The Architects of Manipulation: Edward Bernays (That F*cker)and the Freuds

How this Dark Triad Used Psychology to Shape Consumer Culture and American Democracy

Pete Weishaupt
4 min readOct 7, 2024

In post-war America, the societal landscape was transformed by a hidden force — a psychological undercurrent shaped by the ideas of Sigmund Freud, his daughter Anna, and his nephew, Edward Bernays (That F*cker!). This dark trio played a pivotal role in an experiment that spanned politics, media, and big business. Freud’s ideas about the unconscious mind, initially aimed at understanding human behavior, went on to become tools to shape, control, and, in some cases, manipulate society.

In America, amid the aftermath of World War II, politicians, businesses, and intelligence agencies were gripped by fears of another descent into the barbarism like of Nazi Germany. They turned to psychoanalysis to control what they saw as humanity’s primitive and irrational instincts. The results forever alter the fabric of American life. They deeply intertwined the nation’s sense of self with a psychological framework, that by design, sought to manage the emotions that made us human.

The rise of psychoanalysis in America began in the most unlikely of places — on the battlefield. U.S. soldiers returning from combat from WWII exhibited disturbing psychological symptoms. Nearly half of all evacuations in the war were due to mental issues. The military was desperate for solutions. They turned to psychoanalysis, a…

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