STEVE-O Chomsky

Fist off, I want to congratulate the reader for being a worthy subject for my exposition. Those unworthy folk just don’t know what they’re missing, or should I say what we are missing…? According to the Chomster, we [the viewer/consumer] are not given the opportunity to hear the newsworthy voices that are oppositional to big business and dominant politics. Could he be more right—doubt it.

“media news people, frequently operating with complete integrity and good will, are able to convince themselves that they choose and interpret the news ‘objectively’”
(M 258).

And who does that sound like? Horkheimer and Adorno, “Their lack of resistance certifies them [media] as reliable customers [employees] (M 63)…All have become employees” (M 62). Horky and Ady would have loved this Essay! Starting off with the quote, “The whole world is passed through the filter of the culture industry” (M 45). Chomsky and Herman just expand the cultural filter concept to fit the mold of the late 20th century. We come to find out that T.V. “is an advertising-supported medium, and to the extent that that support falls out, programming will change” (M 268). This takes us back to last week and Marx’s Golden Rule “He who has the gold, RULES!” What happens in the American media blitz is the “top tier” providers are all racing to find news which:
1) Makes money
2) Doesn’t offend big investors
3) Doesn’t offend informants/officials
4) Doesn’t disrupt or question the sovereignty in charge
5) Lastly, something the viewer/consumer would enjoy or find interesting
This is the “Cult of the News New”!!!!! Jameson’s “frantic economic urgency of producing fresh waves of ever more novel-seeming goods”/news/entertainment/profit margins/advertising potential/ect. ect.”
Everyone becomes a pawn in the manipulation and exploitation of the culture they live in. Consequently, “The dominant taste derives its ideal from the advertisement” (M 64). I believe this dominant taste or political agenda is what Hebdige describes as “common sense”(M 149); “ideology saturates everyday discourse in the form of common sense” (M 148). Chomsky writes, “It is therefore appropriate that this restructuring has taken place to allow the commonly held opinions (meaning those that are functional for elite interests) to continue to prevail” (M 273). These opinions become our “common sense.”
We learn to ignore the tragedy of our enemies and, “Concentrate on the victims of enemy powers and forget about the victims of friends” (M 280). Horkheimer writes, “Mass culture gives tragedy permanent employment as routine” (M 62). Let me stop here and say…. WE’RE ALL SKREWED!!!