Month: June 2020

‘Good PR, Bad PR’ (“The Engineering of Consent”)

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Edward Bernays, Father of Public Relations and Propaganda

He has a lot to answer for

We see Edward Bernays’ legacy–that is, the theory and practice of public relations–all around us in technicolor, these days. Democrats, the nooze media, Hollywood, and celebrities of all stripes are positively swarming over us, applying every PR trick in the book to win our support for their “fundamental transformation” of America.

Here’s the article I wrote about this for Chalcedon:

https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/good-pr-bad-pr-the-engineering-of-consent

One point I didn’t get around to mentioning: Bernays wrote this essay in 1947, after the world had just spent a harrowing six years watching the mischief done with these techniques by the Nazis. What would the essay have looked like if he’d written it in 1937? Think about that.

“Engineering consent” is a tool that can be used just as well for evil purposes as for good. Think of the public relations tsunami that hit us with “transgender.” Think of “Black Lives Matter.”

Come to think of it, it’s a little hard to name any good things accomplished by consent engineers.

‘When My Work Ain’t So Much Fun’ (2017)

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The Democrat establishment has kneecapped Bernie Sanders (again!), but his ideas have saturated the party. The only question between them was “Which do we prefer–stealth socialism or openly-declared socialism?”

When My Work Ain’t So Much Fun

We are paying the real price now for years and years of letting leftists and idiots “educate” our children. Escaping the consequences of this folly will be extraordinarily difficult.

I read things like Bernie Sanders’ book so I can understand where the enemy is coming from and try to mobilize Christians against his plan.

Not an enjoyable job; but someone has to do it.

‘Leaning on the Everlasting Arms’

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This is surely a time for leaning on the everlasting arms. Our country is in the most danger it’s been in since World War II–and all of it home-grown. That’s not even counting the pestilence that came out of Red China.

The Gordon Quartet, a capella in a living room, and Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.

And if anybody out there has a hymn you’d like to share, today would be a good time to say so.

Win a Chance to Play Poker with Lord Reesh!

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Claude Rains - playing King Herod in "The Greatest Story Ever Told." | Claude rains, Rains

If you’re one of I don’t know how many Bell Mountain readers who’ve wondered, “How would I do, playing poker with Lord Reesh?”, today’s your lucky day!

The reader who accounts for the 400th view tonight will win a chance to play poker against arch-villain Lord Reesh as soon as he can be brought back from the dead. Close watch will be kept on the old guy to make sure he doesn’t have you poisoned or make you disappear.

(Ooh, why didn’t I think of this sooner!)

Everybody Loves to Chase Lasers

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Forget the cats and dogs: all the critters in this video want to chase the laser pointer. Even a spider chases it–not to mention horse, raccoon, ducklings, and chickens. Even fish. I’ll have to remember to bring one of these laser doohickeys along the next time I go fishing. No, wait, never mind, that would be cheating.

Let’s Have the Wedding Anyhow! (‘Oy, Rodney’)

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Big Brother and also Big Sister and Big Father | Book humor, Romance novels, Funny romance

Introducing Chapter CCCLXIII of her epic romance novel, Oy, Rodney, Violet Crepuscular praises her protagonist, Lord Jeremy Coldsore, for taking the bull by the horns. “It’s really the only thing you can do when you’re on the horns of a dilemma!” she confides in her readers. And P.S.–Mr. Pitfall is out of jail because no one remembered to lock the door.

In taking the bull by the horns, Lord Jeremy exhorts his fiancee, Lady Margo Cargo, “Let’s have our wedding anyhow! The vicar is free of conniptions, the roof of Coldsore Hall has been repaired, and why should we wait any longer?”

“But I had my heart set on wearing my grandmother’s glass eye and my mother’s pearls, and they’ve been stolen!” wails Lady Margo. She is not aware that her crusty old butler, Crusty, has hidden the jewels and the priceless collection of glass eyes in an unused wing of Coldsore Hall. He has forgotten why he did that. Nor is anyone aware that the aristocratic thief, Sir Robin Banks, is hiding out in the room across the hall from where the jewels are hidden.

“Oh, bother your grandma’s glass eye!” ejaculates Jeremy. “The eye you’re wearing now is perfectly suitable to the occasion. In fact, I rather like it!”

