“The Century of the Self” is a good documentary explaining the history of how Freud’s ideas about psychology and human desire led to corporate manipulation that brainwashed Americans to crave things they did not need. This in turn led to a culture of selfishness and instant gratification. Paraphrasing writer Blythe Gryphon, targeted marketing based on psychological desires and needs
result[ed] in feeding the rapacious capitalism that dehumanized us, exalted hatred, and put a malignant narcissist in power.
In other words, we got the government we deserved.
Lucky Otters Haven 
Its been a very, very long time since I read “Civilization And Its Discontents”. I’ll have to come back to watching the documentary when I can really focus on it. This subject also got me thinking about Erich Fromm’s “Escape From Freedom” which I think speaks strongly to our time.
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Reblogged this on cabbagesandkings524 and commented:
LuckyOtter shares a documentary with an analysis relevant to our national and world situation.
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Very interesting video. I saw it through the election of Reagan. That’s all I could take. No wonder Americans are so stupid.
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Dear Lucky and Friends, and for the people who are not (stupidly) fixated on worldly junk, the corporations have the (for real) “free-thinking” minority in a bind as well. As an aside, yeah, “free-thinking,” ‘am so fed up with the Bible-bashers stealing words. Anyway, an 8-year old Kindle is a dinosaur with a bad case of arthritis; of course it is, it’s intentional, to keep people buying the same stuff over and over again. Heaven forbid, people would manage to save enough for an extended rainy period (like a layoff or health issues). Just another example, how the Christ-less powers-that-be (well, for now… ;0) are without mercy.
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Oh, and also the government we most *wanted*.
A sick society demands a sick leader to ***mirror*** back to them their foremost desires – to show forth ‘their true and inward nature’ – to lead them down the corpse-and-destruction-strewn path straight to hell.
Which, unless we turn from our evil, collectively and individually – we are doomed to come to. Can you smell the brimstone yet?
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This is a very good point. A society, in essence, gets the leader it deserves.
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