Rating: 
Summary: Trite, Tiresome Treacle
Review: This review could easily apply to any of Chumpsky's books on the globo-political hegemonic terror manifested by the existence of the United States, but this one offers less pain than typical due to its comparative brevity and dearth of tautological scribbling, so here we are. The irony of Chump's admirable intellect focused so intently on the evils of America is that he personifies the anti-intellectual underpinnings of so many modern day slaughter-states. Witness Pol Pot, who had everyone in Cambodia with eyeglasses offed because of the threat they posed, or the muderous revolutions in China, Russia and Nazi Germany which lined people up against a wall, smarties first. Freedom is always a threat to those so much smarter than we wee people, because who will listen to brilliant men like Chumpsky when there is Fox news on 24 hours a day? The very fact that two democracies have not been to war against each other is underscored by the dynamic that popularly elected governments can never wage war without the informed will of the people. So Chumpsky undermines this safety-valve on rampant militarism by saying that people are stupid and uniformed, and thereby willing to wage the war in the interest of their superiors, e.g. elected officials. Such bunk. The U.S. is far from perfect, it is not hard to document the stomach turning atrocities of any nation, but to maintain that on the big scoreboard of warmongering the U.S. is not overwhelmingly on the side of preserving peace, freedom and inidividual dignity is the height of stupidity. Roughly 50 years ago Europe embroiled the world in the 2nd monsterously pointless war in 30 years, precisely because there was no dominant nation with large enough interests to maintain the peace. That conflict is traceable today to the festering in the Middle East, yet somehow America is to blame. To say that the U.S. should not assert its might in the world is to say the policy should not assert a presence on the streets. To lay blame for this on the media is to hold the belief that everyone is a total moron and subsequently unworthy of the freedom to make decisions and form beliefs by all available information. Some of the reviews here echo this scary sentiment, mindlessly kissing King Chump's ring as they too conclude it is the U.S. that is to blame for the world's problems afterall.
Rating: 
Summary: Primer on American Propaganda
Review: This small and provactive book offers a sucinct and animated introduction to the nature of media propaganda in the United States. Noam Chomsky is at his best in exposing the machinations of media propaganda and this books does not disappoint.
There is a helpful overview here of the history of American propaganda starting with the Creel Commission in the 1920s up through the Gulf War. In addition, in the reviesed edition there is a final essay on the current "war on terror" which deftly analyzes the inconsistencies in U.S. defences of the war as well as the horrors being propagated by the U.S. in the conflict which is essentially no different from the terrorism it purports to oppose (except that it is much more powerful).
One important note here; if you are seeking a thorougoing analysis of media propaganda in the U.S., this is not the correct book. Chomsky does very little citation or interaction with other works. This book serves much more as an introductory primer to the subject. Those seeking a more thorough analysis should consult Chomsky and Herman's "Manufacturing Consent."
Rating: 
Summary: Provocative essay By An Important Academic Critic!
Review: Those interested in better understanding the many ways on which the electronic media manipulates public opinion would profit mightily from reading this rather short essay from Noam Chomsky concerning the myriad of methods used by what sociologist C. Wright Mills would have referred to as the power elite to shape and reduce the scope of what we know and how we see the world around us. In a wonderful quote from this essay lifted nearly verbatim from a public speech made to a recent Town Meeting for citizens interested in media coverage of foreign policy, Chomsky states that "propaganda is to a democracy what a bludgeon is to a totalitarian state". In this sense, he posits that the use of propaganda, and in particular what some pundits now refer to a political 'spin', is the single most useful device used by the power elite uses to keep the masses in line with their interests and world perspectives. As the many faithful peripatetic readers of Chomsky's essays would expect, he adopts an academic approach to the issue, tracing the history of the use of propaganda in this country from the erudite yet deceptively rabble-rousing pro-intervention speeches made by President Woodrow Wilson, the similarly back-staged endeavors of FDR to draw American support for the embattled British position prior to the attack at Pearl harbor, and even the stage-managed and public-relations intensive efforts to portray the intervention in Kuwait in 1991 as an effort to free a brave democratic people, when the kingdom was in fact a petty fiefdom that was ruled with arrogance and imperious disregard for public comment. As is usual for Chomsky, he is sometimes a bit over the top in the use of hyperbole, but there is a wealth of information and a few surprises in terms of how he illuminates some seemingly innocuous facts into a thesis supporting his overall hypothesis. For Noam, the important aspect of all this is the ways in which the blunt falsification of history (see historian Howard Zinn's volumes on the "History of the American People" for a good example of how badly others have warped it by overemphasizing the role of key elite figures and downplaying the contribution of ordinary people), the suppression of relevant information and the consequent selective publication of partial truths and outright falsifications, and the recent trend toward trivializing the news system through the concentration of the news media on entertainment, and the celebration of personalities and celebrities as opposed to attempting to inform and enlighten citizens regarding the crucial and valuable information they need to make informed decisions regarding their own lives. This is an interesting and worthwhile book, and one I can heartily recommend for the interested reader.
