Engineering Consent: Understanding the Mechanisms of Warfare Propaganda

May 13th, 2018

By Anthony Tyler

Guest writer for Wake Up World

Sardonic political commentator George Orwell — through disturbed, poetic metaphor — forever changed the landscape of modern propaganda by mirroring traditional geopolitical trends of propaganda and transposing it onto a horrific, futuristic dystopian society. In addition to “1984”, most of Orwell’s work was politically charged, if not always philosophically charged, as even “Animal Farm” is known to be a metaphor for the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalin — and more aptly considered as an encompassing analogy of political revolution (as Orwell was also present at the anarchistic Spanish Civil War, et cetera).

More than just a great philosopher with fascinating imagery, Orwell can be noted as a mere spot on the historical timeline that contributed to the shift in how Western citizens perceive propaganda. Prior to World War II, the term “propaganda” was openly used by politicians and moguls alike as the distinct terminology for how to guide the collection of human consciousness. This “collective consciousness,” popularized by Carl Jung as an interwoven network that is all linked as one, was also theorized by many other contemporary psychotherapists with similar, albeit quite skewed, interpretations of the phenomenon generally termed “crowd psychology.” Case in point: Sigmund Freud.

It is known that the psychotherapist had a nasty cocaine habit and loved to chain smoke fine cigars (something he himself diagnosed as unconscious phallic obsession), by the end of his career Freud had raised a hellacious neurotic in his daughter, Anna Freud, and developed a curious body of psychoanalytic philosophy. He continued to elaborate on the banal, barbaric impulses of the human unconscious (something almost wholly disagreed with amongst global citizens today) as an interconnected hive mind that operated very similarly to that of an individual mind. Just like an individual’s mind, the collective consciousness had a deep reservoir of primal and unfiltered impulses that were ready to pounce at any turn.

Along with this philosophy, Freud postulated that the only hope for survival that the poor citizens had, was a strong leading body — someone in which they could place their trust and who could guide them away from these banal impulses and direct them towards civility and reason. Coincidentally, this also went hand in hand with Albert Pike’s philosophies, who is known as one of the greatest Freemasonic minds of all time, who can be quoted in his epic, “Morals and Dogma,”

“Masonry, like all the religions, all the Mysteries, Hermeticism and alchemy, conceals its secrets from all except the adepts and sages, or the Elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those who deserve only to be misled; to conceal the Truth, which it calls Light, from them, and to draw them away from it. Truth is not for those who are unworthy or unable to receive it, or would pervert it… The truth must be kept secret, and the masses need a teaching proportioned to their imperfect reason…”

But what does any of this have to do with modern/post-modern American propaganda?

Conspiracy theories aside, freemasonry has impacted the growth and evolution of nations since nations were founded (just like many other groups and societies throughout history — it’s an expansive and large history, after all) and the same is certainly not different about America. Like most of the scholarly minded, Freud was no stranger to it, and whether he did it intentionally or not, his ideas cohesively aligned quite perfectly alongside Pike and the rest of Masonic philosophy; which had already been fostered within the American elite since the founding of the country. The bridge between the idea of the American Elite, Sigmund Freud, and propaganda tactics all stem from one major figure, more or less: Edward Bernays, Freud’s nephew.

Born in Austria, Bernays graduated from Cornell University with a degree in agriculture, but pursued journalism, which eventually led him to an interesting correspondence with President Woodrow Wilson. After doing some work as a press agent, Bernays’ political contacts and his cohorts managed to open the Committee of Public Information in 1917, and by 1919 he had opened his own office in New York as Public Relations Counselor. This was the beginning of an institutionalized attempt to create a source of information stream-ability that was concentrated and easily accessible to only those in office (who would be controlled by the dollar). As time passed, Bernays came out with pieces heralded by his colleagues on his public relations philosophies, with blatant, almost-Orwellian titles such as “On Propaganda” and “History is a Weapon.” For an in-depth history of Edward Bernays, the BBC documentary mini-series, “Century of the Self” by Adam Curtis is outstanding material.

The true significance that Bernays plays to the story is the precedence he set for two things: the context for a “Main Stream” Community, and a standard of moral adherence that was related to classism, elitism, and fostered a shepherd mentality in the elite that held an obligation to tend to the sheep; this obligation was always subtly portrayed as burdensome, whether intentionally or not. Ultimately, it was thought that those of a lower caliber of culture needed to have their wild thoughts wrangled in with a term that Bernays popularized in his philosophy, phrased “engineered consent.” This is a very real term used by politicians and Public Relations representatives, and still remains the cornerstone of Political and Business relations with the masses.

