Accessories

Chomsky nails it again!
This is the kind of concise brilliance you can expect from Chomsky on the topic of propaganda:

In Manufacturing Consent, co-authored with Edward Herman, Chomsky proposed a model of the mass media that moulds this consent with bias and omission. "Propaganda is to democracy what violence is to totalitarianism," they wrote. While some see the "propaganda model" as reducing everyone to dupes or liars, others have dismissed it as conspiracy theory. "It's exactly the opposite - it's free-market theory," says Chomsky. "The media are major corporations. They sell a product (readers or viewers) to a market (advertisers). If a Martian were looking at this system, what would he expect? That the media product would be shaped by the perspectives and interests of the sellers and buyers and the external conditions (the state). You'd expect no interaction at all. It's no more a conspiracy than that General Motors tries to make a profit."

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Title sounds like what he wants to do
I may agree a little with his basic point but he VASTLY overstates the issue. I could write for an hour listing cases where the press challenged the status quo in government, business ,etc. He is just not happy because it is not a 24 hour a day propaganda machine for the left. They sometimes have to, for example, challenge corrupt liberals (like the govenor of Illinois and the mayor of Detroit) in the name of the truth.

I feel ripped off
I was disappointed (to say the least) with this product. Audio was awful (re-recorded radio shows I think) too low to hear but when I'd turn it up, he'd start "yelling". The "chapters" were organized in some fashion but it wasn't logical. The material was repeated from one "show" to another.

I made a bad choice.

Jay

Lord of the Flies & 1984 revisited
If you weren't thoroughly disgusted, disillusioned and demoralized by living in the United States, this ought to push you over the edge.

The best Chomsky lecture on CD
I think I own all of the Chomsky lectures available on CD, and this is by far my favorite. Something about the topic or perhaps the audience he is speaking to results in this lecture being very easy to listen to. Noam starts his discussion off with some basics and cogently builds a tremendously infomative story of labor, public relations/propaganda, control of the masses, government in practice and theory, etc. Even though I've owned this CD for years, I am still learning from it. Truly bottled genius. This is Chomsky seeing the world clearly, and sharing his insight compellingly. If you happen to be new to Chomsky, this is a great place to start.