I I used to think it was Bernays, but today I thought otherwise
Edward Bernays was, for those of you unfamiliar with him, the fellow who turned us into a consumer society. It was Bernays who convinced women that it was not only acceptable for them to smoke cigarettes in public but actually fashionable and a desirable thing to do. For many years I have thought of that as the greatest bamboozelment of the American public in our history. But today I thought about the obvious and changed my mind.
Did you know that prior to the Civil War very few southern whites owned slaves, statistically speaking dam near none. Much as it is today there were a few (families) who owned most of everything and a vast number of others that had either exactly or next to nothing. So tell me, if you know, just who was it that convinced all those poor white southerners that it would be a good idea to defend the 'property' of the rich by throwing themselves on the pyre of history? And while on the general subject, just how did the American worker become convinced that cut-throat competition would lead to the best possible life for him and his (or her and her's, or them and their's)?
Continuous war is not good for the country. Plutocracy in our economy is not good for the country. Raping the earth, poisoning the waters, polluting the air, and dredging and drilling our seafloor for individual benefit is not good for the country. Placing expedient profit as a higher priority than worker safety is not good for the country. Allowing our children to go uneducated and malnourished is not good for the country. Tolerating rampant racism is not good for our country. Treating women as if they were incapable of rational decision is not good for the country. Discouraging public discourse by way of a secret para-military policing force is not good for the country. A health system that ignores the needs of a third of the people is not good for the country. And no country was ever strengthened by discriminating against its homosexual population. So who convinced us otherwise? How did it happen, what made us think that any of these things is acceptable?
Rant over with, thank you for your time and patience.
Edited to correct some silly mistakes.
= new reply since forum marked as read
There weren't many plantations. But even small farmers could own a slave or two. Admittedly, that's still only a few percent of the population. But include their relatives and vendors and customers and business relationships, and now it is a large fraction of the population. The hardware seller to the cotton warehouse didn't have to own a slave to know his business was tied to the slave economy.
Think of Nantucket during the whaling days. How many went whaling? A small percent. How many owned a whaling ship? Only the rarest upper crust. But how many had their fortunes tied to whaling, or felt a part of it culturally?
Almost everyone.
