Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent - on DVD

[Whisp]

http://www.amazon.com/Manufacturing-Consent-Noam-Chomsky-Media/dp/6303295576

Amazon.com
Peter Wintonick and Mark Achbar (((with help from the National Film Board of Canada)))) made this penetrating documentary about the career and views of linguist and media critic Noam Chomsky. While the man is the subject of the movie, the filmmakers wisely and carefully choose not to make Chomsky more important than his insights into the way print and electronic journalism tacitly and often willingly further the agendas of the powerful. We learn a lot about Chomsky's formative experiences as a child, student, academic, activist, and politician (he has campaigned for office), but we learn just as much about the media institutions that deny him access today, from ABC to PBS. The centerpiece of the film, arguably, is a long examination into the history of the New York Times' coverage of Indonesia's atrocity-ridden occupation of East Timor, reportage that (as Chomsky shows us) was absolutely in lock step with the government's unwillingness to criticize an ally. --Tom Keogh

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Highly recommended.
There is a second disk with extras - Chomsky interview in 2007, the Dershowitz/chomsky debate on Israel/Palestine at Harvard in 2005, Noam interviewed by William F. buckley Jr., etc.

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argh. I had to edit the title as I mistakenly put in manufacturing DISSENT - which is the r/w cheat copycat tactic to mislead.

[BridgeTheGap]

1. I saw this in the early 90s and it's just as relevant today as then

maybe even more so.
If you haven't seen it, check it out.

[Whisp]

2. the message is as true as ever.

BTG, you may want to see this again - the extra disk is itself worth the rental fee.

[flashl]

3. Question.

If the DvD was sent to every home in America, how would an individual de-program themselves? Like, I believe?? Frances Bacon.

[Whisp]

4. sorry, don't quite understand what you are asking.

..

[flashl]

7. Sorry for the confusion

Every individual is the sum of his or her limited knowledge and experiences.

If, one day, after some introspection or perhaps an awakening, one realize that their life is based on false premises. What happens? How would one totally reform themselves?

[Whisp]

8. good question and a tough one.

I can only tell you my experience in this - and no, I am not totally reformed but quite different in my views than say, 10 or so years ago where I was much more the expected consumer - both in material things and in accepting information put to me by the various media and social construct. I find that things that used to make me 'happy' just don't do it for me anymore - the things that the media told me should make me happy - new car, more stuff, silly toys, etc.

There was part in the doc last night where Chomsky says you have to work to get the real information. and most people just don't have the time or the inclination to go searching and questioning the rote they've been given all their lives. There is So much information, so much to unlearn... That depressed my hubby a bit as he felt that he is somehow left behind and not able to catch up (I am by far the bigger questioner, etc. and pass onto him my rants and raves quite regularly but no one can really 'catch up'). I then asked him if his views of the world and how it really works have changed, say in the last 10 years or so - and he agreed, yes, he has certainly taken on a whole new eye in many of the things he considered were just to be accepted. So I said to him, well, you've done your work then. You are now able to see things a bit differently than you were trained to do and have a much finer radar for bullshit than most of the people you know.

[flashl]

9. Thanks for sharing.

Years ago, I was sternly warned, 'Don’t Talk About Religion or Politics’. Mainly, because these topics, religion and politics, are tied to an individuals core belief systems. And, as a matter of self-defense, individuals will not permit anyone to strike the root of their psyche.

I've learned the value of the warning, like I learned after trying to bathe the cat.

There is a lot of work in self-transformation and its maintenance when living in an Orwellian society.

[BridgeTheGap]

5. If you haven't read it, Pedagogy of the Opressed is worth checking out

Pedagogy of the Oppressed is the most widely known of educator Paulo Freire's works. It was first published in Portuguese in 1968 as Pedagogia do oprimido and the first English translation was published in 1970. The book examines the struggle for justice and equity within the educational system and proposes a new pedagogy.

Dedicated "to the oppressed, and to those who suffer with them and fight at their side," Freire includes a detailed Marxist class analysis in his exploration of the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. Rooted in his own experience helping Brazilian adults to read and write, the book remains popular among educators in developing countries. According to Donaldo Macedo, a former colleague of Freire and University of Massachusetts professor, the text is still revolutionary, and he cites as evidence students from totalitarian states risking punishment to read Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The book has sold over 750 000 copies worldwide and is one of the foundations of critical pedagogy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedagogy_of_the_Oppressed

[flashl]

6. Thanks.

[Echo In Light]

13. Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man 1964. I read this prior to Chomsky

Outstanding analysis of modern society!

ONE-DIMENSIONAL MAN. STUDIES IN THE IDEOLOGY OF ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY (1964
http://igw.tuwien.ac.at/christian/marcuse/odm.html

http://www.marcuse.org/herbert/

http://huizen.daxis.nl/~henkt/marcuse3.html

[flashl]

14. I am glad the Herbert Marcuse Archive is being maintained.

[Echo In Light]

11. De-programming occurs over time after the initial personal conflict w/the elite propaganda

From there, all sorts of psychological factors come into play ... regarding how much the individual chooses to let in as opposed to filtering out {as usual}.

[Echo In Light]

10. I just posted this the other day:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2422513

Plenty of info outlining how elites uses the media, and media guided social/belief systems to "manufacture" the people's consent.

[rAVES]

12. Chomsky is a treasure and a living legend.

His talks are eye opening and life changing.. I haven't looked at the world quite the same way since being exposed.