- Title: Media Control – The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
- Author: Noam Chomsky
- Published: 1991
- Publisher: Seven Stories Press, New York, NY
- ISBN: 1-888363-49-5
Chomsky’s approach to the media and its backing group as a specialized class might seem outdated in the eyes of people in the 2020s. Chomsky is not a theorist, but an activist. He has maintained his view that if we know what is going on beyond what the media has shown us, we can make our system better. The book ‘Media Control‘ is another attempt to show us how propaganda has been successfully ruled the majority of us out of the political scene.
The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum—even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.
from the book
We need to look carefully at how the media propaganda has been worked in the western world. It is not a total control of what you see, hear, and think. It is a subtle maneuver of guiding the mass to the desired direction. Many postmodernist thinkers showed that it is not possible to manipulate the mass fully. The mass is not dumb and possess subversive power to adopt new direct regulations.
The book’s main focus is how the business and the media nudge people to accept the decision of a few. It is dangerous that people are involved in political decisions directly. They need to trust the government (run by a few), sit back, and enjoy their personal lives. That’s how democracy should work.
Social media can be a double-edged sword. It mobilizes the mass movement, but at the same time, it will divert our attention so that we lose focus. It is still our responsibility to filter the messages by the media, acknowledge the real issue, and mobilize our actions.
Scriptorium 