“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 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.”
That comes from the book, Propaganda by Edward Bernays. he was Sigmund Freud’s nephew. I would highly recommend checking it out. And also the movie Network, from the 70s.
The media has a very large hand in the way most people think about things, period. The middle class has been in a recession for many years now. Any growth that has been made, has been made by the top 1%. Throw in the changes made to the way our government calculates many economic calculations over the past 20 years and we’re living back in 1984 again. That’s Orwell’s 1984, not the year.