A classic early example of a psyop was the 1938 “War of the Worlds” broadcast which created “accidental” and “unfortunate” panic and hysteria throughout the United States. Listeners tuned in to what they thought was a real invasion by Martians. It was funded indirectly by the Rockefeller Foundation through the The Princeton Radio Project, and guided at every stage by members of the Council on Foreign Relations.
It is generally considered that the mainstream media “psyop” phenomenon (a psychological operation – designed to steer and manage the perceptions of the masses) is predominantly perpetuated by news and current affairs programming. However, one of the earliest examples from the mainstream media does not pertain to an earthly tale of foreign powers or political intrigue; rather it is, perhaps unbelievably, a story about a Martian invasion of Earth that sets the stage! I refer here to the infamous broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” on October 30th 1938.
In 1898, H. G. Wells published “The War of the Worlds”. The novel was one of the earliest science fiction stories to detail a conflict between mankind and an extra-terrestrial race. The novel is one of the most commented-on works in science fiction. To this day, it has never gone out of print. There have been numerous adaptions including several big screen versions, television films and serials, plays and even a musical.
Herbert George Wells’ contributions to the science fiction genre (particularly “The Time Machine” and the aforementioned “The War of the Worlds”) scarcely hid his political and social observations. Although not the first, Wells was a pioneer in galvanizing the futurist concept of the Utopian/Dystopian paradigm. Most importantly, Wells played a widespread role in the agenda of global governance.
Wells also understood many scientific principles. In 1884, “Wells won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science (later the Royal College of Science in South Kensington, now part of Imperial College) in London, studying biology under Thomas Henry Huxley. As an alumnus, he later helped to set up the Royal College of Science Association, of which he became the first president in 1909.” (Source: Wikipedia) Thomas Henry Huxley was known as (Charles) “Darwin’s Bulldog”.
Wells had a passion and enthusiasm for the belief in an elite-orchestrated collective that could administrate the masses and steer global agendas. Although some will argue that his views on this vision were benevolent, orchestrated in the best interests of all mankind; there are some clues to a slightly more obscure perspective.
In “The Time Machine”, he observed the gap between the elite and the masses and described this world as “perfect”. “Once, life and property must have reached almost absolute safety, the rich had been assured of his wealth and comfort, the toiler assured of his life and work. No doubt in that perfect world there had been no unemployed problem, no social question left unsolved.”
Wells is often cited amongst alternative researchers, due to his authorship of the 1940 piece, “The New World Order”. The book contains many hallmarks of global governance and is, in some places, an almost “how to” guide. In the book, Wells wrote: “There will be no day of days when a new world order comes into being. Step by step and here and there it will arrive, and even as it comes into being it will develop fresh perspectives, discover unsuspected problems and go on to new adventures. No man, no group of men will ever be singled out as its father or founder.” (Source)
Although some will scoff at the term “New World Order” and the inherent implications, it is revealing that those who occupy the world political stage have referred to the encompassing term on countless occasions. A cursory internet search will find videos where the likes of Ronald Reagan, George Bush (Junior and Senior), Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, John Major, and so on, have all used the term in major speeches.
Wells was an avid supporter of eugenics. In 1904 he discussed a survey paper by Francis Galton, co-founder of eugenics, saying: “It is in the sterilisation of failure, and not in the selection of successes for breeding, that the possibility of an improvement of the human stock lies.”
There are also obvious connection between The Fabian Society and Wells. It is worth taking the time to research The Fabian Society, as this particular entity has played a huge role in shaping the last 120 years of global governance. Wells’ membership is very well documented and his views on socialism, race and eugenics were widely shared amongst earlier members of the society. (Source)
With this in mind, it is possible that the contemporary “New World Order” model could be (to some degree) Fabian in origin. Indeed, some researchers assert that this is actually the case. In time, Wells allegedly distanced himself from The Fabian Society. Several sources show his increased critical stance toward them due to “a poor understanding of economics and educational reform.” (1)
I should also point out that Wells was a member of “The Coefficients” – formed by early Fabians such as Lord Robert Cecil and Bertrand Russell. These “Coefficients” eventually formed into ‘The Round Table”. The Round Table (of which H. G. Wells was also a founding member) was a think tank that gave birth to the Royal Institute for International Affairs (RIIA – which ultimately spawned The Tavistock Institute) and its American cousin, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). For over a hundred years, these organisations have been extensively involved with global governance. (Source)
Wells penned the “Declaration of the Rights of Man” for Lord Sankey which was eventually adapted to be the basis of the UN’s “Declaration of Human Rights”. Many researchers have tied the United Nations to various global agendas.
