Propaganda by Edward Bernays is a foundational text on the subject in modern times, published in 1928. It lays out the inner workings of propaganda from the source—the actor and the systems used to propagate that idea. In reflection of today's technology, with social media, cryptocurrencies, and chatbots, the barriers to expressing one's soft power are close to zero, meaning the noise-to-signal ratio in today's publication channels is schizophrenic and psychopathic if taken any as true.

Here are some quotes from the book.

There is no way to confirm the notion that the propagandist is essentially above the propaganda he creates, although it surely points towards some truth about the way demagogues and other propagandists operate. The notion is unlikely on its face. From what we know about the most ferocious demagogues of yesteryear, successful incitement tends to bespeak—and seemingly requires—a fierce core of radical commitment, even if the agitator consciously distorts his facts or trots out this or that rhetorical device. Hitler, Goebbels, Mussolini, Father Coughlin, Joe McCarthy, Gerald L.K. Smith, and many others were fanatical and cynical at once, neither wholly in control nor totally ecstatic. Such agitators work within a certain mental borderline land where one can never clearly see conviction as distinct from calculation. In all such cases, the investigative journalist is the propagandist's natural enemy, as the former serves the public interest while the latter tends to work against it.

(In today I see the label as journalist inverted, as a taylored palet serving it's partons interest, while the frantic and honest are the points closer to the truth)

Emil Ludwig represents Napoleon as ever on the watch for indications of public opinion, always listening to the voice of the people, a voice which defies calculation. "Do you know," he said, "what amazes me more than all [else]? The impotence of force to organize anything."

Truth is mighty and must prevail. If any body of men believes that they have discovered a valuable truth, it is not merely their privilege but their duty to disseminate that truth. If they realize—as they quickly must—that this spreading of the truth can be done on a large scale and effectively only by organized effort, they will make use of the press and the platform as the best means to give it wide circulation. Propaganda becomes a vicious and reprehensible weapon only when its authors consciously and deliberately disseminate what they know to be lies, or when they aim to achieve effects which they know to be prejudicial to the common good.

Because man is by nature gregarious, he feels himself to be a member of a herd; even when he is alone in his room with the curtains drawn, his mind retains the patterns that have been stamped on it by group influences. Trotter and Le Bon concluded that the group mind does not think in the strict sense of the word. In place of thoughts, it has impulses, habits, and emotions. In making up its mind, its first impulse is usually to follow the example of a trusted leader.

The result is that, while under the halo of the old system of production, the typical rule was that demand created supply; today, supply must actively seek to create its corresponding demand. Just as women supplement men in private life, so they will supplement men in public life by concentrating their organized efforts on those subjects which men are likely to take more [seriously]. There is a tremendous field for women as active propagandists of new ideas and new methods of political and social housekeeping. When organized and conscious of their power to influence their surroundings, women can use their newly acquired freedom in a great many ways to mold the world into a better place to live.

"Men who, through a sense of inferiority, despise money, seek to win the good will of men who love money."*

In the ethical sense, propaganda bears the same relation to education as to business or politics. It may be abused. It may be used to advertise an institution and to create in the public mind artificial values. There can be no absolute guarantees against its misuse.

There is a story that a great financier discharged a partner because he had divorced his wife. "But what," asked the partner, "have my private affairs to do with the banking business?" "If you are not capable of managing your own wife," was the reply, "the people will certainly believe that you are not capable of managing their money."

The propagandist must treat personality as he would treat any other objective facts within his province. A personality may create circumstances, as Lusitania created goodwill between the United States and Mexico.** Events may create a personality, as the Cuban War created a political figure of Roosevelt. It is often difficult to say which creates the other. Once a public figure has decided what ends he wishes to achieve, he must regard himself objectively and present an outward picture of himself which is consistent with his real character and his aim. No matter how sophisticated, how cynical the public may become about public relations methods, it must respond to the basic appeal because it will always need food, creative amusement, long for beauty, and respond to leadership. Propaganda will never die out. Intelligent men must realize that propaganda is the modern instrument by which they can fight for productive ends and help to bring order out of chaos.