Also see: Propaganda: Mind Manipulation and Manufacturing Consent

Speaking of cornerstones, the blueprint for the philosophy behind Bernays and Freudian collective-consciousness analysis, was laid out in a document titled “The Mohawk Valley Formula” of 1937, in Illinois. Originally developed as an algorithmic approach for management to end workers’ strikes with effective usage of propaganda in the media, it eventually developed into a beautiful example of how the Elite have chosen to administer and distribute their propaganda to the masses — and what their types of motives are. In a way, this is much akin to a cypher through coding that is propaganda; the Formula is as follows.

  1. Via threats to close the factory, form a “citizen’s committee.”
  2. Use established media to distribute propaganda portraying union leaders as “agitators” that threaten the law and order of the community.
  3. Under #2, induce the community to prepare for violence. Extra weapons for the police are needed.
  4. Organize mass meetings of citizens to show apparent support for the company.
  5. Promote the formation of a large force of auxiliary police officers (armed).
  6. Set up a company-controlled organization of “loyal employees” to encourage strikers to return to work.
  7. Publish a plant-reopening date.
  8. Use the resources developed in #’s 1, 3, 5, and 6 to attack and demoralize the striking workers and almost compel them to return to work.
  9. Reopen the plant with supporters present. Have lots of appropriate speeches.
  10. Keep up the show of force; this demoralizes holdout strikers.
  11. Maintain the flood of propaganda.

Absolutely none of the vocabulary has been tampered with, and the Mohawk Valley Formula is exactly as listed above. It provides yet another ominously interesting peek at how the American Elite feel their public should be handled. Truthfully, it can all be traced by a dollar sign — a money trail. When considering politics, the public already can see that both Republicans and Democrats are almost exclusively funded by the same wallets, like the Koch Brothers and people like Steve Schwartzman. Most of these men live at 740 Park Avenue in Manhattan, which is one of the most consolidated buildings of personal NET worth on the planet. These are the men that American politicians visit when they are really campaigning.

Gregg B

The campaigning that deals with the citizens has nothing to do with the actual campaign (as was seen by Obama’s laughable “Hope” and “Change” monikers) and is instead the chore that these billionaire businessmen are paying these politicians to act out. This is the chore of public relations. If the politician they have paid for is awarded the seat of Presidency by the masses, then they have effectively paid for his presidency. Sometimes, however, the masses don’t even need to be involved, as can be noted by the “voting machine glitches” during the George W. Bush vs. Al Gore presidential race. Every president in recent times has seen every single American citizen exactly the same: hollow constituents that they are paid to deal with in order to attain their goal. They are seen as an obstacle; something to bend and shift and maneuver. Unfortunately this is nothing new, according to some American historians, it took mere decades from the inception of the American government before it was completely manipulated by money and personal gain. Former president James Madison noted his disgust more and more as his life continued, and he was not alone.

“History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and it’s issuance.” – James Madison

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” – James Madison

Some go even further than the realm of bought-out politics, and note the curious role that the Government Intelligence Apparatus (CIA, FBI, and recently NSA, Homeland Security, et cetera) has played alongside this Bernaysian cultivation of “Mainstream” Media through Public Relations and information-dispensation offices. It often goes unnoted that Hollywood currently has, and has always had a military liaison who takes care of all the “military equipment” needed for production. This detail could merely be looking too deeply into things, but when there is clear paperwork showing media moguls like Walt Disney, Stanley Kubrick, and even James Cameron (just to name a few) have close ties to this Intelligence Apparatus, it begs the question: how much deeper does this go?

Disney has practically been verified as American propaganda that has been utilized very effectively since its creation. It doesn’t take an emotionally stable person to wonder just what kind of heart-strings Disney was trying to tug at with some of his movies. Disney, considered now by many as “Hollywood’s Dark Prince” (NY Times), knew from day one that what he was doing was helping formulate the thoughts of children across America and the world, and it was something he did with passion. Meanwhile, there are still classified CIA documents of Walt Disney’s government participation in the Joseph McCarthy communist “witch hunts” of the Cold War. In fact, Disney is the sole reason that some classified names have never seen the light of day. To briefly mention a few conspiratorial memes, Stanley Kubrick has often been linked as director to the Moon Landing footage from a Hollywood set (something his widow has allegedly confirmed). His last film, Eyes Wide Shut, is often speculated to have hidden elitist undertones due to its overt occult-orgy premise. Lastly, as mentioned, even James Cameron is on record working with NASA and the US government, and was reportedly even contracted to direct the 3D footage of the future Mars missions before the deal fell through.