Roger Normand and Saran Zaidi, “Human Rights at the UN – The Political History of Universal Justice”.
There is also the claim that he was a high ranking freemason. His writing does contain references to masonry such as his vague parody of the practice in the short story “The Inexperienced Ghost” (“Masonic Lodge of Research, the Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076”) and the line delivered by the curiously named “Dr Cabal” – explaining his role in creating a “brotherhood of efficiency, the freemasonry of science” in “The Shape of Things to Come”. His 1929 work, “Imperialism and the Open Conspiracy”, probably comes closest to the themes of masonry. There are, however, no discernible references to Wells amongst “official” masonic literature.
Some claim that, because of the implications, great steps have been taken to remove all references to him within masonry. This may well be the case. However, it does not afford us the luxury of making the assumption without, at least, a touch of quantifiable evidence.
These aspects of Wells, that I have covered here, do not wholly constitute his huge legacy in relation to the global agenda though. Whether by design or by fault, it is perhaps telling that Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” became the chosen narrative with which to frame one of the greatest perception management psyops ever conceived.
The Broadcast
On October 30th 1938, Orson Welles and a band of radio actors and players took to the airwaves of the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network (CBS) to broadcast a Halloween episode of the radio drama anthology series “The Mercury Theatre on the Air”. The episode was an adaption of H. G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds”.
The broadcast is now legendary as having had something of a psychological effect upon certain members of the public. According to many sources, a staggering number of people were affected by the show. It has been claimed that many listeners believed that the broadcast was real (to some degree) and began (in various manners) to investigate the veracity of the fantastic claims that Martians really had invaded the Earth.
Over time, it has become clear that there are some contradictions in the numbers of people cited as having reacted in any meaningful manner to the broadcast. Although it is known that an estimated six million Americans listened, stories citing large scale panic and fear seem to have originated from overblown newspaper articles published in the following days and weeks.
“A wave of mass hysteria seized thousands of radio listeners between 8:15 and 9:30 o’clock last night when a broadcast of a dramatization of H. G. Wells’ fantasy, “The War of the Worlds,” led thousands to believe that an interplanetary conflict had started with invading Martians spreading wide death and destruction in New Jersey and New York. The broadcast, which disrupted households, interrupted religious services, created traffic jams and clogged communications systems, was made by Orson Welles, who as the radio character, “The Shadow,” used to give “the creeps” to countless child listeners. This time, at least, a score of adults required medical treatment for shock and hysteria.” – “Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact” – New York Times, October 31st, 1938.
Many of the personal stories recounted by a number of affected listeners became the subject of psychological papers published (on the subject) in subsequent years. The principle source of study came from a report by a group of social scientists, published in a volume entitled “The Invasion from Mars: A Study in the Psychology of Panic” by Hadley Cantril, Hazel Gaudet and Herta Herzog. Although the report claims that “at least a million of them (listeners) were frightened or disturbed”, the statistical data utilized is curious. “Much of our information was derived from detailed interviews of 135 persons. Over 100 of these persons were selected because they were known to have been upset by the broadcast!” A dozen or so personal accounts are recalled in the report.
As a scientific study, I find it less than reliable when an analysis uses the collected data of 135 witnesses (100 of which were pre-chosen for their panicked reaction) and draws conclusion citing testimony numbering in the thousands or millions. It may well be the case that a larger number of people did experience fear and panic, but did they really react in such an extreme and large-scale manner? More substantive evidence, more than a study of 135 people, would clearly be required to form such a conclusion.
History quietly glosses over the fact that the CBS broadcast was far more than a mere artistic endeavour. At the time, a crisis of looming war was brewing in Europe and it was increasingly questioned what role America would play if the crisis escalated to a global affair. All arms of the media were gradually co-opted as a “war propaganda” machine (something which has historically always been the case in wartime), so the nature of CBS (with its documented historical association to the military industrial complex) should have, at the very least, raised a few eyebrows.
This is also interesting given that part of Hadley Cantril’s study concluded that many listeners did not think that the broadcast portrayed an invasion from Mars, but rather an invasion by the Germans.
