Book Review: "Manufacturing Consent"
"Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media" by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky was written in 1988 but is just as relevant today. It's a classic in American literature for calling out the self serving nature of mass media, as opposed to a force that remains neutral and acts as a balance to big corporations and state power. It's a commentary on American society but at its core it show hows mass media can be used for social manipulation, even in a free society. The purpose of the American media was intended to be an unbiased critique of current events, offering citizens a fair look into current events so they could properly inform the government. "Manufacturing Consent" expertly shows how the media will spin events to play into the hands of those in power, missing the opportunity for critique or fair reporting to the general people. I listened to the book on Audible for ~$20 for ~15.5 hours. It was a long listen but incredibly eye opening and informative. Overall I give it 6 out of 10 stars, as it's a groundbreaking and important book, even 30 years later. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in news, history, or even current events. The most poignant example in the book to me, was how we spun the Vietnam war so that the American people were the liberators and morally correct in such a one sided conflict. The reality of the atrocities we committed in Vietnam were seen as detractors to the war effort instead of transparent and honest reporting. I don't think these techniques are going away, merely being adapted for the Internet. While people can do their own fact checking on the Internet, there is still big corporate influence with astroturfing or creating false public opinion. There is also still state censorship of mass media and social media on the Internet, depending on where you live or what your message is. The following are the chapters of the book, so that perspective readers can better understand its contents:
Chapter 1: A Propaganda Model
Chapter 2: Worthy and Unworthy Victims
Chapter 3: Legitimizing versus Meaningless Third World Elections: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua
Chapter 4: The KGB--Bulgarian Plot to Kill the Pope: Free-Market Disinformation as "News"
Chapter 5: The Indochina Wars (I): Vietnam
Chapter 6: The Indochina Wars (II): Laos and Cambodia
Chapter 7: Conclusions
This was a shocking wake up call for me because I had always believed the American media to be more independent and liberal as an extension of democracy. It's almost more insidious that it comes from democratic, liberal organizations as you tend to think of them as free thinkers, so people are less prone to question if they are being manipulated. That said, this type of social manipulation comes right from the CIA playbook, and the USA has used these techniques dozens of times to influence foreign elections and put our chosen leaders in place. The book shows how the idea of free media is actually used in combination with heavy propaganda and targeted media to bend public perception to the will of those who can manipulate the media. We've also seen a lot of this type of biased influence in the recent elections. This is very relevant in our current time as we are inundated with biased news for specific political parties and one must continually seek out independent news sources, often through the Internet. Political messaging is even forced on us through ads and indirectly via our contacts. It makes it important to cross check sources and to check where the sources funding comes from, as these can quickly reveal a bias or marks of manipulation. We saw this in a very real way with people buying Facebook targeted advertising in the previous election, something the films like "The Great Hack" have now revealed (amazing movie). Even Internet service providers like YouTube and Twitter can filter or promote certain content to influence public opinion. It's a brave new world where those who control the platforms or access to information can greatly influence the consumers, making it more vital than ever before for independent reporting. If your into this kind of thing, a friend and I will be presenting on modern techniques in social media manipulation at WOPR Summit 0x1 coming up. The following is a great summary on "Manufacturing Consent" and other parts of Chomsky's works, absolutely worth watching if you want to learn more:
