In The Ethical Sense, Propaganda Bears The

The Invisible Government Tends To Be Concentrated In The Hands Of The Few Because Of The Expense Of Manipulating The Social Machinery Which Controls The Opinions And Habits Of The Masses. To Advertise On A Scale Which Will Reach Fifty Million Persons Is Expensive. To Reach And Persuade The Group Leaders Who Dictate The Public's Thoughts And Actions Is Likewise Expensive.

It Is Not Necessary For The Politician To Be The Slave Of The Public's Group Prejudices, If He Can Learn How To Mold The Mind Of The Voters In Conformity With His Own Ideas Of Public Welfare And Public Service. The Important Thing For The Statesman Of Our Age Is Not So Much To Know How To Please The Public, But To Know How To Sway The Public. Those Who Manipulate This Unseen Mechanism Of Society Constitute An Invisible Government Which Is The True Ruling Power Of Our Country.

We Are Governed, Our Minds Are Molded, Our Tastes Formed, Our Ideas Suggested, Largely By Men We Have Never Heard Of.

No Serious Sociologist Any Longer Believes That The Voice Of The People Expresses Any Divine Or Specially Wise And Lofty Idea. The Voice Of The People Expresses The Mind Of The People, And That Mind Is Made Up For It By The Group Leaders In Whom It Believes And By Those Persons Who Understand The Manipulation Of Public Opinion. It Is Composed Of Inherited Prejudices And Symbols And Clichés And Verbal Formulas Supplied To Them By The Leaders.

Vast Numbers Of Human Beings Must Cooperate In This Manner If They Are To Live Together As A Smoothly Functioning Society.