The Ways of Bernays - 2

Have you wondered why the police in the cities of America are now, and have in the past been supplied with military equipment (Will The Military Become The Police?, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) ?

One hypothesis is that totalitarianism is a lot cheaper than a bazillion spies who are difficult to keep track of:

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.

* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

(The Homeland: Big Brother Plutonomy). Noam Chomsky, in the video below, explains that only pseudo-democracies need propaganda to control the "public mind" (the cultural amygdala - Hypothesis: The Cultural Amygdala, 2, 3, 4).

To the contrary, Totalitarian States don't need propaganda, they tell you what to do and you do it or else.

Get my drift?

Here is a video where Noam lays out some of the dynamics involved.

Feeling the Bern circa 1985:

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Part I

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Part II:

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The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.