#manufacturingconsent — Public Fediverse posts

@SeanAloysiusOBrien "During the cold war, the anticommunist ideological framework could transform any data about existing communist societies into hostile evidence. If the Soviets refused to negotiate a point, they were intransigent and belligerent; if they appeared willing to make concessions, this was but a skillful ploy to put us off our guard. By opposing arms limitations, they would have demonstrated their aggressive intent; but when in fact they supported most armament treaties, it was because they were mendacious and manipulative. If the churches in the USSR were empty, this demonstrated that religion was suppressed; but if the churches were full, this meant the people were rejecting the regime's atheistic ideology. If the workers went on strike (as happened on infrequent occasions), this was evidence of their alienation from the collectivist system; if they didn't go on strike, this was because they were intimidated and lacked freedom. A scarcity of consumer goods demonstrated the failure of the economic system; an improvement in consumer supplies meant only that the leaders were attempting to placate a restive population and so maintain a firmer hold over them.

If communists in the United States played an important role struggling for the rights of workers, the poor, African-Americans, women, and others, this was only their guileful way of gathering support among disfranchised groups and gaining power for themselves. How one gained power by fighting for the rights of powerless groups was never explained. What we are dealing with is a nonfalsifiable orthodoxy, so assiduously marketed by the ruling interests that it affected people across the entire political spectrum."

*Parenti intensifies...*

#socialism #communism #anarchism #marxism #MichaelParenti #parenti #Chomsky #NoamChomsky #InventingReality #ManufacturingConsent

@cdarwin

>With Trump soon back in the White House, and people like Orbán cheering him on from the sidelines, can the hard right bring the media to heel?
>
>In the past the answer would have been a speedy no. The United States has major constitutional protections of First Amendment rights, and a strong commitment to freedom of the press.

The "mainstream media" *is* right wing. All of it. Perhaps not as far right wing as Trump would like, but *all* of it is right wing. If I could choose only one book to require every American to read, it would be Inventing Reality by Michael Parenti.

#InventingReality #MichaelParenti #ManufacturingConsent #EdwardHerman #NoamChomsky

@eloquence

>There will be people who say, “Hey, you work for a company and that company has the right to expect employees to adhere to what’s good for the company”. That’s true except we’re talking about news organizations that have public obligations and who are obliged to nurture a free press in a democracy. Owners of such press organizations are responsible for safeguarding that free press— and trying to get in the good graces of an autocrat-in-waiting will only result in undermining that free press.

Under capitalism, news organizations have no such "public obligations" and are absolutely not "obliged to nurture a free press in a democracy." They are doing what they are designed to do: Invent Reality (or, if you prefer, Manufacture Consent).

I honestly think that reading Inventing Reality, by Michael Parenti, should be a prerequisite to working in journalism:

https://archive.org/details/michael-parenti-inventing-reality-the-politics-of-the-mass-media-1986-st.-martins-press_202012

#capitalism #socialism #communism #marxism #MichaelParenti #InventingReality #EdwardHerman #NoamChomsky #ManufacturingConsent #MainstreamMedia #wapo #WashingtonPost #Disney #Bezos #Amazon

[A long thread ball 🧶]

#Work is a matter of power and domination.
#Work should be a concern of political theory.

Here is the introduction from Kathi Weeks' book 'The problem with work: feminism, Marxism, antiwork politics and postwork imaginaries': https://libcom.org/article/problem-work-kathi-weeks @politicalscience

#fetishism #manufacturingConsent #believe #beliefs #faith #hope #institutionsDeceive #politicalTheory #growth #consumerism #economy #shopping #capitalism #workCulture #jobs #KathiWeeks #imagination #feminism #Marxism #antiwork #politics #postwork #book #buying #consuming #consumption #workEthics #Foucault #bioPower #bioPolitics #MaxWeber #longRead

Remember all the #atrocityStories they made about #JulianAssange?

To the #USA and #Australia,
Step. Away. From. The. Afghanistan.

#mediaDeception #corporateMedia #manufacturingConsent #freeAssangeNow #jailTheWarCriminals #publicRelations #afghanistan