Interview with Noam Chomsky
You need to read this. Chomsky breaks it down on y’all. Or, if that’s too much for you can just sit back and go enjoy some mass media corporate hip hop.
Popular opinion in the United States has been very well studied, mainly because the business classes, who run the country, want to have their finger on the public pulse – for the purpose of control and propaganda. You can only hope to control people’s attitudes and opinions if you know a lot about them, so we know a lot about public opinion. In the last election, 2004, most Bush voters were mistaken about his views on major issues – not because they’re stupid or uninterested, but because the elections are a marketing system. This is a business-run society: you market commodities, you market candidates. The public are the victims and they know it, and that’s why 80% think, more or less accurately, that the country is run by a few big interests looking after themselves. So people are not deluded, they just don’t really see any choices.
The Obama phenomenon is an interesting reaction to this. Obama’s handlers, the campaign managers, have created an image that is essentially a blank slate. In the Obama campaign the words are hope, change, unity – totally vacuous slogans said by a nice person, who 0looks good and talks nicely – what commentators call “soaring rhetoric” – and you can write anything you like on that blank slate. A lot of people are writing on it their hopes for progressive change. In the campaign, as the Wall Street Journal correctly notes, issues have received little attention. Personal characteristics are the key element. It’s character that’s up front.
But, yes, the support for Obama is a popular phenomenon, and I think it reflects the alienation of the population from the institutions. People are grasping at a straw: here’s a possibility that maybe somebody will stand up for what they want. Even though he’s not saying so, he looks like the kind of person who might do it. It’s quite interesting to look at the comparisons that are made. Obama is compared to John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan – Kennedy and Reagan were media constructions, Reagan particularly. He probably didn’t even know what the policies were, but he was a creation of the media. He wasn’t articularly popular, incidentally, but the media created the image of this wonderful cowboy who would save us, and so on and so forth.
Props to Tikamar for the link!
Filed under: Upset The Setup | 2 Comments
Tags: Chomsky, Control, Elections, Kennedy, Obama, Reagan
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While Chomsky is a very smart man, he’s also very opinionated about everything that IS NOT his field (neurolinguistics), and (IMHO) very good at spinning the obvious in such a way that it seems insightful. Of course elections are about marketing! That’s how you get elected. Sadly, all candidates need to play the game if they want a shot at the job, which requires winning over the racist, retarded, and conservative parts of the country. So of course this is a gigantic marketing blitz.
I think the real issue here is public consciousness of the bandwagon phenomenon and encouraging folks to cut through the hype with questions like: how many of this guys policies are motivated by campaign donations (and for who)? What has inspired this person’s shifts in opinion on X or Y key issue – a change in opinion, change in circumstances, or some other unseen or unexplained cause? If you don’t agree with one of their views… do they have a well-constructed argument for their position?
For example, I am somewhat concerned about Senator Obama’s shift in position on the subject of warrantless wiretapping… then again, warrantless wiretapping is not only an issue where one must consider private influence (from the telco sector) but it is also an issue of social importance for the average American. Unfortunately, Obama gains waaaaay more voter support by embracing warrantless wiretapping than by opposing it. The saddest thing of all is that most folks probably don’t even understand what the whole telco immunity thing was about… something Chomsky hit on the head.
I guess my point is his position is definitely an accurate portrayal of American politics today, but it offers no useful insights to the average Joe trying to pick who to vote for in these upcoming elections… just my long-winded 2c.