CL Herman and Chomsky

So, the Propaganda Model. While this particular reading lasts for roughly forty pages, I am going to attempt to squeeze my pathetic little observations to a few paragraphs. Here I go.

To begin with, our two theorists break down the Propaganda Model into five filters. Herman and Chomsky say: "The essential ingredients...fall under...(1) the size, concentration of ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media firms; (2) advertising as the primary income source of the mass media; (3) the reliance of the media on information provided by government, business, and "experts" funded and approved by these primary sources and agents of power; (4) 'flak' as means of disciplining the media; and (5) "anticommunism" as a national religion and control mechanism. These elements interact with and reinforce one another" (pg 258).

We are, quite obviously, a jaded and hardened audience. We have spent most of our post-modern lives under the realization that we are constantly being sold not only objects, but corporations. These corporation and brands are suppose to give us our identity.

- Are you a Sprint user, or a more free-and-easy-going TMobile user?
- Do you chew sugar-free Orbit gum, or more traditional DoubleBubble?
-Do you buy your groceries from Publix or a more health-conscious Whole Foods?
- Are you an Iced Cafe Latte or a Vanilla Bean Frapaccino?
- Do you drive a Hummer or a Camry?

Consumers buy not only a product, we also buy a "lifestyle." It is scary to realize that we are given an either/or choice on who we are as individuals. The propaganda machine has told us, since birth, to trust and depend on these corporations. Sure, we'd all love to buy organic produce from a local farmer's market, but how can you depend on that when you are out traveling with your family, your kids are hungry, and you see a Winn-Dixie or WalMart? We are idealistic in theory, but when it comes to practice we have been taught to believe and trust these giant, faceless corporate conglomerates, because they are familiar, and because they give us our identity.

So, are you a Mango Power smoothie or more of a Strawberry and Banana energy smoothie?