Many researchers and speculators link this Hollywood-government connection to derivative work built off the research of the CIA’s Project MKULTRA. In fact, many alternative researchers have begun to note the same propagandized agenda (and the same money trail) connecting Hollywood and Mainstream music, and it should be noted that the entire engine of the “Mainstream Media” entails this propagandized governmental connection. If something is associated with the Mainstream, there is at least some fraction of the budget that has been given to it in order to further a propagandized agenda. On the internet, this connection has been coined as the CIA’s “Project MONARCH,” titled for the unusual incorporation of the monarch butterfly into case examples. However, this is a slang title, and not an official Project name. The point here is not that everyone in the Mainstream media is a brain-washed government puppet, but more directly that they are all bought-out corporate puppets with a dollar hanging in front of them. In postmodern America it is well-known that this same corporate dollar runs the government. Hopefully the details laid out in this article have elaborated on why these dollars do not have a good-nature to them, and are actively doing harm.

(You’ll find definitive proof of CIA mind control programs here.)

Speaking of postmodern America, it’s no conspiracy that propaganda is the entire source of fuel for the Military Industrial Complex. There is no way that American civilians would have allowed things like Japanese-American internment camps, a nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the entire abhorrent disaster that was Vietnam, the approval of the Patriot Act, the apparently un-regulated way that the Obama Administration has used the Espionage Act, and the development of an American Drone Assassination Program — just to briefly list some examples. It’s also no conspiracy that most of this propaganda is centered around the “War on Terror,” and how the term terror was specifically chosen for its propaganda effectiveness, since “terror” is inherently a never-ending embodiment of character and not some sort of army. Even American aggression towards Iranian nuclear technology is almost solely based on fear-propaganda. Not only is the Iranian government well aware that they would be blasted off the planet by America if they mobilized any nuclear weaponry, but Iranian aggression to not something that has held any historical merit thus far. However, this is an article about propaganda and will continue to remain as such.

As a final note, the succinct encapsulation of this article’s concept is Noam Chomsky’s term, “American Exceptionalism.” In a way, the Mainstream Media can be seen as the distorted egoic mirror of the collective consciousness — or, in Jungian terminology, the “shadow” of the collective consciousness. Through the Bernaysian development of Public Relations, the American elite have adopted the mentality that the masses are philosophically incapable of handling themselves, and that they need to be guided and united under this banner that is called “American Exceptionalism.” The definition is exactly as the name describes, and embodies the same concept of “Manifest Destiny,” et cetera, and can be described as the idea that America is inherently the greatest and most righteous. Exceptionalism can be said about theoretically any other country’s own systems as well. However, in America, the Propaganda Matrix is exactly how the “Exceptionalism” is funded and for what reasons. Originated by Freud, propagated by Bernays, funneled by the American Elite, and now funded by 740 Park Avenue, Manhattan (ultimately leading to Bilderberg Group, where it all stems from), American propaganda has never been healthier and more effective.

Sources: 

Recommended articles by Anthony Tyler:

About the author:

anthony-tyler

A journalist/author from Anchorage, Alaska, Anthony Tyler is a purveyor of the esoteric. He seeks to twist the knife in phony New Age ideals, big government agendas, and today’s contrived state of scientific materialism. Far from being “Satanist,” the esoteric (i.e. occultism) etymologically marks the beginning of mathematics, astronomy, psychology and psychotherapy, medicine, and even politics through historical veins such as the Gnostic Mystery Initiations. Too few people today understand that ancient man considered “God” to be an ideal of ultimate Truth, and thus religion and science were never conceived to be separated. These truths have become a mere forgotten birthright into today’s postmodern society, but with esoteric data that men died to conceal for thousands of years now just an internet-search away, the opportunity for a societal balance presents itself.

You can follow Anthony Tyler at:

Respect and gratitude to The Last American Vagabond, where this article first appeared.


If you've ever found value in our articles, we'd greatly appreciate your support by purchasing Mindful Meditation Techniques for Kids - A Practical Guide for Adults to Empower Kids with the Gift of Inner Peace and Resilience for Life.

In the spirit of mindfulness, we encourage you to choose the paperback version. Delve into its pages away from screen glare and notifications, allowing yourself to fully immerse in the transformative practices within. The physical book enriches the learning process and serves as a tangible commitment to mindfulness, easily shared among family and friends.

Over the past few years, Wake Up World has faced significant online censorship, impacting our financial ability to stay online. Instead of soliciting donations, we're exploring win-win solutions with our readers to remain financially viable. Moving into book publishing, we hope to secure ongoing funds to continue our mission. With over 8,500 articles published in the past 13 years, we are committed to keeping our content free and accessible to everyone, without resorting to a paywall.