Chomsky, Noam - Necessary Illusions

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Noam Chomsky:

«Necessary Illusions: Thought

Control in Democratic Societies»

Sprache: Englisch

Taschenbuch

422 Seiten

South End Press

Erscheinungsdatum: 1. Juni 1989

ISBN: 0896083667

What role do the media play in a capitalist democracy? Based on the Massey Lectures,

delivered in Canada in November 1988, Necessary Illusions argues that, far from perfor-

ming a watchdog role, the «free press» serves the needs of those in power. With this book,

Chomsky rips away the mask of propaganda that portrays the media as advocates of free

speech and democracy:

In short, the major media are corporations «selling» privileged audiences to other busines-

ses.... Media concentration is high, and increasing. Furthermore, those who occupy mana-

gerial positions in the media...belong to the same privileged elites, and might be expected

to share the perceptions, aspirations, and attitudes of their associates, reecting their

own class interests as well. Journalists entering the system are unlikely to make their way

unless they conform to these ideological pressures, generally by internalizing the values....

Those who fail to conform will be weeded out...

-- from the Massey Lectures

chapter 1_

chapter 2_

chapter 3_

chapter 4_

chapter 5_

appendix 1_

appendix 2_

appendix 3_

appendix 4_

appendix 5_

•

••••• content

•

DEMOCRACY AND THE MEDIA 8

Notes 34

CONTAINING THE ENEMY 41

Notes 71

THE BOUNDS OF THE EXPRESSIBLE 76

Notes 114

ADJUNCTS OF GOVERNMENT 122

Notes 160

THE UTILITY OF INTERPRETATIONS 167

Notes 209

1. Propaganda Model: Some Methodological Considerations 217

2. On Critical Balance 248

Notes 275

1. The Containment Doctrine 286

2. The Red Scare 293

Notes 299

1. The Sanctity of Borders 303

Notes 309

1. The Craft of «Historical Engineering» 311

2. The Obligation of Silence 324

3. The Summits 337

4. The Media and International Opinion 341

5. Demolishing the Accords 348

Notes 398

1. The U.S. and Costa Rican Democracy 412

2. «The Evil Scourge of Terrorism» 421

3. Heroes and Devils 439

4. The «Peace Process» in the Middle East 446

5. The Best Defense 490

6. La Prensa 496

7. «The Courage to Preserve Civil Liberties» 514

8. The Continuing Struggle 524

Notes 538

•

PREFACE

The ve chapters that follow are modied versions of the ve

1988 Massey lectures I delivered over Canadian Broadcas-

ting Corporation radio in November 1988. These lectures sug-

gest certain conclusions about the functioning of the most ad-

vanced democratic systems of the modern era, and particularly,

about the ways in which thought and understanding are shaped

in the interests of domestic privilege. Following these ve chap-

ters are appendices that are intended to serve, in effect, as ex-

tended footnotes amplifying some of the points raised, separa-

ted from the text so as not to obscure too much the continuity

of the discussion. There is an appendix, divided into sections,

for each chapter. Each section is identied by the part of the

text to which it serves as an addendum. These appendices

should be regarded merely as a sample. As references indicate,

some of the topics touched upon in the text and appendices are

explored in further detail elsewhere. Many of them merit se-

rious research projects.

The issues that arise are rooted in the nature of Western in-

dustrial societies and have been debated since their origins. In

capitalist democracies there is a certain tension with regard to

the locus of power. In a democracy the people rule, in princip-

| Preface |

le. But decision-making power over central areas of life resides

in private hands, with large-scale effects throughout the social

order. One way to resolve the tension would be to extend the

democratic system to investment, the organization of work,

and so on. That would constitute a major social revolution,

which, in my view at least, would consummate the political

revolutions of an earlier era and realize some of the libertari-

an principles on which they were partly based. Or the tension

could be resolved, and sometimes is, by forcefully eliminating

public interference with state and private power. In the advan-

ced industrial societies the problem is typically approached by

a variety of measures to deprive democratic political structures

of substantive content, while leaving them formally intact. A

large part of this task is assumed by ideological institutions

that channel thought and attitudes within acceptable bounds,

deecting any potential challenge to established privilege and

authority before it can take form and gather strength. The en-

terprise has many facets and agents. I will be primarily concer-

ned with one aspect: thought control, as conducted through

the agency of the national media and related elements of the

elite intellectual culture.

