"Manufacturing Consent": Noam Chompsky and the Media.

Essay by vaughan0 September 2005

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The title of the film, "Manufacturing Consent" is a term given to explain the process by which the distribution of ideas and stories are purposely constructed to control the resulting beliefs held by the masses that watch and consume those stories. The consent of the people and the general public is the consent, or opinions being manufactured by the government, and the political system. Their intentions are such that they can manufacture the consent of the people and make sure that their choices and attitudes will be structured in such a way that they will always do what is in the government's interest, which often parallels the interests of corporate America. It is in simpler words, propaganda.

"Necessary illusions" describes the idea that the illusions or propaganda that the government and societal elite control the people with is necessary to run a society effectively. This is the view of the government, and those with political power, for they feel the mass public isn't capable enough to know which course of action to take.

Therefore, their opinions must be fed to them through the means described previously, which is manufacturing consent.

The mass media serves as a system for communicating messages and symbols to the general public. It is their function to entertain, and inform, and to instill individuals with the values, beliefs, and codes of behavior that will conform them into the mainstream way of thinking. With corporations and money controlling the country, different class interests often clash, so in order to keep the upper class in control a system of propaganda must be put in place through the most obvious means possible, which is the media. If the distributors of news sway from the popular idea, they are seen as conflicting with the interests of the businesses...