S2 Episode #9: Modern PR and the Power of Spectacle

Propaganda Presents: Second Season Summer (book) Series

Propaganda Loves You: Summer Book Series Preview, Biweekly Schedule, and Midterms Focus In this special preview episode of “Propaganda Loves You,” the hosts recap last season’s books—Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny,” Ira Katznelson’s “When Affirmative Action Was White,” and “The Dawn of Everything”—and announce a summer reading series running to the midterms while continuing core episodes with a new focus. The summer books are Ari Berman’s “Minority Rule,” about anti-democratic tactics like voter suppression, gerrymandering, dark money, and court capture; Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow,” on mass incarceration as contemporary racial control; and bell hooks’ “All About Love,” exploring love as a definable practice and political act. They also shift to a biweekly release schedule with one core and one book episode, and plan core coverage of local House and Senate races, including New York 21. 00:00 Summer Series Preview 00:50 Last Season Recap 01:48 Listener Map Challenge 03:25 Book One Minority Rule 07:13 Book Two The New Jim Crow 10:15 Book Three All About Love 16:14 Schedule and Midterms Focus 17:15 Local Election Talk 18:26 Wrap Up and Call to Action

S2 Deep Dive #2 (Part Two): The Century of the Self - Adam Curtis

Propaganda Loves You: A Century of Self (Episodes 3–4), Capitalism’s Co-opting of Rebellion, and the Rise of Data-Driven Politics The hosts of Propaganda Loves You continue their discussion of Edward Bernays and Adam Curtis’s The Century of the Self, recapping episodes 1–2 and focusing on episode 3 (“There Is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads and He Must Be Destroyed”) and episode 4 ("Eight people sipping wine in Kettering"). They describe a central theme: the shift from Freudian repression to promoted self-expression, and how capitalism absorbs its own critiques by selling rebellion and identity back as consumer products. They discuss figures like Wilhelm Reich and Fritz Perls, encounter the EST seminars’ link back to consumerism, and note the “inner directive” personality type that later aligned with Reagan and Thatcher. In episode 4, they examine Bill Clinton-era polling, focus groups, and niche policies that treat voters as consumers, alongside welfare reform and PR-driven politics. The conversation extends to social media, surveillance, and data exploitation, suggesting follow-ups on Cambridge Analytica and modern PR firms. 00:00 Capitalist Utopia Ending 01:36 Welcome and Recap 03:18 Episode Three Themes 03:59 Capitalism Absorbs Rebellion 06:05 Socialism Sameness Myth 08:35 William Reich Arc 10:53 Sex Revolution Reframed 12:28 Nuance and History 14:43 Therapy and Inner Parts 17:05 EST Back to Capitalism 17:32 Reagan and Politics Pivot 19:20 Inner Directive Voters 20:22 Identity as Construction 24:00 Ethical Consumption Limits 27:36 Systemic Blame Shift 29:12 Freedom for Corporations 32:34 Corporate Death Penalty 33:32 Policeman In Your Head 33:57 Collective Over Individualism 35:52 Privatized Stress Systemic 36:21 Episode Four Clinton Era 37:54 Self Liberation For Sale 39:08 Polling Voters As Consumers 41:45 Democracy Participation Limits 44:27 Authenticity And Social Media 49:10 Data Extraction And AI 51:48 Surveillance Devices Everywhere 55:34 Capitalist Realism And Rent 57:48 Beyond Business Ontology 59:55 Next Topics And Wrap Up 01:00:55 Plugs Meditation Resources 01:02:36 Final Thanks And Outro Resources: https://www.youtube.com/@justadamcurtis9178

S2 Episode #9: Modern PR and the Power of Spectacle

Propaganda Loves You: Voting Rights Act Gutted, Trump’s PR Stunts, and Mayday Organizing Kodie, Arthur, and Joe mark a year of the podcast with listener analytics, then play a real-or-fake headlines game that leads into discussion of recent political news. The hosts then cover the Supreme Court’s 6–3 ruling narrowing Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in a Louisiana redistricting case, citing Clarence Thomas’s critique of proportional representation and warning of intensified gerrymandering. They analyze Trump’s long history of publicity stunts and the broader propaganda ecosystem around him, from Roy Cohn to modern meme operations. The episode closes with Mayday updates via Democracy Now, emphasizing labor solidarity and collective action. 00:00 Welcome Back and Agenda 01:22 One Year Listener Milestone 03:45 State Quarters Nostalgia 04:43 Real or Fake Headlines Game 07:50 Debunking and Explaining Headlines 15:42 Voting Rights Act Under Attack 25:31 Organizing and Political Hope 29:46 Sponsor Break Skit 31:27 Trump PR Stunts Origins 35:34 WWE Kayfabe and The Apprentice 39:16 Branding vs Political Propaganda 42:45 Escalator Crowd Reveal 43:43 Free Media Spectacle 44:22 Fast Food And Mugshot Branding 46:58 McDonalds Fry Photo Op 48:29 DoorDash And Butler Image 52:23 Debating Attention And Optics 57:23 Architects Behind The Brand 01:03:25 Meme White House Machine 01:09:50 Satire Ad Break 01:11:01 Mayday And Worker Solidarity 01:21:43 Howard Zinn Utopian Vision 01:31:04 Solidarity Signals And Democracy 01:37:32 Wrap Up And Next Episodes

