During the Great War, Edward L. Bernays had worked with the Committee on Public Information to “sell” the war to the public. In 1928, he published his book Propaganda, in which we can read this statement on the subject:

"Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute
an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our
country."

The systematic psychological manipulation of society, begun with the evils of the Great War, has continued non-stop, and it has escalated to the point that we are now subject to full spectrum, continuous psychological operations.

Eighty-one years after the publication of Bernays’ book, Chris Hedges wrote the following:

"A public that can no longer distinguish between truth and fiction is
left to interpret reality through illusion. Random facts or obscure
bits of data and trivia are used either to bolster illusion and give
it credibility, or discarded if they interfere with the message . . .
When opinions cannot be distinguished from facts, when there
is no universal standard to determine truth in law, in science,
in scholarship, or in reporting the events of the day, when the
most valued skill is the ability to entertain, the world becomes
a place where lies become true, where people can believe what
they want to believe. This is the real danger of pseudo-events and
pseudo-events are far more pernicious than stereotypes. They
do not explain reality, as stereotypes attempt to, but replace
reality. Pseudo-events redefine reality by the parameters set
by their creators. These creators, who make massive profits
selling illusions, have a vested interest in maintaining the power
structures they control."

David R Webb