[Al_U_Card]

A great BBC documentary about the American psyche as it affects the American way...

http://video.google....420906413643126

[kenberg]

I could not have identified the name Edward Bernays. So far I have had time to hear about 30 minutes or so. Interesting enough. Some of the interpretations seem unsound, but as a summary of consumerism it is intriguing.

Thanks for posting it, I will probably watch it all over a course of time.

I have my own indulgences. I enjoy coffee at Starbucks even though I often make my own, I am sure I could get by fine with less wine, I will probably be buying a new computer soon for no great purpose. But I look around and see quite a large number of people with less resources than I who seem to indulge their whims much more than I do. I don't have a gps system in my car for example. I finally got a cell phone, well actually I got one for my wife but she has learned not to think of these things as actually being hers, but if the phone takes pictures, or scrambles eggs, I don't know how to use it that way.

I have been dismayed by what I see as a general consensus that in order to get out of the economic crash we need to get people back into the habit of buying a lot of crap.

[Al_U_Card]

As you get thru the full 4 hours, you see the continuing process of treating voters like consumers. The same marketing and PR methods, applied to politics. Not bad as such but good to know nonetheless. (Especially the Clinton and Blair references in the last hour.)

[onoway]

This is fascinating. I have only got through the first part so far but it is a very intriguing view of events. I had never heard of this man before either..interesting in light of the influence he is credited with having on the shaping of US (and western) culture in the 20 century,

It all raises some rather alarming questions. Thanks for posting this.