There is, in my opinion, much too little inquiry into these

matters. My personal feeling is that citizens of the democratic

societies should undertake a course of intellectual self-defense

to protect themselves from manipulation and control, and to

lay the basis for more meaningful democracy. It is this concern

that motivates the material that follows, and much of the work

cited in the course of the discussion. ¶

•

••••• chapter one

•

DEMOCRACY AND THE MEDIA

Under the heading «Brazilian bishops support plan to demo-

cratize media,» a church-based South American journal

describes a proposal being debated in the constituent assembly

that «would open up Brazil‘s powerful and highly concentrated

media to citizen participation.» «Brazil‘s Catholic bishops are

among the principal advocates [of this]...legislative proposal to

democratize the country‘s communications media,» the report

continues, noting that «Brazilian TV is in the hands of ve big

networks [while]...eight huge multinational corporations and

various state enterprises account for the majority of all commu-

nications advertising.» The proposal «envisions the creation of

a National Communications Council made up of civilian and

government representatives [that]...would develop a demo-

cratic communications policy and grant licenses to radio and

television operations.» «The Brazilian Conference of Catholic

Bishops has repeatedly stressed the importance of the commu-

nications media and pushed for grassroots participation. It has

chosen communications as the theme of its 1989 Lenten cam-

paign,» an annual «parish-level campaign of reection about

some social issue» initiated by the Bishops‘ Conference.1

The questions raised by the Brazilian bishops are being

| Chapter One_Democracy and the Media |

seriously discussed in many parts of the world. Projects explo-

ring them are under way in several Latin American countries

and elsewhere. There has been discussion of a «New World

Information Order» that would diversify media access and

encourage alternatives to the global media system dominated

by the Western industrial powers. A UNESCO inquiry into such

possibilities elicited an extremely hostile reaction in the United

States.2 The alleged concern was freedom of the press. Among

the questions I would like to raise as we proceed are: just how

serious is this concern, and what is its substantive content?

Further questions that lie in the background have to do with a

democratic communications policy: what it might be, whether

it is a desideratum, and if so, whether it is attainable. And, more

generally, just what kind of democratic order is it to which we

aspire?

The concept of «democratizing the media» has no real

meaning within the terms of political discourse in the United

States. In fact, the phrase has a paradoxical or even vaguely

subversive ring to it. Citizen participation would be considered

an infringement on freedom of the press, a blow struck against

the independence of the media that would distort the mission

they have undertaken to inform the public without fear or fa-

vor. The reaction merits some thought. Underlying it are beliefs

about how the media do function and how they should func-

tion within our democratic systems, and also certain implicit

conceptions of the nature of democracy. Let us consider these

topics in turn.

The standard image of media performance, as expressed by

Judge Gurfein in a decision rejecting government efforts to bar

publication of the Pentagon Papers, is that we have «a cantan-

kerous press, an obstinate press, a ubiquitous press,» and that

these tribunes of the people «must be suffered by those in au-

thority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom

of expression and the right of the people to know.» Commen-

| Chapter One_Democracy and the Media |

ting on this decision, Anthony Lewis of the New York Times ob-

serves that the media were not always as independent, vigilant,

and deant of authority as they are today, but in the Vietnam

and Watergate eras they learned to exercise «the power to root

about in our national life, exposing what they deem right for

exposure,» without regard to external pressures or the demands

of state or private power. This too is a commonly held belief.3

There has been much debate over the media during this pe-

riod, but it does not deal with the problem of «democratizing

the media» and freeing them from the constraints of state and

private power. Rather, the issue debated is whether the media

have not exceeded proper bounds in escaping such constraints,

even threatening the existence of democratic institutions in

their contentious and irresponsible deance of authority. A

1975 study on «governability of democracies» by the Trilateral

Commission concluded that the media have become a «notab-

le new source of national power,» one aspect of an «excess of

democracy» that contributes to «the reduction of governmen-

tal authority» at home and a consequent «decline in the inu-

ence of democracy abroad.» This general «crisis of democracy,»

the commission held, resulted from the efforts of previously

marginalized sectors of the population to organize and press

their demands, thereby creating an overload that prevents

the democratic process from functioning properly. In earlier

times, «Truman had been able to govern the country with the

cooperation of a relatively small number of Wall Street lawyers

and bankers,» so the American rapporteur, Samuel Huntington

of Harvard University, reected. In that period there was no

crisis of democracy, but in the 1960s, the crisis developed and

reached serious proportions. The study therefore urged more

«moderation in democracy» to mitigate the excess of democra-

cy and overcome the crisis.4

Putting it in plain terms, the general public must be reduced

to its traditional apathy and obedience, and driven from the

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NoamChomsky:«NecessaryIllusions:ThoughtControlinDemocraticSocieties»Sprache:EnglischTaschenbuch422SeitenSouthEndPressErscheinungsdatum:1.Juni1989ISBN:0896083667Whatroledothemediaplayinacapitalistdemocracy?BasedontheMasseyLectures,deliveredinCanadainNovember1988,NecessaryIllusionsarguesthat,farfrompe...

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Chomsky, Noam - Necessary Illusions

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