Rating:
Summary: He is 100% Right - And We Have Been Fools
Review: Unfortunately Chomsky is right. The US spurns the vetoes at the UN by its European allies accompanied by derogatory remarks and much anti old Europe propaganda. The US is in fact one of the biggest users of the veto at the Security Council. It would never accept military actions by another country if it applied a veto - but then acts lawlessly when others use the same veto. That is not democracy. The US government continues to path of lawless action outside of norms of international laws and invades Iraq on a WMD pretense that now appears quite false - killing thousands of Iraqi's and perhaps thousands of Americans at a cost of hundreds of billions - the jury is still out. We still have not learned that the killing of millions by the US in Vietnam was almost as bad as the holocaust, since "we did it" to protect democracy. Forget about the Mi Lai massacre, that was peanuts compared to the total killed and the 50,000 Americans wasted. We have invaded Cuba, Grenada, Panama, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon, Kosovo, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Afghanistan, and invaded Guatemala with proxies, and supported Iraq with material aid to fight Iran. We have bombed Libya, Yemen and the Sudan. We have supported police states and dictators such as Jordan and Egypt, and countries in south America including Columbia and Chile. We have made so many enemies that foreign travel is almost impossible by Americans in some countries. Now the rest of the planet, the other 94% have started to attack us back in our home cities. Maybe the Europeans are right. Maybe we are becoming the biggest threat to world peace. Government propaganda is the norm and patriotism has run at a fevered pitch. Everyone shows the flag and supports the government in its atrocities. Chomsky is (unfortunately for us) 100% right and we have supported this whole mess for 45 years. Before I thought Chomsky was a rabbid radical. I did not agree with him until I actually sat down and read his books in detail, slowly page by page. He is right - of course. His tone and language are quite neutral. His writings are not "white hot" as some reviewers suggest. He presents the facts which are simply damming. Maybe not every thing is 100% correct, and he makes small errors, but it is virtually 100% true. We have been fools to support this series of wars and invasions of small helpless countries by our leaders. If there was a legitimate need to intervene there should have been a proper international legal processes. Eisenhower, a great general and military man, has proven himself to be a prophet when he warned us of the US military-industrial complex. It has in fact taken on a life of its own and been carried from one administration to the next, even after the fall of the USSR. Jack in Toronto
Rating:
Summary: Propaganda about propaganda? Yawn...
