links to Adam Curtis videos on the Internet Archive and a bonus link to Curtis chatting with the director of the Dick Cheney biopic "Vice," Adam McKay. https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Adam%20Curtis%22&and[]=mediatype%3A%22movies%22 https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Adam%20Cur... https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/18/adam-curtis-and-vice-director-adam-mckay-on-how-dick-cheney-masterminded-a-rightwing-revolution https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/18/adam-curtis-and...

stuxnet79 6y ago

I almost regret watching this documentary 2 years ago because it caused me to question various fundamental assumptions about _who_ I am and as a result triggered an identity crisis that I'm still in the grips of. Definitely a top doc. It's a good starter, but I'd recommend any viewers to continue exploring adjacent topics further with the primary reference materials mentioned in the doc.