'The Century of the Self' a 4 Hour Documentary on the Decline of Western Culture
06-19-2014, 10:35 PM
If you've ever wondered why our culture is so intent on programming us into shallow, hedonistic, short sighted and self destructive beings there's a 4 hour documentary series worth watching, The Century of the Self.
In 1929, in the Middle of the Easter Day Parade in New York, something scandalous happened.
Group of beautiful young debutantes, dressed to the nines and with jewelry glimmering in sun, strolled together in the parade with aloof expressions on their faces. Every step of the parade they were accosted by catcalls, whistles and male attention from the spectators.
These girls bore a strange cargo, which they revealed as the jubilation of the parade reached a crescendo; all of them lit up cigarettes. The photographer's, eager to capture this politically incorrect moment, focused their lenses to record the suffragettes inhaling from their 'Torches of Freedom'.
This moment was master minded by a man named Edward Bernays, a Machiavellian guru of marketing, wisely hired by the American Tobacco Corporation, the cigarette company. Edward Bernays was the cousin of Sigmund Freud, who learned about mass psychology, witnessing first hand the rise of the Nazi party in Germany.
He built a massively successful corporate consulting business on a philosophy that was radical at the time but proved to transform our world
You can sell people what they did not want or need.
The weeks following the parade newspapers around the country reprinted the image of the fashionable débutantes; overflowing with youth and fertility, adored by a mob of men while partaking of something culturally forbidden to their sex. It was a new era.
A lot of Rooshv or ROK articles rail against corrupt western culture, feminism, destruction of the family unit that has produced masculine women, new age wimpy men, countless organization handicapped by political correctness, unethical hedonsts, a generation of technology addicted zombies and killed the nice guy.
You may occasionally wonder why... What's the evolutionary benefit to extreme narcissism and entitlement? Why do we individually and culturally fail so chronically to empathize with our future selves? Why do we continually elect leaders that betray us? Why do we chose to love those who will hurt us? Who do women treat their bodies like sexual roller coasters and revolving doors?
It really comes back to the philosophy that made Edward Bernays a fabulously wealthy man:
You can sell people what they did not want or need.
Here's the four episodes, you can also find them on Youtube but it seems to me that Vimeo is of higher quality
Happiness Machines
The Engineering of Consent
There is a Policeman Inside All of Our Heads, He Must Be Destroyed
Eight People Sipping Wine In Kettering
Below, let me know anything interesting you learned from these documentaries that you think you can implement in your own life or in the organizations to which you contribute.
In 1929, in the Middle of the Easter Day Parade in New York, something scandalous happened.
Group of beautiful young debutantes, dressed to the nines and with jewelry glimmering in sun, strolled together in the parade with aloof expressions on their faces. Every step of the parade they were accosted by catcalls, whistles and male attention from the spectators.
These girls bore a strange cargo, which they revealed as the jubilation of the parade reached a crescendo; all of them lit up cigarettes. The photographer's, eager to capture this politically incorrect moment, focused their lenses to record the suffragettes inhaling from their 'Torches of Freedom'.
This moment was master minded by a man named Edward Bernays, a Machiavellian guru of marketing, wisely hired by the American Tobacco Corporation, the cigarette company. Edward Bernays was the cousin of Sigmund Freud, who learned about mass psychology, witnessing first hand the rise of the Nazi party in Germany.
He built a massively successful corporate consulting business on a philosophy that was radical at the time but proved to transform our world
You can sell people what they did not want or need.
The weeks following the parade newspapers around the country reprinted the image of the fashionable débutantes; overflowing with youth and fertility, adored by a mob of men while partaking of something culturally forbidden to their sex. It was a new era.
A lot of Rooshv or ROK articles rail against corrupt western culture, feminism, destruction of the family unit that has produced masculine women, new age wimpy men, countless organization handicapped by political correctness, unethical hedonsts, a generation of technology addicted zombies and killed the nice guy.
You may occasionally wonder why... What's the evolutionary benefit to extreme narcissism and entitlement? Why do we individually and culturally fail so chronically to empathize with our future selves? Why do we continually elect leaders that betray us? Why do we chose to love those who will hurt us? Who do women treat their bodies like sexual roller coasters and revolving doors?
It really comes back to the philosophy that made Edward Bernays a fabulously wealthy man:
You can sell people what they did not want or need.
Here's the four episodes, you can also find them on Youtube but it seems to me that Vimeo is of higher quality
Happiness Machines
The Engineering of Consent
There is a Policeman Inside All of Our Heads, He Must Be Destroyed
Eight People Sipping Wine In Kettering
Below, let me know anything interesting you learned from these documentaries that you think you can implement in your own life or in the organizations to which you contribute.