“Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.”

Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky is one of the most important American thinkers of our time. A professor of linguistics at MIT, he became famous for his research and views on mass media and its role in society. Today Chomsky gives lectures all over North America, and his work is required reading in many University classes.

Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state. – Noam Chomsky

I remember when I was first exposed to Chomsky’s views, and how they opened my eyes to view media in a very different way. I never watch the news or read a newspaper without questions running through my mind, and I never receive any slant of any story without the awareness that it has been somehow filtered (whether closer to my opinion or not!.)

A main focus of Chomsky’s work has been the analysis of mainstream mass media, its structures and constraints, and its perceived role in supporting big business and government interests. In their book Manufacturing Consent: The Political economy of the Mass Media, Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman outline their “propaganda model” of news media, stating that more democratic societies use media propaganda as a subtle, non–violent mode of exerting control on the population. Noam Chomsky once said “Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.”

• Chomsky Web site

Watch this video on Chomsky and Herman’s theories to clarify your understanding of the topic:

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