Forum Post: Greetings from Möllan, Malmö, Sweden, Scandinavia, Europe..

" 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. 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 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. "

What I have quoted could easily be categorized as coming out of some "communist" propaganda (I put communist between quotation marks since that is the label most people who have been succesfully brainwashed with the dominant stream of ideas usually wish to give those who question the current system, since it is the word the have been programmed to hate, through decades of propaganda.)

But the thing is, that it is written by Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud. He was one of the main founding fathers of Public Relations - the system of which our minds in the "democratic" societies have been molded to believe that we live in a just and equal society, where we all get to vote and voice our opinons, etc. He was a part of the Committee on Public Information, who sold the engagement in world war 1 to the americans during that era, and whose war-selling strategies been of large influence since then.

Just wanted to remind us all of the influence of propaganda, which from a non-american point of view is interesting, since it has been so succesfull from the us in making so many americans shit their pants just by hearing the word communism or socialism, without even had read anything from the main sources.

I also want to point out that I am not a communist or socialist myself, although I believe in much of the critique of the industrial capitalist society from marx etc., it's just that I don't believe in isms, since they ususally come from a priviliged, male, white corner. (I am white, male and relatively priviliged, so I don't say that out of jealousy.)

And while I'm rambling, I just want to remind you that your'e occypuing territory that is already occypied, since the miserable navigator columbus (even though he wasn't the first to sail to the americas) was the first asshole to "discover" the land of the american natives, abuse them, steal their land and shit like that. Just wondering how you feel about that, since I haven't read much about that in the commentaries.

Anyway, I love what you are doing and you have proven that the American people aren't some lazy, ignorant, dumbasses (which is often the view from the sometimes self-righteous europe), but strong, intelligent, and full of hope and dignity.

I love you.

(If this didn't make any sense at all, it's because it's late, I'm drunk, and the world is making me confused.)