The Deceit Business - 4

You Are Getting Sleepy ...

I. Review

This is a Dredd Post series that began over a decade ago, quoting this oldie but goodie:

"Noam Chomsky: One of the most important comments on deceit, I think, was made by Adam Smith. He pointed out that a major goal of business is to deceive and oppress the public.

And one of the striking features of the modern period is the institutionalization of that process, so that we now have huge industries deceiving the public — and they're very conscious about it, the public relations industry. Interestingly, this developed in the freest countries—in Britain and the US — roughly around time of WWI, when it was recognized that enough freedom had been won that people could no longer be controlled by force. So modes of deception and manipulation had to be developed in order to keep them under control"

(The Deceit Business). This issue now needs some additional attention, because "the deceit business" has become "too big to fail" and is now The Deceit Industry.

II. They Are In Power over Government/Political Parties

Let's look at some integrated entities in those "huge industries deceiving the public" that Chomsky mentioned.

There is science and there is 'business-science' where these "huge industries deceiving the public" actually 'own' what 'their scientists' have to say or not say:

"Hear, hear! It’s all a question of trusts and monopolies. Doctors have a monopoly of medicine just as parsons have of God. You can’t get a parson to admit the arguments of an agnostic, because his salary depends on his not letting the agnostic refute him; and you can’t get an ordinary doctor to look kindly on psychoanalysis or autosuggestion because their success would make him superfluous. All this is not a question of the Life Force at all; it is a question of bread and butter."

...

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

 (Quote Investigator). In that light, let's consider the case of viruses:

"Viruses have generally been characterized by their detrimental effects, particularly their pathogenic ones. Examples abound of human, animal, and plant viruses that reduce host fitness, and Section 2 below recalls that, given the number of past and present human deaths due to viruses, it is by no means surprising that viruses are generally perceived as harmful. In that context, the recent claim that many viruses can in fact be mutualistic, i.e., have beneficial effects on host fitness, was a bombshell to many" (Roossinck, 2011; Ryan, 2009; Virgin, Wherry, & Ahmed, 2009). 

(Mutualistic viruses and the heteronomy of life; Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, emphasis added). And:

"A diverse community of trillions of commensal bacteria inhabits mucosal and epidermal surfaces in humans and plays an important role in defense against pathogens, including respiratory pathogens. Commensal bacteria act on the host’s immune system to induce protective responses that prevent colonization and invasion by pathogens. On the other hand, these bacteria can directly inhibit the growth of respiratory pathogens by producing antimicrobial products/signals and competing for nutrients and adhesion sites. Such mechanisms preserve the niche for commensal bacteria and support the host in containing respiratory infections. Herein, we discuss current evidence on the role of commensal bacteria in conferring protection against respiratory pathogens and the underlying mechanisms by which these bacteria do so. A deeper knowledge of how commensal bacteria interact with the host and pathogens might provide new insights that are poised to aid in the development of vaccines and therapeutics that target infectious diseases." 

(Commensal Bacteria: An Emerging Player in Defense Against Respiratory Pathogens, emphasis added). And:

"Viruses have long had a ‘bad rap’; since the discovery of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in the 1890s, they have been largely viewed as pathogens. This bias has led to a misunderstanding about viruses, and few researchers have looked specifically for viruses that might be beneficial to their hosts. Although it cannot be denied that viruses have caused extensive disease and suffering for humans and domesticated plants and animals, there are many viruses that are clearly mutualistic. Some are essential for the survival of their hosts, others give their hosts a fighting edge in the competitive world of nature and some have been associated with their hosts for so long that the line between host and virus has become blurred. In this Review, I look at several examples of viruses that are beneficial to their hosts and examine how these beneficial functions work. In some cases, we have a detailed understanding of the mechanisms of these mutualistic interactions, and in other cases we can speculate on the mechanisms involved."

(Move over, bacteria! Viruses make their mark as mutualistic microbial symbionts, emphasis added). And don't forget Bernays:

"THE conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.

Edward L. Bernays

Our invisible governors are, in many cases, unaware of the identity of their fellow members in the inner cabinet.

They govern us by their qualities of natural leadership, their ability to supply needed ideas and by their key position in the social structure. Whatever attitude one chooses to take toward this condition, it remains a fact that in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons — a trifling fraction of our hundred and twenty [now 320] million — who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.
...
It is the purpose of this book to explain the structure of the mechanism which controls the public mind, and to tell how it is manipulated by the special pleader who seeks to create public acceptance for a particular idea or commodity. It will attempt at the same time to find the due place in the modern democratic scheme for this new propaganda and to suggest its gradually evolving code of ethics and practice." 

(Propaganda, by Edward L. Bernays, emphasis added). Old Fast Eddie totally believed in propaganda, and was not all "don't ask don't tell" in the closet about it (he is the 'father' of spin/the public relations industry).

III. Closing Comments

The "huge industries deceiving the public" have the populace living in the 1890's ("Viruses have long had a ‘bad rap’; since the discovery of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in the 1890s, they have been largely viewed as pathogens)", and the same goes for microbe hosts of good viruses ("A diverse community of trillions of commensal bacteria inhabits mucosal and epidermal surfaces in humans and plays an important role in defense against pathogens, including respiratory pathogens"). 

When we shotgun a crowd of microbes within us with shotgun-chemicals and shotgun-antibiotics, we destroy the things that help keep us healthy, so, we need to know more (On The Origin Of The Home Of COVID-19 - 23).

The video below by Professor Bassler at Princeton, details some eye opening detail about what we are composed of.

The previous post in this series is here.

---

---

---

---