Propaganda

Bernays’s shadowy depiction of an “invisible government” is a myth and literary device that corroborates his theory of propaganda. The notion of the invisible government holds that a small cadre of elite individuals controls the public discourse and, by extension, the direction of society. The myth of the invisible government is grounded in the conception of an amorphous and irrational public driven by passions and existing in a state of modern bewilderment. Bernays portrays the invisible governors as a benign and “intelligent minority” that “bring[s] order out of chaos” (114, 159).

The myth of the “invisible government” is centered on a small group of informed and strategic individuals who manipulate the masses by organizing and simplifying the complexities of modern life so that they can interpret the ideas and events of the day. However, he is notably ambiguous about the people who make up this invisible government and suggests only that the invisible governors “govern us by their qualities of natural leadership, their ability to supply needed ideas and by their key position in the social structure” (9). One might presume that the shadowy cadre who “know how to regiment and guide the masses” would consist of politicians, business leaders, or media executives (114), but Bernays provides no specifics.