By the way, I downloaded "The Century of the Self" by the BBC which was mentioned in another thread here. I watched one episode and I was gobsmacked!

In a matter-of -factedly manner they are pointing out all the hypocrisy and hype of the manipulation of of peoples perception of the world, backing it with factual evidence which I did not know existed.

That PR and propaganda are the same thing, that the USA is deliberately manipulating its public and doing mind-tricks with its own soldiers... They even had a huge program where they tried to "brainwash" normal citizens, just because they wanted to find out if it was possible; claiming that the USSR might be doing the same thing (which it was not).

They believed that they had to establish techniques to sway the masses so that they voted for the "right" candidates in election, making total shambles of the idea that the US is a democracy. It was almost too much to watch it, so shocked at the info in the film. The operation in Guatemala was an example that you simply cannot trust a word that the US says about other countries. They will make whatever claims they think are in the interests of the financial wellbeing of their multinational corporation.

The theme of the documentary was the connection between these policies and the work of Sigmund Freud and the psychotherapy community, largely some German psychologists who moved to the US in connection with the war.

And the fact that it was by the BBC hugely increases the credibility. BBC is rather meticulous about fact checking and checking sources, and politically it is not against the USA or trying to blackpaint it - they were just reporting facts.

Thanks to whoever recommended this documentary, can't find the post, but I just wanted to say that this is definitely worth watching and you won't feel the same about the world afterwards. I only watched one episode and I don't think I can handle another one for a while!