Noam Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent
Noam Chomsky has been called one of the most important intellectuals alive today.
Who is he?
1. Linguistics
A Linguist who revolutionized
the way linguists think about language and how human acquire language.
He looked at a universal
grammar- transformational grammar.He
theorized that humans have an innate feature for language- Language Acquisition
Device (LAD).
2. Effect On Psychology
Noam's ideas about language
contradicted Behaviourists ideas ( Skinner) and caused a revolution in psychological
thinking.
Because language can
be completely original, behaviourists model was disproved.
3. Social Activist
Since the 1960's Noam has
been a social activist criticising the American government.
He was a prominent
protester of the Vietnam War and was arrested in protests.
He has fought for
freedom of speech and other social issues.
4. Media Theorist
Chomsky also has also studied
the media and thought control.
His basic thesis is
that the media is controlled by "elites" who determine what the public
should know.
In 1921 Lippman wrote
about techniques of control necessary for common interests where a specialized
class needs to rule. Lippman believed it was necessary to provide illusions
to keep the ordinary person on course.
Chomsky believes that
this thought control is what the large media groups do: they manufacture consent
by use of propaganda. Many
of the large media corporations are owned by a small group of corporations.Media
in North America is supported wholly by advertisers who own large corporations.If
these people have agendas, then it is possible that what we see is manipulated
by these groups.
Chomsky also talks
about one paired example that history provided: that of Cambodia and East Timor.When
the US was involved in atrocities in Cambodia the information did not reach
North America, but when someone else, Pol Pot, was the aggressor in Cambodia
then suddenly it was the story to report.Chomsky
looked at the amount of coverage that atrocity got and compared that to a similar
atrocity in East Timor where war against these people was supported by US arms.There
was practically no coverage of East Timor. When East Timor was reported on in
the US it was a white-washed version of the story.
For more information about Noam chomsky see Necessary Illusions or Noam Chomsky's Homepage
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copyright 2003Karen E.Hamilton