Ikväll 20:00 - Diskussion kring Chomsky's 'Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in a Democratic Society'

Friday 20th August 11am PDT Thothica Waterfall Garden

A Discussion of Chomsky's lecture: 'Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in a Democratic Society'



Videon tar 1 timme och 40 minuter men folket bakom Thoticas EXISTENTIALIST PROJECT ger här en introduktion för alla som inte har tid att lyssna på Noam Chomskys hela föreläsning.
OBS: Man behöver inte vara amerikan, ha läst Chomsky eller ens ha något att säga på dessa möten. Alla är välkomna att bara sitta ner och lyssna på diskussionen.

A democratic society is one where the people are free to govern themselves; where all have equal access or opportunity to affect the governing of that society. Indoctrination and withholding of information is therefore contrary to a democratic ideal, because it lessens the individual’s opportunity to affect the government of their society.

The standard meaning of a democratic society, what the Ideal democratic society would mean, has in fact been expressed by former Supreme Court Justice of the USA, Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr, who stated: ‘Enabling the public to assert meaningful control over the political process’.

Such ideas are by no means new, as far back as the 17th Century following the English Civil Wars there were private printing presses, public speeches and pamphlet distribution – all actions by worker individuals wanting to be ruled by people of their own kind and not the lords (as the parliament of the time was composed of).

The concern at that point in history (and in further times of public revolt in Anglo-American history) was that if the common working person, the subject of the country, was allowed to know the ways of government they would never find the humility to accept Civil Rule, and presume they know what is best for their society.

If such an attitude were to be adopted by the populace, then this would undermine the rule of any estate owner to enforce their law on their own property, as expressed by the first Chief Justice John Jay, who stated: ‘Those who own the country ought to govern it’.

(Editor’s Note: How exactly such people got to own the country is a matter we shall leave to your own reflection.)


http://slurl.com/secondlife/Clemson%20University%20Dev/242/181/25

So what is needed instead is a means by which the public is properly educated into alignment with the interests of the powerful and privileged (the aforementioned owners). The first precedent for this was the Committee for Public Information (Creel Committee), who were commissioned by President Wilson to publish propaganda that would ensure public support and enrolment in the First World War.

Wilson’s adviser, Edward Bernays, part of the Creel Committee once commented ‘the essence of democratic society... (is the) engineering of consent’. Notice that this definition of a democratic society is directly contrary an individual’s opportunity to effect how their society is governed (our original, standard meaning of democracy).

The Creel Committee was the first organisation of its kind, Public Relations. Chomsky has observed the mission statement of the Public Relations industry as ‘Controlling the public mind’ from its beginnings here right up to
the present, it is the ‘public mind’, as commented by an AT&T rep in 1909, that is the only serious danger confronting ‘the company’.

The need to subdue public opinion is necessary to protect the position of the ruling classes, which have been the owners of the respective countries, from the public (their subjects). The use of propaganda on a countries’ public is a tactic one might use in warfare, all the more ironic when used by a state on its own public. That is treating its people as an enemy, which, if they were informed enough, might attempt to overwhelm the privileged ruling class by sheer numbers alone. So it becomes necessary to prevent such public informedness.

Public Relations and the media have since performed this societal role of presenting and defending the ideologies approvable by the ruling body. Quite cleverly, the media is taken to be liberal, liberal to the point of challenging the government’s power, it is indeed hotly debated (or was in the late 80’s) if this liberality is a
good or bad thing, whether it misleads the public or not. What is excluded however is a challenge of the factorial assumption.

A casing point is the war on Vietnam, there was the opinion in the media that greater force and heroism was required to win this defensive assault in South Vietnam – there was also the opinion discussed in the media that this defensive assault in South Vietnam was too bloody and would result in that countries’ ruin if even won at all. What was thoroughly excluded from the mainstream debate was the argument that it wasn’t a defensive assault on South Vietnam at all, it was in fact an attack on this country.

And this is the crux of Chomsky’s Propaganda modeling of the media, that the possible positions on a topic, all of which are approvable by the ruling body, are presented for discussion and reflection to the public via mainstream media. Thereby the public is empowered democratically to choose only between state pre-approved positions and anything that goes beyond the most liberal of these positions may be marginalised as the opinion of a ‘cook’.

Indeed it is only by good grace or good fortune that a person may educate themselves enough to formulate an independent opinion on the matter not provided by mainstream media. Even the education system (presided over by STATE-education) goes toward preparing people for the pre-approved positions.

In short, the state (The owners of the country) allows into public discussion only that which will support its own position and thoroughly denies the possibility of anything but that. It is undermining of a democratic society that consent is thus manufactured; the Individual is deprived of the information, or of independent speakers from which to gather a political opinion, all their sources are state-endorsed and hence state-supporting. The Individual is disempowered to keep quiet and be a silent worker for those who own their land.