How free am I really – to “make up my own mind”?

We feel we are in control of our decision making and we are doing this autonomously – without outside influence. But are we?  We are told repeatedly that we are “strong, independent, and free” to make choices, but this is a lie!  A lie that causes much social division and much suffering.

Sigmund Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays, was to introduce industrial America to the idea that the general public not only could, but should, be controlled and directed.  He famously stated: “If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without them knowing it.”

Bernays is almost completely unknown today but his influence on the 20th century was nearly as great as his uncles. Because Bernays was the first person to take Freud’s ideas about human beings and use them to manipulate the masses. He showed American corporations for the first time how to they could make people want things they didn’t need by linking mass-produced goods to their unconscious desires