16 votes

A Propaganda Model - Excerpt from Manufacturing Consent

5 comments

  1. thundergolfer
    Link
    This early section describing the model is I think probably one of the most efficient deliveries of important knowledge in modern english. With roughly 12,000 words Chomsky & Herman can completely...

    This early section describing the model is I think probably one of the most efficient deliveries of important knowledge in modern english. With roughly 12,000 words Chomsky & Herman can completely rebuild a new reader's socio-political worldview.

    If anyone else has any other contenders for highest (importance / word-len) score let's hear 'em.

    9 votes
  2. [3]
    thejumpingbulldog
    Link
    This is very interesting, yet I wonder how much this translates in the internet age, as since 1988 we have seen a massive decline in readership first from newspapers, and even recently from some...

    This is very interesting, yet I wonder how much this translates in the internet age, as since 1988 we have seen a massive decline in readership first from newspapers, and even recently from some sites like Buzzfeed. In an medium which presents even more opportunities for advertising and even more target advertising than the TV could've offered, how has that changed the game? Or the huge constellations of local TV stations owned by massive corporations? Or just even sites such as YouTube or Facebook? I'm really nervous these days as it seems like it has gone from propaganda at a global scale to an individual scale. They can know everything about you, your wants, hopes, desires, wishes. Who's to say they can't use that to make you act against your best self-interest?

    3 votes
    1. [2]
      thundergolfer
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Matt Tiabbi has looked at how the model has aged. He talks about it a bit here. Though the internet is here and it's huge, people older than 40 still ingest a lot of traditional media. I think the...

      Matt Tiabbi has looked at how the model has aged. He talks about it a bit here. Though the internet is here and it's huge, people older than 40 still ingest a lot of traditional media. I think the full reckoning for the model's continued relevance is probably ~10-20 years away.

      A while ago I saw some journalist on Twitter say they're writing a whole book that seeks to update the propoganda model for the 21st century, but I can't for the life of me find info about it now.

      4 votes
      1. GnomeChompski
        Link Parent
        From what I understand from what I've read starting with the pioneers of modern psychological and sociological research and theories of Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Edward Bernays up to...

        From what I understand from what I've read starting with the pioneers of modern psychological and sociological research and theories of Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Edward Bernays up to contemporaries in evolutionary psychology and lingustics like Steven Pinker and Chomsky, the tools of propaganda need only be adapted for a changing collective state of society due to the fact that the foundation of these tools are based on fundamental psychological hardwiring in people as a whole.

        2 votes