Today on Volts: a podcast discussion with journalist @amywestervelt about corporate disinformation, the men who developed the PR industry in the 20th century, & the many, many ways that industries like fossil fuels are still jerking us around. A fun one! volts.wtf/p/volts-podcas…
After you listen to the podcast, check out Amy's new project, Rigged, an utterly fascinating collection of original documents & stories about the birth, development, & ongoing health of the public relations (er, propaganda) industry.
rigged.ghost.io//
rigged.ghost.io//
One bitter irony that becomes clear when you understand the scale of corporate PR: all the products & habits that right-wingers now cling to as authentic indicators of heartland culture (the fast food, the SUVs, the guns) were engineered for them by PR.
They freak out about corporate diversity training videos but it never seems to occur to them, "gosh, here in America, a car-dependent, processed-food-dominated, consumerist lifestyle w/ shitty unreliable health & child care is the *only one available*, wonder why that is."
No force in US life does more to constrain the freedom of voters -- more manipulatively, with less consent -- than corporations & their PR flacks. We live in a grubby, isolating, unhealthy matrix designed by greedy fucks & rarely even identify them, much less push back.
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