The study may have had a much broader significance in relation to other issues – also subject to the machinations of perception management. Curiously, the psychological study produced by Hadley Cantril was cited in The Brookings Institute Report (more accurately known as “Proposed Studies on the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs”), submitted to the Committee on Science and Astronautics of the United States House of Representatives on April 18th, 1961.
The section “Implications of a discovery of extra-terrestrial life” is now infamous and considered by many as an “admission” of the existence of extra-terrestrial life. The section also proposed possible scenarios for such a discovery and the larger social implications. The report also questions how leadership should handle information and under what circumstances leaders might or might not find it advisable to withhold such information from the public. Whilst the report makes no real mention of the role that the entertainment media may play in such a scenario, page 226 (note 37) makes a peculiar reference to Cantril’s study as a “useful” guide in dealing with the social implications.
Those involved with the Brookings Report (at least at the upper levels) would almost certainly have known of the players involved with the “The War of the Worlds” psyop, so why did they recommend Cantril’s report specifically? I will leave you to decide the implications of why this study alone was cited in the report.
Those ultimately behind the inception of the Halloween broadcast paint an even clearer agenda picture. The Radio Research Project (R.R.P.) was a social research project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation to look into the effects of mass media on society. Whilst it has always been acknowledged officially that R.R.P. studied the broadcast in the following decade, it is now well-known that the radio play was instigated at the behest of R.R.P. and the elite Rockefeller family.
The Rockefeller Foundation began funding the Radio Research Project in 1937 “to find the effects of new forms of mass media on society, especially radio. Several universities joined up and a headquarters was formed at the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.” (Source)
Those involved include the aforementioned Hadley Cantril (then a psychologist at Princeton University’s Department of Psychology), Paul Lazarsfeld (Director of the Radio Project), Theodor Adorno (Chief of the Music Division), Gordon W. Allport (another of Lazarsfeld’s assistants) and Frank Stanton (then a researcher from CBS sent to help the project.) The individuals involved had a staggering degree of direct involvement with the elite and the principles of global governance.
Allport was a pioneering psychologist, instrumental in establishing the ‘values scale’ system – a key component in the burgeoning field of public relations. Crucially, Allport went on to be the Tavistock Institute’s leading representative in the United States.
Theodore Adorno was also an associate of the Tavistock Institute. His name crops up a fair bit in alternative research, due to his huge role in the explosion of the youth culture and the pop music scene in the early 1960s. Dr John Coleman has written at length about “The Aquarian Conspiracy” – “a living organism which sprang from ‘The Changing Images of Man’ report prepared by Stanford Research Institute.”
(URH (489)-2150-Policy Research Report No. 4/4/74. Policy Report prepared by SRI Centre for the study of Social Policy, directed by Professor Willis Harmon.)
Coleman asserts (perhaps controversially in some eyes!) that Adorno allegedly worked with the Tavistock Institute to modify a 12-atonal musical notation system consisting of heavy, repetitive sounds, taken from the music of the cult of Dionysus and the Baal priesthood. Coleman even asserts that, “Following the Beatles, who incidentally were put together by the Tavistock Institute, came other “Made in England” rock groups, who, like the Beatles, had Theo Adorno write their cult lyrics and compose all the ‘music’.” It is worth taking the time to research this subject, if you haven’t already. However, I will leave you to draw your own conclusions… (3)
Frank Stanton, a member of the hugely agenda-driven Council on Foreign Relationships (CFR), was former executive of CBS broadcasting. He became head of the CBS News Division and eventually president of the network. He was also chairman of the board of The RAND Corporation. RAND has a detailed historical association with global governance and the military industrial complex – notably, also, with psychological warfare and mind control research.
Hadley Cantril was an active and influential member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1939, he established the Office of Public Opinion Research (OPOR) at Princeton. OPOR conducted analysis of the effectiveness of “psycho-political operations” (psyops/propaganda) of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) – the forerunner of the CIA.
His wartime work with The Rockefeller Foundation and (CFR member and CBS reporter) Edward R Murrow helped to establish the Princeton Listening Centre in order to study Nazi radio propaganda and how to apply such techniques to OSS propaganda. Out of the Listening Centre came a new government agency: The Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service” (FBIS), which eventually became the US Information Agency (USIA). USIA was a propaganda arm of the National Security Council.
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