"Oh that gucci--that's hella tight"
by jordan segal
Diogenes of Sinope and Edward Bernays on Modern Materialism
We live in a world filled with department stores the size of Taj Mahal, cars that go for millions, sales for every holiday, the stereotype that “diamonds are a girl’s best friend,” and the mentality that there is a direct correlation between material possessions and happiness. Some joke that if one has a psychology degree and does not want to go into the clinical field, he/she should use that background for advertising. The actual idea, however, is terrifying. People can use their knowledge of how your mind works to convince you that if you don’t act on that Memorial Day sale at Macy’s, your life sucks. If you don’t buy a Gucci bag, your life sucks. If you don’t wear a ring from Tiffany’s, your life sucks. As fads change and all of the accessories you were manipulated into buying go out of style, these advertisements try to tell you that you to go out with the old, in with the new. This cycle is inevitable.
Edward Bernays is a man highly responsible for the cultural mindset shift from working hard for money to survive to spending money to live luxuriously. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalytical psychology, happened to be Bernays’s uncle. But instead of using his theories to contribute to the progress in counseling and research, they were the backbone to his propaganda. He took advantage of the herd mentality in such a stealthy way that nobody was aware of his growing influence. For example, he disguised his campaign for cigarettes under a veil of women’s rights, explaining that women could smoke too. If you don’t smoke one of American Tobacco Company’s “Torches of Freedom,” you are less than a man. This taking off in the 1920s, when women were regarded as the second sex, the support spread like wildfire. Sales skyrocketed. Bernays also coined the idead that eggs and bacon were the all-American breakfast, Ivory soap was top-quality compared to all the rest, and Dixie Cups were cleaner than reusing cups. Until that point in history, Americans labored to earn just enough money to make a living for their families. They chose the cheaper options, bought mostly necessities, and saved for the future. Suddenly, this was not enough anymore. They demanded the most grand, most stylish, the most beautiful. “If we understand the mechanisms and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it,” he admitted. One would think brainwashing only exists in scary movies, but the reality is scarier than any film could portray.
“I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands,” said Diogenes, the cynic of Ancient Greece. He lived on the side of the road, stoically and with no shame. And yet he was respected by even the most prominent figures of the time! Alexander the Great approached him and asked if there was anything Diogenes wished to say to him, to which he responded, “Stand a little less between me and the sun.” He basically told the one of the most powerful rulers in history to stop blocking the sunlight, and, in my opinion, was the epitome of badass. As a stoic, he believed everyone was simply going to die in the end; therefore, material possessions were worthless. If he were alive today to witness the Westernization, modernization, and materialization of society, there is no doubt he would be disgusted.
Perhaps there still are Diogeneses in the world. Who is to say that the homeless man on the street corner, whom society dismisses as a "hobo", is not a brilliant mind pondering life's great unanswered questions? Scoffing at the brainwashed women in Prada walking by? Mocking the materialism that consumes our lives? Next time, if you see the man living on the street with nothing to his name, consider him a Diogenes...especially if he defecates in public.
We live in a world filled with department stores the size of Taj Mahal, cars that go for millions, sales for every holiday, the stereotype that “diamonds are a girl’s best friend,” and the mentality that there is a direct correlation between material possessions and happiness. Some joke that if one has a psychology degree and does not want to go into the clinical field, he/she should use that background for advertising. The actual idea, however, is terrifying. People can use their knowledge of how your mind works to convince you that if you don’t act on that Memorial Day sale at Macy’s, your life sucks. If you don’t buy a Gucci bag, your life sucks. If you don’t wear a ring from Tiffany’s, your life sucks. As fads change and all of the accessories you were manipulated into buying go out of style, these advertisements try to tell you that you to go out with the old, in with the new. This cycle is inevitable.
Edward Bernays is a man highly responsible for the cultural mindset shift from working hard for money to survive to spending money to live luxuriously. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalytical psychology, happened to be Bernays’s uncle. But instead of using his theories to contribute to the progress in counseling and research, they were the backbone to his propaganda. He took advantage of the herd mentality in such a stealthy way that nobody was aware of his growing influence. For example, he disguised his campaign for cigarettes under a veil of women’s rights, explaining that women could smoke too. If you don’t smoke one of American Tobacco Company’s “Torches of Freedom,” you are less than a man. This taking off in the 1920s, when women were regarded as the second sex, the support spread like wildfire. Sales skyrocketed. Bernays also coined the idead that eggs and bacon were the all-American breakfast, Ivory soap was top-quality compared to all the rest, and Dixie Cups were cleaner than reusing cups. Until that point in history, Americans labored to earn just enough money to make a living for their families. They chose the cheaper options, bought mostly necessities, and saved for the future. Suddenly, this was not enough anymore. They demanded the most grand, most stylish, the most beautiful. “If we understand the mechanisms and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it,” he admitted. One would think brainwashing only exists in scary movies, but the reality is scarier than any film could portray.
“I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands,” said Diogenes, the cynic of Ancient Greece. He lived on the side of the road, stoically and with no shame. And yet he was respected by even the most prominent figures of the time! Alexander the Great approached him and asked if there was anything Diogenes wished to say to him, to which he responded, “Stand a little less between me and the sun.” He basically told the one of the most powerful rulers in history to stop blocking the sunlight, and, in my opinion, was the epitome of badass. As a stoic, he believed everyone was simply going to die in the end; therefore, material possessions were worthless. If he were alive today to witness the Westernization, modernization, and materialization of society, there is no doubt he would be disgusted.
Perhaps there still are Diogeneses in the world. Who is to say that the homeless man on the street corner, whom society dismisses as a "hobo", is not a brilliant mind pondering life's great unanswered questions? Scoffing at the brainwashed women in Prada walking by? Mocking the materialism that consumes our lives? Next time, if you see the man living on the street with nothing to his name, consider him a Diogenes...especially if he defecates in public.