“In practice,” wrote Edward Bernays, “if all men had to study for themselves the abstruse economic, political, and ethical data involved in every question, they would find it impossible to come to a conclusion about anything.” In his classic book, Propaganda, Bernays not only acknowledges, but defends a “hidden government” which manipulates the populace using the techniques of mass marketing...
Making notes at the Mesa public library, sitting at one of the rectangle desks. A large, old white guy comes in, and walks towards the tables. He approaches another gentleman on my left, who’s reading a book. “Hotter than hell,” says the large guy. He’s right, even though it’s only a 103 out there. Without saying anything else, he tells the man: “Grab an AR-15, start shooting some people.” I put...
Just a few short years ago, when one went to a gas station, one could see the happy or at least content faces of people at the pump filling up their tanks. The Trump presidency, for all its drama and guffaws, oversaw steady gas prices that usually stayed between $2.25 and $3.00. During the worst days of the pandemic, gas prices occasionally dropped down to a buck-fifty; when people are not...
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