Chapter 09 - Propaganda in Social Service

This is another short chapter, but I think quite important. The focus is on using propaganda to enact social change. This, I think, is a corollary (one way or the other) with the propaganda of political change.

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• THE public relations counsel is necessary to social work. And since social service, by its very nature, can continue only by means of the voluntary support of the wealthy, it is obliged to use propaganda continually. The leaders in social service were among the first consciously to utilize propaganda in its modern sense.

• Social service is now paid for by the (mostly “middle class”) taxpayer. I would even go so far as to say much of the corporate welfare is financed by the “middle class” as well. The wealthy it seems today only want more and have no regard for social service. I would go even farther and point to things like the Robin Hood financial trading app as a total inversion of the actual Robin Hood story where in the modern day it is the rich taking from the poor and giving to themselves.

• The great enemy of any attempt to change men’s habits is inertia. Civilization is limited by inertia.

• Our attitude toward social relations, toward economics, toward national and international politics, continues past attitudes and strengthens them under the force of tradition.

• Opposing this traditional acceptance of existing ideas is an active public opinion that has been directed consciously into movements against inertia. Public opinion was made or changed formerly by tribal chiefs, by kings, by religious leaders. To-day the privilege of attempting to sway public opinion is every one’s. It is one of the manifestations of democracy that any one may try to convince others and to assume leadership on behalf of his own thesis.

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• New ideas, new precedents, are continually striving for a place in the scheme of things.

• I think we have not only stopped the traditional/conservative inertia, but today the pendulum as swung very far to the progressive/liberal side. The inertia today is going in the complete opposite direction. Immigration, LGBT, feminism, economics, fashion, education, dating, families, etc. I could go on all day. In every one of these examples change is now happening seemingly for the sake of change. Change is the norm. The conservatives among us are fighting not for a return to the old values, but to stop the relentless advancement of so-called progress. And only then can we even think about swinging the pendulum back the other way.

• I think this shift is only starting now, 2024, and I think it will swing back too far - conservation of energy and all that. One fear I have is that there might be a violent backlash against one of the groups that has been associated with all of the progressive advancements. Immigrants and LGBT for example. I think most of the people in these and similar groups are being manipulated in a divide-and-conquer style strategy that those pulling the strings use to maintain their positions of power. As long as men are fighting women, nationalists are fighting migrants, and whites are fighting blacks the so-called elites, bankers, or oligarchs are laughing all the way to the bank.

• The social settlement, the organized campaigns against tuberculosis and cancer, the various research activities aiming directly at the elimination of social diseases and maladjustmentsa multitude of altruistic activities which could be catalogued only in a book of many pages—have need of knowledge of the public mind and mass psychology if they are to achieve their aims. The literature on social service publicity is so extensive, and the underlying principles so fundamental, that only one example is necessary here to illustrate the technique of social service propaganda.

• Social disease like racism, which he covers next. Today we can see a multitude of other social diseases. First and foremost I would put forth drugs/alcohol. This is often a root cause that produces many other symptoms. Homelessness and overdose deaths being the most acute examples. Next you might consider the erosion of communities and families. We see this in divorce rates and isolated people (MGTOW/red pill and strong independent feminists). Or what about the wealth gap? Many, if not most, young people are priced out of buying a home and starting a family. All but those in the upper, say, 20% are a paycheck away from disaster. Health care is a joke if you aren’t wealthy. Heck, even cars are absurdly priced these days. Much, if not all, of the economic social diseases stem from the “money printing” and reckless deficit spending that has left as (as of mid-2024) in over 35 TRILLION dollars in debt. That disease’s prognosis? Terminal.

• A social service organization undertook to fight lynching, Jim Crowism and the civil discriminations against the Negro below the Mason and Dixon line.

• The National Association for the Advancement of the Colored People had the fight in hand. As a matter of technique they decided to dramatize the year’s campaign in an annual convention which would concentrate attention on the problem.

• Should it be held in the North, South, West or East? Since the purpose was to affect the entire country, the association was advised to hold it in the South. For, said the propagandist, a point of view on a southern question, emanating from a southern center, would have greater authority than the same point of view issuing from any other locality, particularly when that point of view was at odds with the traditional southern point of view. Atlanta was chosen.

