REAL ART VIDEO WEEK!
MANUFACTURING CONSENT: NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE MEDIA

From Wikipedia:

Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992) is a multi award-winning documentary film that explores the political life and ideas of Noam Chomsky, a linguist, intellectual, and political activist. Created by two Canadian independent filmmakers, Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick, it expands on the ideas of Chomsky's earlier book, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, which he co-wrote with Edward S. Herman.

The film presents and illustrates Chomsky's and Herman's propaganda model, the thesis that corporate media, as profit-driven institutions, tend to serve and further the agendas of the interests of dominant, elite groups in the society. A centerpiece of the film is a long examination into the history of The New York Times's coverage of Indonesia's invasion and occupation of East Timor, which Chomsky claims exemplifies the media's unwillingness to criticize an ally.

More here.

This film, along with the book A People's History of the United States, both of which I first encountered in the mid 90s, have probably done more than anything else to push me over to the far left. Chomsky is nothing short of amazing, using extraordinarily simple arguments to demolish vast swaths of mainstream thought and conventional wisdom. I have not yet found a satisfying critique of his political thinking--I mean, sure, I've run into lots of people who hate him, but usually their rebuttals are more along the lines of "fucking crazy, it can't possibly be true," rather than actually addressing what he has to say.

Anyway, check it out. Maybe this'll make you a radical, too. Watch part one at your own discretion:



Watch parts two through seventeen here.

(By the way, I'm well aware that Real Art Video Week has now gone longer than a week, but I'm still memorizing lines, and aren't these some cool videos I've dug up? Give me another week or so, and I'll be back to attacking/defending Barack Obama, which is apparently what I do best.)

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