A paper I wrote as a Personal response for Manufacturing consent.

Manufacturing consent

A personal response

In class, we watched the film Manufacturing consent a book-cum-movie by a gent by the name of Noam Chomsky. In this movie, he tries to explain the evils of mass media, and the way that we're all being duped by the same corporations. Additionally, he seems to emphasize the idea that there is a group of capitalists sitting around a table in some underground complex who pull every string. You don't sneeze without them knowing about it, etc.

What Noam Chomsky tries to do, is inform us about a very legitimate issue. He's right that the media is quite “in-your-face” about everything they do, and there is a certain amount of spin doctoring going on within the media that could raise concern. However, this is a complete over reaction to what has been going on for centuries. Ever since the first leader, people's opinions have been biased. Humanity is not perfect, no one can approach a situation from a completely unbiased side.

However what Chomsky's theory seems to need, what it has to include to function, is that the world is full of people who cannot think for themselves. He even outlines this theory with the “Political class” and what would seem to be the Proles from 1984. That is where his theory is flawed, in my opinion. He states that their role is to “Follow orders and not to think”, and I must admit, there are people who do that. The problem arises with the fact that there aren't as many as all that, as Humanity is a curious creature, that asks why.

What I learned from this documentary is that there are certain techniques the media uses to influence how they appear to the public. I learned that the media itself selects topics, emphasizes certain points more than others, I learned that they filter information out of given materials.

Essentially, the media is given full control of what they produce, however that isn't actually the thing I feel I learned the most. I feel that the movie presented a very poor image of humanity, based on the fact that he's essentially segregating people into Stupid and Not Stupid. Of course, that's a rather weak claim in today's society, however I feel it's true regarding this subject, and the views of Noam Chomsky.