PARTLY FACETIOUS: Freud’s theory was that group therapy can be successful

“I want to give some advice.”

“There is no one here but us chickens, and we cluck and can’t absorb advice!”

“OK so let me give you some background?”

“Background as in a farm where there are other animals! The only time we pay attention to other animals is when a fox meanders into our coop…”

“Oh shush, I will just say it. Freud, the psychologist…”

“Aren’t his books banned in the land of the Pure?”

“Not to my knowledge!”

“Ah; maybe because the banning Agency hasn’t read him.”

“We don’t have a banning agency.”

“Let’s set one up then, perhaps a Ministry where we can accommodate…”

“Freud’s theory was that group therapy can be successful, as we operate differently as individuals and as a member of the group. And his nephew, Edward Bernays, became very rich by using this as a launch pad for marketing: appeal to the target’s desires or fears and not to reality, and therein lies success.”

“Oh?”

“For example, the early marketing with the objective of getting women to smoke was to link it to being free, independent…”

“Nothing to do with reality!”

“Precisely, and propaganda is the marketing of politicians or political parties. A successful propaganda campaign would mean convincing the public and if the public is not being convinced then there is a need to change tactics.”

“Oh! I see so if being pro-Jewish, taking away gifts that one got as the chief executive, setting up a trust to educate students on Islam, being a playboy in one’s younger days and harping on it again and again without effect…”

“I reckon the first charge is because of the first wife and the latter two because of the second and third wives…”

“Nope, that’s not what I want to conclude?”

“There are fewer and fewer people listening to mainstream media for information, all have eyes on social media…”

“No, not that either. Simply that for propaganda to be effective requires expertise – and you can’t just keep, saying the same thing again and again…”

“But public relations departments…”

“Defend not attack one’s competitor, for that there is a need to hire an advertising agency that deals with political marketing.”

“That will certainly require raising taxes on…”

“It will be money

well spent.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024