How Political Power Uses Propaganda to Distract the Public: Noam Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent

Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies is a 1989 book by US academic Noam Chomsky concerning political power using propaganda to distort and distract from major issues to maintain confusion and complicity, preventing real democracy from becoming effective. The title of this book borrows a phrase from the writings of Reinhold Niebuhr.

Nearly the entire first half of the book is based on Chomsky's five 1988 Massey Lectures on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio from November 1988 and extends his and Edward S. Herman's propaganda model to a variety of new situations. The remaining appendices address criticisms of the work and provide additional detail.

As a genre of political thought, parallels exist between Niebuhr's "necessary illusions" and the "noble lies" of Leo Strauss, "public relations" of Edward Bernays and "myth making" of Niccolò Machiavelli. Likewise, Chomsky's analyses in Necessary Illusions represent a refocus on the use of these patterns of power, which he implies to underscore the failure of populations - particularly in a representative democracy - to learn from history in this regard.

Contents

Democracy and the Media

Containing the Enemy

The Bounds of the Expressible

Adjuncts of Government

The Utility of Interpretations

Appendix I

The Propaganda Model: Some Methodological Considerations
On Critical Balance

Appendix II

The Containment Doctrine
The Red Scare

Appendix III

The Sanctity of Borders

Appendix IV

The Craft of "Historical Engineering"
The Obligation of Silence
The Summits
The Media and International Opinion
Demolishing the Accords

Appendix V

The US and Costa Rican Democracy
"The Evil Scourge of Terrorism"
Hereos and Devils
The "Peace Process" in the Middle East
The Best Defense
La Prensa and its Colleagues
"The Courage to Preserve Civil Liberties"
The Continuing Struggle

See also

John Taylor Gatto The Underground History of American Education
Adam Curtis Century of the Self

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