Propaganda by Edward Bernays is a foundational text on the subject in modern times, published in 1928. It lays out the inner workings of propaganda from the source—the actor and the systems used to propagate that idea. In reflection of today's technology, with social media, cryptocurrencies, and chatbots, the barriers to expressing one's soft power are close to zero, meaning the noise-to-signal ratio in today's publication channels is schizophrenic and psychopathic if taken any as true.

Here are some quotes from the book.

There is no way to confirm the notion that the propagandist is essentially above the propaganda he creates, although it surely points towards some truth about the way demagogues and other propagandists operate. The notion is unlikely on its face. From what we know about the most ferocious demagogues of yesteryear, successful incitement tends to bespeak—and seemingly requires—a fierce core of radical commitment, even if the agitator consciously distorts his facts or trots out this or that rhetorical device. Hitler, Goebbels, Mussolini, Father Coughlin, Joe McCarthy, Gerald L.K. Smith, and many others were fanatical and cynical at once, neither wholly in control nor totally ecstatic. Such agitators work within a certain mental borderline land where one can never clearly see conviction as distinct from calculation. In all such cases, the investigative journalist is the propagandist's natural enemy, as the former serves the public interest while the latter tends to work against it.

(In today I see the label as journalist inverted, as a taylored palet serving it's partons interest, while the frantic and honest are the points closer to the truth)

Emil Ludwig represents Napoleon as ever on the watch for indications of public opinion, always listening to the voice of the people, a voice which defies calculation. "Do you know," he said, "what amazes me more than all [else]? The impotence of force to organize anything."

Truth is mighty and must prevail. If any body of men believes that they have discovered a valuable truth, it is not merely their privilege but their duty to disseminate that truth. If they realize—as they quickly must—that this spreading of the truth can be done on a large scale and effectively only by organized effort, they will make use of the press and the platform as the best means to give it wide circulation. Propaganda becomes a vicious and reprehensible weapon only when its authors consciously and deliberately disseminate what they know to be lies, or when they aim to achieve effects which they know to be prejudicial to the common good.

Because man is by nature gregarious, he feels himself to be a member of a herd; even when he is alone in his room with the curtains drawn, his mind retains the patterns that have been stamped on it by group influences. Trotter and Le Bon concluded that the group mind does not think in the strict sense of the word. In place of thoughts, it has impulses, habits, and emotions. In making up its mind, its first impulse is usually to follow the example of a trusted leader.

The result is that, while under the halo of the old system of production, the typical rule was that demand created supply; today, supply must actively seek to create its corresponding demand. Just as women supplement men in private life, so they will supplement men in public life by concentrating their organized efforts on those subjects which men are likely to take more [seriously]. There is a tremendous field for women as active propagandists of new ideas and new methods of political and social housekeeping. When organized and conscious of their power to influence their surroundings, women can use their newly acquired freedom in a great many ways to mold the world into a better place to live.

"Men who, through a sense of inferiority, despise money, seek to win the good will of men who love money."*

In the ethical sense, propaganda bears the same relation to education as to business or politics. It may be abused. It may be used to advertise an institution and to create in the public mind artificial values. There can be no absolute guarantees against its misuse.

There is a story that a great financier discharged a partner because he had divorced his wife. "But what," asked the partner, "have my private affairs to do with the banking business?" "If you are not capable of managing your own wife," was the reply, "the people will certainly believe that you are not capable of managing their money."

The propagandist must treat personality as he would treat any other objective facts within his province. A personality may create circumstances, as Lusitania created goodwill between the United States and Mexico.** Events may create a personality, as the Cuban War created a political figure of Roosevelt. It is often difficult to say which creates the other. Once a public figure has decided what ends he wishes to achieve, he must regard himself objectively and present an outward picture of himself which is consistent with his real character and his aim. No matter how sophisticated, how cynical the public may become about public relations methods, it must respond to the basic appeal because it will always need food, creative amusement, long for beauty, and respond to leadership. Propaganda will never die out. Intelligent men must realize that propaganda is the modern instrument by which they can fight for productive ends and help to bring order out of chaos.