By laying out a framework for public relations that is mostly unconcerned with the potential for abuse, Bernays' Propaganda is propaganda for propaganda. The ideas contained within are compelling and I'm convinced that this is the most effective way to sell ideas to the public; it's not a surprise that reading through this book, almost a century after it was written, much of what Bernays lays out is still feels very relevant.

However, I felt that Bernays glossed over the dangers of this framework. Bernays attempts to envision the future of marketing via movies, television, radio, and all other forms of media, but I don't think he imagined the super-charged world of marketing we live in today, large segments of which are devoid of ethics or responsibility to the public.

How do you prevent demagogues from abusing propaganda? How do you enforce ethics in the practice? Bernays mostly glosses over these questions. He imagined a meaningful interplay of ideas between the public and propaganda as a regulating force, but this is not realistic in today's world, especially when schools are shuttering their liberal arts programs, politicians are unconcerned with real facts, and big businesses can run propaganda campaigns without changing the harmful ways they operate. We got here because of propaganda, how do we get ourselves out without slipping back in?

I imagine it will have to be a new age of propaganda by good people, with provable honesty and enforceable ethics.