Sedge Thomson's West Coast Live, San Francisco's Radio Show to the World!

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Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud, who brought the ideas of his uncle to the world of marketing -- of things and ideas to manipulate the masses.  Bacon and eggs?  He suggested the bacon. 

This week Sedge says Au Revoir to 2017 and Bon Jour to 2018 with three astonishing thinkers who show us the world through their particular frames:

ADAM PHILLIPS --- The psychoanalyst examines not the oft-written about nature of madness, rather what it is to be sane.  His book, from England, is called Sanity. "I'm interested in how the culture of consumer capitalism depends on the idea that we can't bear frustration, so that every time we feel a bit restless or bored or irritable, we eat, say, or we shop. It's only in an initial state of privation that you can begin to have thoughts about what it is you might want, to really imagine or picture it."

ADAM CURTIS -  His documentaries for the BBC, from the four-part The Century of the Self, opening us to Freud's ideas of our animal behavor as channeled by his nephew, Edward Bernays.  Bernays' ideas formed the basis of modern public relations, advertising, and utltimately, the bullying advertising of politicians.   His The Power of Nightmares traces two visitors to the US who later developed polarized views of America, that need each other, the Islamist and the Neo-Con.

ELI PARISER -- His phrase, "filter bubble," now rolls off our lips in discourse about the bizarre politics of the past couple of years.  The information silos, filter bubbles, and corporate influence in the world of news and information is creating harm.  How to protect ourselves when these silos will soon be actual objects in our homes as amazon, facebook, google, att, comcast, verizon et al seek to control our access to information and shape how we think about the world as corporate policy. 

Mike Greensill at the piano. 

Happier New Year and Best wishes for the return of Net Neutrality.