Your Thoughts Are Not All Your Own

Why does advertising work? Ads are persuasive. They capture the imagination, even subconsciously. An idea out there is suddenly an idea in here. We were fine, minding our own business, then suddenly we see something and now we must have it. Why?

Our thoughts are not all our own. In David Bohm’s book Thought as a System (1992), he makes the distinction between the linear way we think vs reality which is more like a system.

We think our thoughts are internal in our heads and inform us about the world out there. But in reality much of what we think originates externally in the world around us. Thought is part of a larger system. Images and ideas affect us emotionally. They can cause a biochemical reaction of desire, anger, sweating or even nausea.

All media is a form of coercion. No one creates content without a reason. They are trying to sell you something, even if only ideas.

Edward Bernays is called the Father of Public Relations, which is his term for propaganda explained in his books Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923) and Propaganda (1928).

Bernays viewed the masses as irrational and driven by herd instincts, requiring guidance from an “invisible government” of experts. He reframed propaganda not as inherently evil but as a necessary tool for organizing chaos in democratic societies: “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society.”

Much of 20th century culture was formed by a series of staged incidents and media propaganda used to manufacture consent.

I could give a long list of what we think of as American culture, when much of it was a series of manipulations that were reinforced by politicians and Hollywood.

• The bacon and egg breakfast was the result of an ad campaign. Women smoking was tied to suffrage and emancipation in order to sell more cigarettes.
• Rosa Parks is always portrayed as an innocent seamstress when in reality she was a long time NAACP activist who attended communist party meetings and worked with MLK Jr to stage the bus incident.
• The bad boy biker culture was the result of a staged photo and manipulative article by a reporter in Hollister CA. Hollywood immediately created the movie The Wild One (1953) and the rest is history. There are thousands of such examples.

My point is that we need to become aware of how easily we are manipulated. Nearly everything coming across on your phone is a gimmick to get you to think a certain way in order to shift power and wealth in their direction. We are always being manipulated. Remember that when you read something and have an emotional reaction.

Why do people give up their weekends to protest things that don’t even exist? Why is there so much violence based on false pretexts? Why are families and friends at each other’s throats?

It is because our thoughts are part of a larger system and don’t belong only to us. Much of what you think comes from the outside.

So let us guard our thoughts. Let us become aware of the endless manipulation coming over the air waves.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23