Thread by @TheBrometheus

Few realize that modern culture is a sham invented in the 1950s and 60s by the CIA to combat communism with a false renaissance. Or how that in turn affected our cultural attachment problems and created the attention economy.

Follow me down the rabbit hole.

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When WWII ended, the West was left horrified by the growing threat of communism in Russia. And Americans as former British colonists had always felt looked down upon by Europeans for being backwater hicks without sophistication. (Look up the lyrics to Yankee Doodle Dandy)

Russia at the time was spreading propaganda about how fantastic communism could be. Their old culture and architecture had blossomed into a new renaissance from 1880 to 1950. They looked like a cultural powerhouse.

America saw this as a problem. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_R…

Interestingly, Art Deco came about during this time and spread like wildfire through Russia. But that movement was eventually squashed by the rising communist government and the Art Deco artists expelled from Russia.

To combat Russia, the American CIA needed to manufacture a renaissance in the West. Art needed to come from somewhere. We had a growing movement called Art Deco, but the harsh lines became "too" associated with Stalinist Constructivism in the Soviet Union. moscovery.com/stalinist-empi…

Modern audiences might be most familiar with Art Deco as "That art style used in Batman", especially the animated series from the 1990s. It's also the cover art for a lot of Ayn Rand novels.

What started in Russia became popular. Which was suddenly a problem.

The CIA needed to manufacture a renaissance from scratch. They couldn't harness the current art renaissance taking place with Art Deco. That was too Soviet. And they needed to be the opposite of harsh lines and firm boundaries.

So they created modern art. newyorker.com/magazine/2005/…

Modern art was touted as the greatest freedom of expression. You could just take a picture and turn it various colors, like Andy Warhol. Or splash paint on a canvas and say it expressed a certain emotion. Nothing mattered except feelings. THIS WAS FREEDOM. news.artnet.com/art-world/artc…

Because this new thing had to be uplifted as THE BEST, we started looking at art not as a series of layers but as SCRAPPING EVERYTHING THAT CAME BEFORE. An artist wasn't praised for putting a fresh spin on the masters before him, but for inventing a whole new type of art.

The motto became NEW IS ALWAYS BETTER. Art critics (Many of them also CIA plants or at least on the payroll) lavished praise on those words that were uniquely American. Random, emotive, free. The opposite of Soviet Constructivist. independent.co.uk/news/world/mod…

When the Cold War ended, this manufactured renaissance didn't go away. The general public had been trained to think this way. Critique circles and journalists has been trained to only love NEW and FRESH. Art itself had been changed forever.

We are still dealing with the fallout of this manufactured renaissance. And it's spread globally. You've got giant butt plugs as statues in otherwise picturesque European cities.

Did you see this hideous piece of garbage unveiled in the famous Trafalgar Square in London?

As the CIA turned us away from beauty and toward freedom of expression, anyone could create art by pooping on a canvas, sometimes literally. That shifted art from beauty to shock value to get attention.

Modern works like television, video games, and even architecture follow this

The fallout from this manufactured renaissance is a culture without substance. Everything is skin-deep. Art has no layers, just a green splotch on a canvas. We can't even tell what's supposed to be art anymore, like a $120,000 banana duct taped to a wall. independent.co.uk/arts-entertain…

So when you look around and wonder what happened, remember that we live in a post-manufactured renaissance. Our cultural growth was skewed sideways on purpose into a complete non-sequitur to our previous cultural history. That renaissance had no lasting value.

So many young Americans now look outward for culture. To Japan, or to their nation of ethnic origin, or to the ancient past. Modern American culture (and the West in general) lost its identity in a manufactured renaissance that glorified NEW.

New is empty. We are empty.

Now, how does this tie in with attachment?

At the same time as the art war during the Cold War, attachment was crumbling in the West. Whole generations stopped believing they had innate worth.

Here's my in-depth 100-year analysis of the male side.

As attachment crumbled and people viewed themselves as unworthy of love, the rise of LOOK AT ME art culture presented a new opportunity.

What didn't have INNATE worth could be said to have worth if it got ATTENTION.

To be clear, attention seeking and shock value has always been with us. But the CIA art renaissance created a new opening. Attention seekers who would previously be laughed at could say,

"I'm not seeking attention, I'm EXPRESSING MYSELF."

"I'm an ARTIST."

Suddenly it was COOL.

Attention became the real currency. Culture shifted to ONLY value attention. Nothing had worth anymore if it didn't earn attention.

The same as attachment. If you aren't getting attention, it shows how worthless you are. Lots of attention means you're great!

Instagram, anyone?

It didn't matter that attention seeking and shock value art had started off fake. What began as a meme turned into public consensus.

Attention = Worth

Art before had value in itself. Art now had value only if it "started a conversation."

The same behaviors started to happen inside relationships, public action, and every other aspect of society. As people felt worthless inside, they picked up on the SUPER POPULAR and TRENDY artists who got so much attention and approval.

"How can I be like them?"

Get attention.

You've heard "Life imitates art"? In this case, it's true. The public wanted to imitate the artists. The fake hype became real hype.

Attention seeking behavior became the new "My outfit isn't inappropriate, because EVERYONE is wearing these in Paris."

In this same way, attention seeking behavior then became associated with being smart, clever, and witty. Only the best artists could get that kind of attention! So if you got attention, people believed you had higher mental and personal qualities.

Celebrity worship.

Carry these pieces down to modern day.

Inner value is replaced with attention value.

Thoughtfulness is replaced with shock value.

Popularity is associated with being a good person.

Attention seeking is normal and clever.

Everything has to be art. time.com/collection-pos…

Where does that leave us?

Americans live in a false culture engineered during war to overshadow an enemy society which has since moved on.

The fallout has created unsustainable destructive behavior patterns.

We need to build new systems just to manage the problem behaviors.

The answer isn't to scrap it all. You can't just dump an entire culture.

But you can change it. What was engineered artificially can correct naturally.

This means rediscovering internal value. Innate worth. Separate from attention.

This leads to an additional problem. All major outlets are geared to promote attention seeking for money. How are new artists, creators, and problem solvers to spread their message?

This is exactly the issue before us.

How can we support those building a healthy culture?

The answer for me, as an Attachment Specialist, is to start by healing individuals. That in turn can heal families and create self-correcting systems. Everything else can flow from there.

That's why I published my system for fixing attachment. amazon.com/Slaying-Your-F…

As we fix individuals and families, they will give less money to shock value and attention seeking that is done for empty purposes. Yes, attention is still key to consumer buying. But healthy individuals want more than empty escapism. They can align attention to real value.

In short, if you want a better culture, fix your attachment. Then help those around you fix their attachment. Build healthy families, friend groups, and communities. Help everyone be secure, stable, and strong.

It all flows from there.

We don't have to live in the ruins of a better civilization, or in an engineered culture that smothers people. We can create a better world.

It starts with you and your attachment.

If this thread has helped you understand American culture and the problems we face, please follow @TheBrometheus for more cultural analyses on attachment issues.

And if you liked the message, please retweet to spread the word. We can improve our culture together.