Propaganda Loves You

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

S2 Episode #7: From Cyber Warfare to No Kings - Exploring Technological Battles and Community Power

Cyber Operations in the 2026 Iran War and the Growing No Kings Movement Host Kodie, joined by Arthur and Noah, discusses cyber and information operations in the 2026 Iran War and the recent No Kings protests. After a quiz on reported incidents, they review sources (Wikipedia and a Lawfare article) describing coordinated U.S.-Israeli strikes beginning Feb. 28, 2026, supported by cyber and electronic warfare that disrupted Iranian communications and sensors, enabled targeting via compromised Tehran traffic cameras and mobile networks, defaced state sites, hijacked Iranian TV to air Trump and Netanyahu speeches, and contributed to an internet blackout; they also note Iran-linked hacktivist retaliation and a reported attack on Stryker devices. The group compares wartime surveillance tactics to ICE’s use of camera networks, spyware, and purchased app/location data. They then cover No Kings as the largest single-day U.S. protest (about 8–9 million across 3,000 events), right-wing narratives attacking it, the 3.5% participation threshold, and the movement’s potential via local organizing. 00:00 Cold Open and Introductions 01:49 Today’s Agenda Iran and No Kings 03:04 Cyber Ops Quiz Real or Fake 08:19 Quiz Reveal and Supply Chain Fears 11:39 Satirical Sponsor Break 12:54 Cyber War Timeline and Key Attacks 21:43 Rules of Cyberwar and Accountability 32:28 Lawfare Four Hour Cyber War 39:56 From Iran Targeting to ICE Surveillance 43:41 Iran War Hype Tactic 46:20 Draft Fears and Relief 48:45 Oil and Economic Motives 49:54 Sponsor Break Satire 51:59 No Kings Rally Scale 56:12 Right Wing Spin Playbook 01:00:41 Protest Threshold for Change 01:03:28 Sustaining Momentum Locally 01:11:36 Community Reconnection Offline 01:16:56 Local Politics and Boards 01:21:28 Plugs and Sign Off Resources for this episode - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberwarfare_during_the_2026_Iran_war https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-four-hour-cyber-war-on-iran https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/03/hacked-traffic-cams-and-hijacked-tvs-how-cyber-operations-supported-the-war-against-iran/ https://open.substack.com/pub/kenklippenstein/p/trump-goes-commando?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Joe's Meditation Series: Part Four - Subtlety in Meditation

Meditation Subtlety: Noting, Frames of Experience, and the Three Characteristics This episode continues the beginner meditation series with a short guided set focused on “settling into time and space” by finding a comfortable posture and placing attention in the present using an anchor such as the breath, sensations in the hands or feet, or the space of the whole body. The instructor emphasizes using one-word noting (e.g., rising/falling; tingling/warmth; thinking/planning/worrying) to maintain a continuous chain of mindful attention, clarifying that progress is not stopping thoughts but staying observant even as attention shifts to mental events. As skill develops, viewers are guided to notice discrete “frames” of experience within each breath and investigate subtlety within each frame, traditionally described as impermanence/change, unsatisfactoriness, and not-self (not defining “me”). A closing meditation practices noting change moment by moment and recaps this progression. 00:00 Settle Into Meditation 02:12 Choose Your Anchor 04:23 Noting Practice Basics 08:31 Progress Without Stopping Thoughts 10:09 Frames of Experience 12:15 Three Characteristics 13:43 Guided Subtlety Practice 18:33 Recap and Next Steps

Episode #6 Part Two - There Is Propaganda: Vince Fakhoury Horn on Politics, Meditation, and Frameworks for Liberation

Mutual Aid, Empathy, and Integration: Social Meditation with Vince Fakhoury Horn (Part 2) In part two of an interview on Propaganda Loves You, hosts continue their conversation with Vince Fakhoury Horn of the Buddhist Geeks organization about mutual aid, community, and contemplative practice. Horn connects disaster-driven mutual aid after Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina to rebuilding everyday human connection through communities of practice. The discussion explores empathy (cognitive, emotional, and somatic) and balancing self- and other-focus, then shifts to awakening as experience versus abstraction, perception as sense-making, and Buddhist ideas like emptiness and interdependent arising. Horn emphasizes embodied “live words” over “dead words,” and frames integration as functioning in conventional reality while incorporating transformative insights, noting risks of psychedelics including his own psilocybin-induced psychosis. They distinguish concentration (“stopping”) from insight (“looking”), recommend finding suitable meditation objects, and demonstrate a brief peer-to-peer social meditation “there is” noting practice, concluding with reflections on mutual attunement. 00:00 Part Two Setup 01:02 Mutual Aid And Community 04:21 Empathy In Social Practice 07:25 Awakening Experience Vs Concept 08:19 Perception Self And Emptiness 16:30 Live Words And Embodiment 19:17 Integration Psychedelics Risks 24:09 Disillusionment And Trust 27:20 Truth Through Illusion 29:05 Disco Ball Metaphor 29:57 Transcend And Include 32:30 Meditation Basics Explained 33:30 Concentration Vs Insight 36:42 Finding Your Object 38:59 Why Social Meditation 40:18 There Is Noting Practice 44:13 Five Minute Group Sit 49:17 Reflections And Wrap Up https://www.buddhistgeeks.org/