Review

Manipulation of Consciousness (book). Review

0000-0002-1165-5956Filiberto Gutiérrez Verdecia^{1  *} 

¹ Universidad de Guantánamo. Cuba.

Since ancient times, thinkers and philosophers have been interested in the relationship between manipulative influences on human beings and their behavior as a result of those influences. Today, powerful technological resources allow the big companies that own the mass media to erase the barrier between reality and fiction in the media, especially television. The narrow interests that have served as an incentive for the activity of the great majority of the media have had devastating results in the Western world.

To this work and to discover the methods of manipulation and the keys to protect oneself is dedicated this book, here ^{Kara-muza (2018}), unveils the techniques to influence the human mind, the main objectives of manipulation, school and science as a tool to manipulate and how society has begun to defend itself from this scourge.

The content of this book is of great importance in the present times where imperialism has changed its way of fighting against everything that opposes it, changing the methods of military intervention for something more sophisticated, the so-called unconventional warfare, beginning its palliation with the so-called Velvet Revolutions, Color Revolutions and other names that mask them, being the first and fundamental of these Revolutions the Perestroika of the USSR, whose result led to the destruction of the Soviet Union and the entire bloc of socialist countries and their allies.

In libo contains four chapters with their corresponding themes.

Its contents:

Preface:

A brief explanation is given of what the Color and Velvet Revolutions are.

Chapter: I-What is the manipulation of consciousness?

It is made clear to us what manipulation of the consciousness consists of, which not only incites the person who is under such influence to do what the others want, but also forces him to want to do it. Manipulation is not violence but temptation.

The manipulation of the conscience for a long time, even until recently, was called Machiavellianism. In his revelations Machiavelli expresses "For a long time, I never say what I believe, I never believe what I say and if some truth escapes me from time to time, I wrap it in so many lies, that it is difficult to recognize it". (P.54).

Here we also see the fundamental theories of the manipulation of consciousness, among them Antonio Gramsci's doctrine of hegemony.

Chapter: II-Main targets of the manipulators of consciousness.

Here we see the use of signs, thought, feelings, imagination, attention, memory and the myths of the social consciousness as elements which must be directly influenced in order to effectively achieve the desired objectives.

Chapter: III - Manipulation of consciousness and social institutions.

Here we analyze the mass culture and its institutions, the social institutions, fundamentally the school as the most stable social institution that conserves culture and the use of science as an instrument of manipulation of the consciousness, the indiscriminate use of the mass media by the great capitalist consortiums, with television playing a role of primordial importance.

Chapter: IV Manipulation of consciousness during the destruction of the Soviet regime.

The success of the manipulation of consciousness in the years of perestroika, including the manipulation of legislation, as well as the objective premises for the successful manipulation of the Soviet people.

As we have been able to observe during the reading, this subject is of great importance nowadays, since imperialism has taken this method of manipulation of conscience as a new way of destroying anyone who does not subordinate to its interests as a weapon that has given it profitable results in the implementation of its policies of domination and our country is part of that world influenced by it, which obliges us to draw up policies of struggle against this form of interference in the internal affairs of the countries

Referencias bibliográficas

Kara-muza, S. (2018). Manipulación de la Conciencia. Tomo I. Ciencias Sociales.

Received: March 12, 2023; Revised: April 10, 2023; Accepted: May 08, 2023

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