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• The third step was to surround the conference with people who were stereotypes for ideas that carried weight all over the country. The support of leaders of diversified groups was sought. Telegrams and letters were dispatched to leaders of religious, political, social and educational groups, asking for their point of view on the purpose of the conference. But in addition to these group leaders of national standing it was particularly important from the technical standpoint to secure the opinions of group leaders of the South, even from Atlanta itself, to emphasize the purposes of the conference to the entire public. There was one group in Atlanta which could be approached. A group of ministers had been bold enough to come out for a greater interracial amity. This group was approached and agreed to cooperate in the conference.

• The event ran off as scheduled. The program itself followed the general scheme. Negroes and white men from the South, on the same platform, expressed the same point of view.

• A dramatic element was spot-lighted here and there. A national leader from Massachusetts agreed in principle and in practice with a Baptist preacher from the South.

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• If the radio had been in effect, the whole country might have heard and been moved by the speeches and the principles expressed.

• But the public read the words and the ideas in the press of the country. For the event had been created of such important component parts as to awaken interest throughout the country and to gain support for its ideas even in the South.

• The editorials in the southern press, reflecting the public opinion of their communities, showed that the subject had become one of interest to the editors because of the participation by southern leaders.

• The event naturally gave the Association itself substantial weapons with which to appeal to an increasingly wider circle. Further publicity was attained by mailing reports, letters, and other propaganda to selected groups of the public.

• As for the practical results, the immediate one was a change in the minds of many southern editors who realized that the question at issue was not only an emotional one, but also a discussable one; and this point of view was immediately reflected to their readers. Further results are hard to measure with a slide-rule. The conference had its definite effect in building up the racial consciousness and solidarity of the Negroes. The decline in lynching is very probably a result of this and other efforts of the Association.

• Here we see another perfect example of how culture can be molded by propagandists. Now, I am not defending racism or (not even remotely) lynching and slavery, but racism was prevalent. Segregation was prevalent. Blacks and whites were living in a “separate but equal” society. Again I am not arguing for or against any of this, but I am using it as a stark example of how massive change can happen because of a concerted effort by a small group that knows how to manipulate the masses. This whole book is a claim that this manipulation was and is not only possible, but actively pursued.

• How small a step to go from accepting black people, to feminism, to LGBT, to what next? Pedophilia is, in my opinion, being prodded at for normalization next. The hyper-sexualization (including children) all around us. Middle school girls dressing like 1980’s sluts. The language of “even babies understand consent” and allowing children to override parental control when it comes to puberty blockers and sex change operations. Maybe I am overreacting, but I think all of this points to promoting pedophilia.

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• Many churches have made paid advertising and organized propaganda part of their regular activities. They have developed church advertising committees, which make use of the newspaper and the billboard, as well as of the pamphlet. Many denominations maintain their own periodicals.

• I think this is important because there are so many anti-Christians today. I want to make clear that Bernays explicitly states that churches used propaganda. And what do we have today? Dwindling church attendance numbers across the board. Some of the youth are starting to find their way back, but I think this is because they can see the abject failure all around them and are looking for something to retreat into. They think: “things are bad today. When were they better?” And they come to the conclusion that church and family are the foundations the USA was built and thrive on for hundreds of years. They conclude: “in the last 50-odd years thing have fallen apart. Maybe we should try the old ways."

• The propaganda of the church for the last 100 years has basically failed to strengthen the church. The progressive propaganda of the last few decades has done more to bring the church (or more specifically personal religion) back to a great many young people.

• But in a broader sense the very activities of social service are propaganda activities. A campaign for the preservation of the teeth seeks to alter people’s habits in the direction of more frequent brushing of teeth. A campaign for better parks seeks to alter people’s opinion in regard to the desirability of taxing themselves for the purchase of park facilities. A campaign against tuberculosis is an attempt to convince everybody that tuberculosis can be cured, that persons with certain symptoms should immediately go to the doctor, and the like. A campaign to lower the infant mortality rate is an effort to alter the habits of mothers in regard to feeding, bathing and caring for their babies. Social service, in fact, is identical with propaganda in many cases.