S2 Deep Dive #2 (Part One): The Century of the Self - Adam Curtis

Propaganda Loves You: Adam Curtis Deep Dive (Part 1) — Bernays, Consumerism, and Engineering Consent The hosts begin their second deep dive of the year by reviewing the first two episodes of Adam Curtis’s four-part documentary A Century of the Self, connecting it to a prior discussion of Edward Bernays. They discuss the documentary’s unsettling aesthetic and its theme that corporate and political elites used psychoanalysis and public relations to shift America from a needs-based culture to a desires-based consumer culture, including examples like soap marketing, planned obsolescence, and postwar suburban lawns and pesticides. They contrast Freud’s therapeutic intent with Bernays’s mass manipulation, citing Bernays’s renaming of propaganda as public relations, and discuss campaigns linking democracy to privately owned business via organizations like the National Association of Manufacturers. Episode two themes include focus groups, neutrality of persuasion tools, historical PR involvement in events like Guatemala, and critiques by Arthur Miller, Vance Packard, Herbert Marcuse, and MLK’s call to be “maladjusted” to injustice. The conversation ends by linking modern disinformation, social media, and AI to propaganda’s changing effectiveness and previewing part two. 00:00 Welcome and Setup 01:02 Curtis Doc First Impressions 01:54 Consumer Desire Engineered 06:28 Needs to Wants Shift 08:01 Freud to Bernays 11:45 Psychoanalysis and Therapy 14:37 AI as New Manipulation Tech 19:24 Citizen Versus Consumer 21:55 Revolution and Propaganda Roots 26:39 Happiness Machines and Hoover 28:43 PR War on the New Deal 32:57 Distrust, Social Media, Disinfo 39:19 From Propaganda to Chaos 39:48 Youth Media Savvy 40:59 Buying the Narrative 42:43 Individualism and Belonging 44:35 Third Spaces and Money 46:52 Episode Two Takeaways 49:57 Freud Model Critique 54:13 PR Tools and Coups 57:04 Economy vs Real Life 59:54 Suffering and Consumerism 01:10:16 MLK on Maladjustment 01:15:51 Closing Thoughts Resources: https://www.youtube.com/@justadamcurtis9178

S2 Episode #8: A Century of Influence – Propaganda's Transformation

AI Deepfakes, Edward Bernays, and What’s Next on The Century of the Self Host Kodie, joined by Arthur and Joe, announces upcoming episodes on Edward Bernays and Adam Curtis’s The Century of the Self, noting the recordings were spread across March and late April and outlining a schedule that includes a deep dive on parts one and two, a discussion of modern PR and the Trump PR machine, and a later episode on parts three and four. The group discusses AI propaganda using examples including a Senate Republicans in Texas deepfake of James Talarico reading real tweets, an AI-created Lego-style propaganda video from Iran, and a satirical Epstein-related clip, focusing on intent, audiences, deception, and growing difficulty distinguishing AI from real footage, as well as proposed but failed political advertising regulations. Kodie reads a 2023 EBSCO article summarizing Bernays’s background, his rebranding of propaganda as public relations, “engineering of consent,” and major campaigns and clients, with brief discussion of parallels to Mad Men, and the episode ends promoting Thursday’s documentary deep dive. 00:00 Show Cold Open 00:40 Season Preview 02:31 Quote Quiz Goebbels 04:24 AI Deepfake Examples 08:35 Ethics And Regulation 15:33 Flood The Zone 18:04 Sponsor Skit Focus Frame 19:43 Bernays Series Kickoff 21:23 Bernays Bio Primer 24:01 Mad Men Comparison 27:06 Bernays Greatest Campaigns 31:52 Sponsor Skit Waterless Bath 33:17 Wrap Up And Next Episode Resources for Next Episode https://www.youtube.com/@justadamcurtis9178