My Library

The first factor arose when certain subliminal researchers opined that the subconscious could be influenced by means too subtle to register directly on consciousness awareness -and that the influences will modify not only subconscious but conscious responses and mental behavior. Historically speaking, there really should not have been a "controversy" here, because the evidence for this is monumental, and this concept was easily accepted by psychologists. But the second factor, the one which produced the controversy, had emerged not from conventional psychologists, but from those studying the topics of mind-control, behavior modification, and, above all, the elements of brain-washing. Those topics WERE controversial, largely because they moved the subconscious too close to -- well, too close to psychological mind-control possibilities and societal management via methods the general public were not aware of. It can quite easily be shown that public knowledge of this kind of research was suppressed largely by common and unspoken consent among the conventional sciences, and which suppression has been documented by other researchers. This particular controversy raged mostly behind the scenes until 1973 when a particular book attempted to blow the lid off of it. This was the famous book by Wilson Bryan Key unambiguously entitled SUBLIMINAL SEDUCTION: AD MEDIA’S MANIPULATION OF A NOT SO INNOCENT AMERICA [New York: New American Library, 1973.]