• I think this is where, at least in modern times, Bernays argument falls apart semantically. With the exception of taxes for parks, the examples are all of education. If the solutions to the problems actually work, the proof is in the pudding so to speak, then they will be adopted. You literally don’t need to do anything but wait. Consider how few people smoke cigarettes today. There were anti-smoking campaigns, but most young people were likely not swayed by disgusting images on cigarette packs. They simply grew up know that cigarettes increase your chance of cancer and more and more avoided smoking. This created a feedback loop where it was no longer cool to smoke.

• As an aside, I see a similar trend with firearms. Less young people today are interesting in guns. Fears of the government confiscating and banning guns are hardly founded. I think a much more plausible outcome would be that in 2-3 generations gun ownership simply declines because of a change in perception. This change is actual propaganda as there is no real reason not to be able to use a gun. If everyone owned and knew how to use a gun it wouldn’t increase the risk of cancer, and I actually suspect it would reduce accidental gunshots and crime to boot.

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• Even those aspects of social service which are governmental and administrative, rather than charitable and spontaneous, depend on wise propaganda for their effectiveness. Professor Harry Elmer Barnes, in his book, “The Evolution of Modern Penology in Pennsylvania,” states that improvements in penological administration in that state are hampered by political influences. The legislature must be persuaded to permit the utilization of the best methods of scientific penology, and for this there is necessary the development of an enlightened public opinion. “Until such a situation has been brought about,” Mr. Barnes states, “progress in penology is doomed to be sporadic, local, and generally ineffective. The solution of prison problems, then, seems to be fundamentally a problem of conscientious and scientific publicity.”

• Social progress is simply the progressive education and enlightenment of the public mind in regard to its immediate and distant social problems.

• It is interesting that he uses the word “progressive” to describe the type of education associated with social problems. Given the hindsight we have today, we can see a number of progressive paths have led to disasters. Some low hanging fruit would be how wrong the progressive adoption of things like asbestos, lead in paint and gasoline, or the countless chemicals that have been banned after we realized they were actually toxic. More controversial would be something like the push to get women into the workforce. Two generations ago a single person (Dad) could provide an income capable of sustaining a stay-at-home Mom and 2-3 children. Today, assuming “regular wages”, you need dual incomes to barely scrape by. The single child is often left with daycare until they are old enough to be raised by social media, the internet, and video games. This creates a generational feedback loop where that type of upbringing is seen as normal and hence continued into the next generation. I don’t see the effects of this upbringing as much different (in degree, not kind) than how a child raised by alcoholics or drug addicts is more likely to follow those disasterous paths.

• My point with this example is that, given the social declines we are seeing surrounding the family - higher divorce rates and single parent households for example - could reasonably be solved with conservative, not progressive, education. We saw a few chapters ago where Bernays was extolling the feminist movement for its adroit use of propaganda. While the may have had the best intentions, the results are clear - a largely failing familial structure. Now, I am not claiming that women should not be permitted to work, but rather the option of being a stay-at-home Mom should be presented as a valid life path. The ultimate choice is up to the individual.

• This, to me, feels much more like a proper education. Not conservative or progressive. Simply lay out all of the viable options to a people and let them make up their own minds. Some paths will produce better outcomes and some will produce worse outcomes. Better and worse being subjective. Then, with the feedback of those who have gone down this path or that, the next generation will be able to adjust their valuing of each particular option and make their decisions based on more data. Over time the best and worse paths would be determined and most people would follow or avoid those paths. Eventually things might change for whatever reason and other paths become more or less desirable, but that should be left up to the individuals making up their own minds.

• Lastly, I should be clear that all of this is predicated on the people being able to make their own decisions. What I mean by that is they should have the means to reason logically about the data they see in day-to-day life and the data that is presented in formal schools. In short, the Trivium Method of education - grammar, logic, and rhetoric - is, as far as I can tell, THE foundational skill that every man, woman, and child needs to be equipped with before they can make truly reasonable decisions.