It is important that we be able to demonstrate with rational, scientific arguments, why this is not necessarily true and why vested interest groups benefit from our thinking it is true. You will read a short summary of some of these arguments in my article titled "Are we Naturally Selfish?".
One important piece of research, which is not mentioned in that section, is available as a 4-part BBS video documentary called "The Century of the Self." I hope you can find and download it, as it documents in great detail, decade by decade, how the mass media have been used ever since WWI to create a culture of selfishness, individualism, greed, materialism and consumerism.
This carefully orchestrated, global campaign of public propaganda has been supported by an entire branch of science that has made use of advances in psychology, sociology, graphic arts, etc. to convince people to want things they don't need, in order to turn the masses of the world into a market of passive consumers and workers that feed the industrial machinery.
One important aspect that is not addressed in "The Century of the Self," but should and could have been, is that of manipulating the entire discourse on God, religion, spirituality, the afterlife, etc. The purpose has been to convince the masses that these notions are traditional and antiquated, irrational naive, non-modern and anti-scientific.
Doing so destroys the sense of purpose, meaning and identity that true religion offers, and opens the doors to replace it with new sources of purpose, meaning and identity through the consumption of goods and services that are sold as not only symbolizing but actually producing happiness and satisfaction, health and beauty, love and belonging, acceptance and popularity, etc.
There are many other elements of this purposeful manipulation of the people's mental models, but these few examples should suffice to demonstrate that there are very powerful economic interests behind the popularity of the myth that human beings are inherently selfish and greedy by nature.
This carefully orchestrated, global campaign of public propaganda has been supported by an entire branch of science that has made use of advances in psychology, sociology, graphic arts, etc. to convince people to want things they don't need, in order to turn the masses of the world into a market of passive consumers and workers that feed the industrial machinery.
One important aspect that is not addressed in "The Century of the Self," but should and could have been, is that of manipulating the entire discourse on God, religion, spirituality, the afterlife, etc. The purpose has been to convince the masses that these notions are traditional and antiquated, irrational naive, non-modern and anti-scientific.
Doing so destroys the sense of purpose, meaning and identity that true religion offers, and opens the doors to replace it with new sources of purpose, meaning and identity through the consumption of goods and services that are sold as not only symbolizing but actually producing happiness and satisfaction, health and beauty, love and belonging, acceptance and popularity, etc.
There are many other elements of this purposeful manipulation of the people's mental models, but these few examples should suffice to demonstrate that there are very powerful economic interests behind the popularity of the myth that human beings are inherently selfish and greedy by nature.
No comments:
Post a Comment