“Oh, Willis, you say the most romantic things!” Lady Margo cannot distinguish between Lord Jeremy and his close friend, the American adventurer Willis Twombley, who thinks he is Sargon of Akkad.

The next two pages of the chapter are blank: Ms. Crepuscular has left them blank to reflect Lady Margo’s indecision. The third and last page features Violet’s own recipe for a six-tiered wedding cake with assorted toothpaste icings. As for Lady Margo, “You can’t rush these things,” writes Violet. “Many a wedding has been ruined by the bride wearing the wrong glass eye for the occasion and being consumed with self-doubt forever afterward.” Apparently this has happened in her family, but not in anyone else’s. Not that I know of, anyway.

 

Quokka U.’s School Song

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Suzana Paravac on Instagram: “Quokkas are nature's happiness ambassadors ❤️😊 @rottnestislandwa #quokka #quokkas #perthlife #quokkalove #amazing #b… (With images) | Cute animals

G’day, a day late! Byron the Quokka here; and I never made it to the blog yesterday because we were all busy putting the finishing touches on our 100% original new school song for Quokka University! It was composed by a committee, so you know it’s bound to be good. Here’s the first verse: you’ll have to imagine me singing it. If you can’t, then imagine Pavarotti. Next best thing.

At Quokka University we laugh at all adversity!

We never bother with degrees, or courses, grades, or manatees!

We know the tricks of pick-up sticks, our team contains no lunatics–

Ipso loquitor mannimota! We’ve never been to South Dakota!

Some quokka named Foozle who hangs around with goanna lizards and has been influenced by their way of thinking says that last line is totally weak. “What in the world does South Dakota have to do with it?” I don’t like the face he makes when he says something like that. Well, the committee voted to keep the line, so there! If a couple of us do wind up visiting South Dakota (we hear it’s very nice!) we’ll just change the words to something else that rhymes: quota, iota, whatever.

And now I’ve got to go round up some popcorn, because before you know it, it’ll be Oy, Rodney time; and even a nit like Foozle won’t want to miss that.

‘The Daughter of Time’

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The Daughter of Time: Josephine Tey, Derek Jacobi: 9781602836440: Amazon.com: Books

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey has been called one of the greatest mystery novels ever written, and it lives up to that billing. It also gives us plenty to think about.

“History” has it that Richard III was a humpbacked monster who murdered his innocent nephews, among other crimes. Josephine Tey has a hospitalized police detective and a research assistant delve into the matter as if it were a modern police investigation: and what they find is that almost the entire history of Richard, almost everything that people “know” about him… is flat-out false. And can be proven to be false!

That’s a major theme of this book. How do things that are demonstrably untrue get entered into the record as “true”, and why do they remain in the record even after they’ve been shown to be untrue–shown again and again, in some cases?

Richard was overthrown and killed in battle by Henry Tudor, Henry VII, father of that bloodthirsty king, Henry VIII. Henry Tudor had all the motivation in the world to destroy Richard’s reputation and plenty of rascals to help him do it. Even Shakespeare! So we know how Richard’s name got blackened, and we know whodunnit. What we don’t know is why it stayed blackened: Josephine Tey was only one of many historical inquirers who exploded the myth.

Lies can have a long shelf life.

Can you imagine what will be done to President Trump’s reputation, should Democrats win this coming election (God forbid)? Can you imagine the lurid tall tales about him that’ll wind up in the “history” textbooks?

The truth about Richard III has been available for many years now.  But the lies are all still there.

‘Do Libs Love America?’ (2016)

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They said it; and they meant it.

If you believe American liberals love their country, you’ll believe anything.

You don’t impose radical changes on whatever it is you love.

Do Libs Love America?

At this very point in our history, it needs to be shouted from the housetops that our own home-grown Left is trying to do to us what Hitler and Tojo couldn’t do with all their armies and navies–and for the same reason.

We are in a fight to the death for our country and our way of life, and I don’t mean maybe.

Yesterday was D-Day, in case you hadn’t noticed.

God grant we didn’t wage that war in vain.

‘Christ for the World We Sing’

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We have no king but Jesus Christ.

Let’s assemble in spirit and belt out a tried and true hymn, Christ for the World We Sing. Performed in the video by the choir and congregation at St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York City.