Cult of Personality, Edward Bernays and the F.L.E.D. Principle

Ah Monday Monday..

We think there was a song about it.. Bit of a toe-tapper

We dread this will be another week of tributes, plaudits and honorariums for a man whose core ideologies are akin to Lenin and Marx, but it is to be expected.

People ultimately are emotional creatures.  They often refuse to let facts get in the way of their feelings or impressions of others, especially elderly, frail looking men who smile often.

And the need to be on the side of 'good' or to root for the optimistic outcome outweighs often any lack of reality to the situation.

Call it the 'Cult of Personality'..

We think there was a song about it..  Great song actually..

If we didn't possess this 'gene', how else could we have been so deeply and consciously manipulated by propaganda, persuasion that appeals to our emotion and all the other disgusting tricks of the mind advanced by master manipulator Edward Bernays from the early 20th century onwards.

The man was simply amazing and we mean it in its most vile way..

If you want to see his biography, the Wikipedia.org link is found by clicking 'Here'

As Wikipedia states at the very beginning, Bernays was a "pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda, referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations""

He was distant relations with Sigmund Freud and used psychoanalysis among other techniques to intentionally try to manipulate collective thought to persuade masses to think in targeted ways.

We'll share a quick true story on Bernays:

After World War I (1914-1918) cigarette manufacturers employed his services with the goal of trying to figure how to break into the female market i.e get women to smoke in high droves.  

Women had been targeted for decades but culturally many women at the time did not feel it socially appropriate to smoke in public or around their husbands.

So that slimy snake conjured up a way to connect emotionally the need to smoke with the suffragette movement, and cancer sticks now became 'freedom sticks'.   And what better way to show you're a modern woman with modern thoughts who wasn't going to be held back anymore then to light up and smoke?!

The strategy worked brilliantly..  Women of all stripes and social strata from sophisticate smart to slow n' stupid, smoke-smoked away the live long day buying into this lie and the cigarette companies' profits expanded exponentially.

Here's another short and true story..

Back in the 1950s Duncan Hines sought out Bernays' services as to how best to target their new product  of cake mixes to women.  No longer would a woman have to sweat and struggle for hours to make their loved ones a yummy treat.

Duncan Hines thought the product would sell like flapjacks and wanted to know why it wasn't.

So Bernays did many surveys and polls, and ultimately found out that women felt guilty.  See in the early days of cake mixes, everything was pre-made into the mix- just add water.   Women didn't feel they were doing enough it seemed..

The solution:  take out the egg.

Now that the homemakers could add water and eggs, they believed they were "cooking" and the cake mixes to this day sell in high yearly volume.

What's the point?

It has to do with manipulation of the mind.

If you're told a person or thing is good, good, good and the message is co-ordinated and not challenged you will tend to believe the indoctrination regardless of any evidence to the contrary.  

Same with a repeated, targeted message that someone or something is rotten or evil.

It is all emotion-based response.

This is why a Lincoln or a Mandela is so beloved to the point that any and all facts to show these individuals were not martyrs are brushed aside with a sweep of the hand.

Certain people or things conjure up images in the mind.

Here's an interesting question to ponder..

In US history, four Presidents have been assassinated:  Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and JFK..   

Why is it that forevermore, we remember and mourn the loss of Lincoln and JFK yet utterly forget the other two men who had their lives taken just as egregiously by cowardly killers?

Lincoln was Commander in Chief during a war that brought victory but so was McKinley (Spanish-American War). Both were Republicans, both dying in their second terms.

~ Newspaper rendering of McKinley being shot

Kennedy's Presidency lasted an easy to remember 1,000 days.  Garfield's lasted 200.  Both were Democrats who believed in civil rights for blacks (Garfield in 1881 advanced several blacks to prominent Federal positions -- a very big deal for its day)

Kennedy of course died instantly; Garfield took 80 days

And yet when we think Garfield, its the cartoon in the funny pages of the newspaper of a lazy smart-ass fat cat and McKinley.. we really think nothing at all.

~ Newspaper rendering of Garfield being shot

So why do we only focus on Lincoln and JFK and not the "other two"?

Why is it that John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald are familiar household names while Charles J. Guiteau and Leon Czolgosz (killers of Garfield and McKinley) aren't??

The truth is we remember who we remember and forget the others because official narratives were never created for Garfield or McKinley that captured the public's imagination in such a way that they could never feel good about themselves through their existence or passing.

In other words, no Cult of Personality was manufactured.

Anyone who is attached to words like Freedom, Liberty, Equality and Democracy will be admired and idolized no matter the true story of one's life..

The F.L.E.D. principle

Lincoln had that ""Great Emancipator" label and JFK had his "Camelot' thing which made people feel good about themselves and optimistic for a better future.

No F.L.E.D. narrative was ever created for Garfield or McKinley after death so they simply were murdered, were mourned at the time and quickly forgotten.  

Their lives and deaths don't mean anything to people today.

Mandela's death means something to many because in spite of the facts and truth about him as an ardent, fervent Communist and a very incompetent leader who took his people backwards economically, the Cult of Personality with F.LE.D takes precedence..

Embracing Mandela means to celebrate the end of Apartheid and champion racial equality for all..

You don't even have to sincerely believe it..  Just publicly say kind things and others will automatically assume you are truthful.

Mandela will be mourned in the biggest memorial event since Churchill's passing ultimately for one reason..

Because we value the persona more than the person and need the Personality to overshadow both.