Review: Unfortunately Dr. Chomsky chooses to ignore that little facts of Soviet and Communist and Nazi propaganda machines within their own states, when referring to historical examples. Goebbels and Stalin are a head above of anyone in histroy as far as domestic propaganda is concerned. Unquestionably, media everywhere is biased and it does take intelligence to read between the lines and not take every opinion media presents as fact, which as a matter of fact is something they don't really hide, after all, since all the media analysts do present is their opinion. And yes media is a political forum of sorts, where there is a freedom to express various "conflicting" opinions, something a non-democratic society would not allow. Now, voters, as such, can reflect to which opinion they succumbed or which opinion they hold at the voting booths, and as a result affect albeit not quiet directly both forcing and domestic policies. Now, as far as ignorance. I may not hold a doctorate, nor invovled in political science much. But I did notice a few things. How it may have escaped, Mr. Chomsky's notice, I do not know, but Neo Nazis almost won election in France, there had to be a run-off between Chirac and the challenger and Neo-Socialists won election in Austria. Now, it may strike Mr. Chomsky stange, but I would choose US democracy against any of those. It may also escaped Mr. Chomsky's notice but US has been in a Cold war for the past 50 of the last 60 years, and a result of actions necessary, to prevent the spread of communistm, US and it's allies were forced to adapt and choose between lesser evils. Now that U.S. is done dealing with cold war, guess what? Time has come to deal with those lesser evils, some of which were coincidentally spawned in the process of the Cold War, especially, since they began to present clear and present danger to US security, namely Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and to certain extent Iraq, albeit reasoning behind Iraqi war is extremely questionable. U.S. had no choice but get involved in both Kosovo and Bosnian conflicts, precisely because UN and our European allies have proven useless and powerless to stop the inflamation of those conflicts, which threatened to engulf the whole of Europe and then the World in another World War. After all both World Wars of the last century were based on combination of motives: ethnical superiority/intolerance and/or border disputes. UN has so far has proven usless and powerless in regards to ethnic and religious conflicts in Africa: Somalia, Rwanda, DR Congo, Sudan, I could go on and on. What Mr. Chomsky fails to understand is that, having evolved as a World Leader during the Cold War, US wound up with no choice but having to pick sides in every piece of pie out there and now has to deal with it. As history has shown, policy of isolation is worse, since it dragged US into two World Wars in the span of 23 years. What Mr. Chomsky and his advocates also fail to understand is that, Hitleristique posture of Taliban and Al-Qaueda about their superiority, and forcing people of other religions to wear marked clothing (something if you know history similar that happened before concentration camps in WWII in german controlled territories) and destcution of cultural heritage of others, mass murder, had to be stopped. Especially, since on the way to building their caliphate, they AQ directly and Taliban by association have attacked US numerous times, and have been involved in every civil war, directly or indirectly in Europe and Asia in the past 10 years. Yes, Chechnya and Russia is just one example, Khattab was a direct representative of Bin Ladin there and advised as well helped run operations there. Despite, for attempts to justify their actions, people must understand that US will not mediate with people bent on their destructions and will not go to UN, as it did not go to the league of Nations, throughout history, since both UN and the League has proven useless and ineffective without the backing of US. All UN achievements can be directly attributed to US and its allies. Everyone else is just using it to spy on each other and push their national agenda, without really contributing much of anything, which, incidentally what UN was created for, in order to help prevent/resolve armed conflicts. In conclusion, although highly enterntaining, the conspiracy theories of Dr. Chomsky are hardly coherent, when taken in a full historical and sociological context. And unfortunately seem to do the same thing to some people that Mr. Chomsky claims media does. Of course his book is a form of media and propaganda.
Rating:
Summary: The Ideal Introduction to the American Propaganda
Review: While high school classes tout the freedom of the press, Chomsky shows why this is not the entire story. The main focus of this book is propaganda--it's power and status and America--and how it functions as media control. Even so, the focus, even in the subtitle, is on the prevalence and power of propaganda, not on the intricate workings how propaganda, in turn, controls the media itself. Chomsky's prose is simple and begs to be read in one sitting, but his evidence is cited well. This is definitely not aimed at graduate students but rather at any literate voter. Reading this book will cause a paradigm shift for the reader who has gone through traditional high school government course. I think that those who believe there is no "media control" or propaganda will be forced to at least face some tough questions, and those who are more prone to agree with Chomsky will find such views expressed quite articulately.
Rating:
Summary: Essential for a free, individual mind
Review: You have two options today as you read this review. 1. Buy this book. Release your mind and discover what has been hidden from you for years by the government and media. Learn to question the media and its interests. 2. Do not buy this book. Stay like a clone, a controlled dummy, fed by propaganda and totally oblivious. Just watch the news and read the papers. Do not consider how wrong they could be. I leave the choice to you, ladies and gentlemen.
|
