Today I take on the Age of Disinformation. That actually goes back several years to the early 1900s and Edward Bernays. I take on several myths and tricks online. And you are again reminded how writing about anything online can make you an authority. And is why you need to be creating content. Inoculate yourself from the propaganda online with a healthy dose of skepticism. Or lose at marketing and your budget to nonsense.

We take on Myths like "quality linking", polls surveyed unscientifically, blogging as an authority without expertise, and bounce rates as a measure of poor SEO.(when I get into SEO I say that bounce and links do not matter. In fact bounce and on page metrics do matter in today's Google. And links can be used to hurt your Google rank. This was not true at the time of this video)

In this video I mentioned the story of Edward Bernays. Bernays is single handily responsible for the notion of consumerism to patriotism and freedom. You can thank such American staples as Bacon and Eggs and increased cigarette consumption to Bernays To third world countries being tied to Soviet Moscow and a disintegration of our ethics in promotion.

Some information on Bernays from Wikipedia:

Bernays felt that the public's democratic judgment was "not to be relied upon" and he feared that "they [the American public] could very easily vote for the wrong man or want the wrong thing, so that they had to be guided from above". Bernays argued that the manipulation of public opinion was a necessary part of democracy. The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. We are governed, our minds are 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.....Bernays held that human beings are fundamentally irrational and untrustworthy, and that it's the duty of social programmers to manipulate the herd for their own good.

Bernays, Carl Byoir and John Price Jones worked together to influence public opinion towards supporting American participation in World War I. One of Bernays' favorite techniques for manipulating public opinion was the indirect use of "third party authorities" to plead his clients' causes. "If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway", he said.

Do you remember President Bush telling us to get back to business of America. This was very Bernaysian. Tying Patriotism to consumerism. Bernays, working for Tobacco industry got young women to parade into the streets with what he called "torches of freedom". Thus, demonstrating their liberation.

Glenn Beck's talk on Bernay's

Edward Bernays' 'Propaganda' Deconstructed

The Video Notes: Edward Bernays' 'Propaganda' Deconstructed - The following is a 10 hour audio series that I recorded between April 2013 and February 2014, all about the 'Father of PR', Edward Bernays. This series is probably the project that I'm most proud of since I began podcasting. In fact, on a near daily basis, I still receive e-mails about it!

'Propaganda', written in 1928. I take a critical look at just how influential his ideas were, and detail the resulting impact in relation to public relations, advertising, celebrity culture, and democracy itself. Along the way, you will hear from various guest speakers as well, including Edward Bernays' own daughter, Anne Bernays.

Who is Edward Bernays?

Edward Bernays, born in Vienna in 1891 and famously the nephew of Sigmund Freud, was perhaps the pioneer in the field of Public Relations, and highly influential in providing the framework for modern advertising. His work aimed to convince people to want things that they didn’t need, and in the process, link their unconscious desires to the consumption of mass produced goods. This in turn, it was theorized, could be used to control the masses, as by keeping them distracted on frivolous happenings and relatively unimportant wants, they wouldn’t interfere with the activities of what he called ‘the important few’.

When you sit down to speak to the man known as the best media manipulator in the business, you start to wonder who is really going to be in control.

Ryan Holiday is a man whose reputation precedes him in a huge way. After doing business with the likes of Tucker Max, Tim Ferriss, Robert Greene (48 Laws of Power) and Dov Charney of American Apparel, you know he's a highly qualified marketer. On top of that he's an accomplished author of the books "Trust Me, I'm Lying", "Growth Hacking", and his latest "The Obstacle is the Way."

But while Ryan might be the master manipulator of the mass media, in person he's a genuine and earnest young guy who is wise beyond his years and can handle his success. In fact when you dig down deep into many of his media stunts he's come clean about the how's and why's of what happened a long time ago.

His latest book delves into Stoicism and uses historical tales and anecdotes to describe the tenets of this lesser known philosophy. It feels very Robert Greene (a compliment of course) and quite a change of pace from his earlier works indeed. I've really enjoyed reading this book and am currently embracing the many obstacles in my life!!

Please join me in welcoming Ryan Holiday to London Real. This man is brimming with talent and I can only imagine what he will be up to in the next 10 years.

In Holiday's book he talks about a polarization play he did for Tucker Max.

Polarization is counter intuitive. So what Holiday did was create a publicity campaign for this author who created a B level movie. The popularity of Tucker Max is mostly with college Sophomore types.

He took a photo of a billboard that he had defaced in Hollywood. It pointed out the misogynistic qualities of the movie. Holiday anonymously wrote a college popular blog. And next thing you know the college girls across the nation were parading against the movie. Which got the attention of the college males, the target audience. And of course they got interested in the protest which "naturally" made them aware of the movie which they largely attended.

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