For your next blog post, apply to War Made Easy -- and its points about mainstream media collusion with the Bush administration's invasion and occupation of Iraq -- Herman and Chomsky's "propaganda model" for understanding biased media coverage of United States governmental policy and conduct. Specifically focus on the propaganda model's "filters," how they operate, and the particular portions of War Made Easy that exemplify the ways the media spins, distorts, and elides facts in order to further federal interests. Not all of the filters may apply. The filters:
-- Size, ownership, and profit orientation of the mass media
-- Advertising sponsorship of the mass media
-- The symbiotic relationship between the mass media and powerful sources of information
-- The projection of "flak," or negative reactions and responses, onto divergent or dissenting views
-- Anticommunism as a control mechanism against dissent (Note: Manufacturing Consent was published just before the fall of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellite states when communism was still perceived to be the greatest threat to American democracy. Thus for our times Islamic fundamentalism can easily be substituted for communism, although the latter certainly remains an effective fear-mongering boogeyman.)
If you need to rewatch clips from the film, War Made Easy is available for viewing on YouTube:
After watching the film War Made Easy the ways in which the Government seems to push the negativity of Islamic fundamentalism upon us has become extremely lucid. Much like the anti communism movement back in the 70’s and early 80’s, much of mass media is consumed by reports that project radical accusations against the Islamic population. Because of one attack it is now a common stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists. The media has had much to do with this because of the amount of time on air that they give to coverage of Islamic incidents. None of them good, and most showing the Islamic population in a negative light.
ReplyDeleteIn the event of a terrorism incident, the government / media quickly deem the cause to be of Islamic nature, when in fact the true nature of the situation has yet to be uncovered. In reality there are many more groups other than Islamic fundamentalists that are behind many of the incidents that the media quickly pin on the Islamic population.
The phrase history repeats itself becomes apparent in these situations as the ways that the media creates a hatred of the Islamic population. The same thing has occurred in semi-recent history with the anticommunism movement that Chomsky used as his main writing point in Manufacturing Consent . During the cold war, everything that was different from the normal American belief was quickly pegged as communism. The media, or puppets of the federal government, were at the head of the charge pushing the propaganda to every day viewers who know nothing else besides what is told to them. Granted, many things were of communist nature at the time but to peg everything as communist was absurd. The same is happening now, and yes. It is still absurd.
In the same way that many events are pinned on the Islamic population, any dissenting views of the government on war or military action is pegged as being that of being for whoever the Americans are sending troops. Even if the opinion is still in the best interest of the people / America as a whole, it is against the government and is quickly put down by some government correspondent who is fed information just like the people are. We hear what the government wants us to hear.
There were many instances in War Made Easy where dissenting opinions were quickly put down as being against America. Shows were cancelled, people were in a sense ex-communicated for speaking their mind. Although they were not punished by law, they were punished by society and shown in such a dark light that everyone else went with the view of the government and shunned them from normal American life.