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Manufacturing Consent- Noam Chomsky: Review of Ideas

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Manufacturing Consent- Noam Chomsky: Review of Ideas

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‘The Propaganda Model’ is an excerpt from the book ‘Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media’ by Noam Chomsky and it talks about the underlying effects private mass media has on the viewer and its incentive structures as an institution. The premise of Chomsky’s argument is that mass media is used as a tool by private corporations and the government to indoctrinate and condition the masses for their own personal benefit. Chomsky highlights five filters of the media which make it an institution that is easily influenced and controlled by the aforementioned powers: media ownership, advertising, the media elite, the use of flack and the creation of a common enemy.

Chomsky argues that with the coming of the digital age, media houses have advanced with the times by shifting from print to TV and now onto media convergence and this has caused them to grow into large corporations. While, in the status quo millions of small news agencies and media houses run around the world, only a select few control the market: this is because they are the agencies which both broadcast and collect news, while others simply buy news from them. This oligopoly of media firms exists in most democratic nations around the world. These leaders of the industry are funded and have grown to such great heights due to the investment and expertise of the corporate firms which own them and corporate sector giants who sit on their boards. This direct influence over the media houses, grants these firms control over the bias, political standing and broadcasting of these channels. To take an example, recently Spicejet- an Indian commercial airline- bought a majority stake in India’s world-renowned News Channel- New Delhi Television (NDTV), such investments help big corporates like Spicejet further their interests using the news channel. Apart from direct investment, Chomsky highlights that even taking on debt from big investment banks can have a similar effect as the bank’s interest is then given precedence much like that of a corporate firm.

Another factor of influence is the government as it dictates and creates media and censorship laws. Therefore, the big media houses are always compelled to pander to the ruling party and its interests for their own survival. The access the ruling party has to state agencies like intelligence agencies, investigation agencies and an influence (in some cases) over the judiciary, requires these media firms to abide by their ways in order to exist. Failure to do so can result in changing of specific laws which target a firm or putting unnecessary enquiries into their finances. This can be seen in India under the Modi administration. Recently, the owners of NDTV Prannoy and Radhika Roy were detained in the Mumbai International Airport because the enforcement directorate had re-visited a closed enquiry into their finances which was cleared years ago. This sort of harassment and enquiry can be attributed to the objective and non-biased reporting NDTV is famous for; their failure to comply with BJP propaganda earned the promoters such a fate of detention. This is an example of how the state can indirectly control and coerce media firms to abide by their standards.

All these external private players and governments are so willing to invest or getting financially involved with the media because of the accessibility it brings as a platform: almost the entirety of the human population accesses some media platform on a daily basis. This kind of reach brings with it immense amounts of power because what these media houses put out there is what helps shape the people’s “values, beliefs, and codes of behaviour”.

The primary source of income for media houses has shifted from the revenue they earn by selling papers to the payments they get for advertising space on newspaper. The rise of advertising has caused both local and radical newspapers to close down because they have limited readership as compared with the big mainstream ones- the same ones which are already controlled by the state or the private sector. So, advertising becoming the main revenue stream acts as a barrier to entry for smaller media firms. This re-enforces the bias and creates a ‘media elite’ who run the narrative fed to the masses. This argument put forth by Chomsky is fair because it is only more localised media firms which have unconventional views that can be different from that of the government or the big corporates. For instance, a socialist newspaper that runs in California would face such a problem because it’s readership would be limited and advertising firms would simply not be interested in such a small, radical consumer base. All in all, this helps propagate the bias and the media becomes an institution which ‘manufactures consent’.

The media gets its raw news from convenient sources like the government, state agencies or big corporate firms because it is cheap and objective. This source of news contributes towards the bias which grows in a news organisation. Considering that the only institutions which have the resources to collect news in its raw form are governments and big corporates, they will give out the information which is in their best interest and any criticism towards them will be brushed under the carpet. Thus, Chomsky argues that news collection is structurally prone to bias because governments and big firms have multiple ways to access what goes on to the screen. Even the opposition media gets in terms of the kind of opinions, information or interviews they entertain come from the state or big firms. These are in the form of court cases, enquiries or boycott-  mechanisms which require a lot of resources- the amount that only the state or the big corporates can invest. Therefore, any dissidents can be silenced using this ‘flack’ which these institution’s use. An example of this is a defamation case put on NDTV by Amit Shah last year which cost NDTV a drop in viewership and TRP ratings.

Conclusively, media houses are majorly influenced by both the state and the corporate sector be it in terms of ownership, flack management, advertising or news collection. This influence helps these institutions use the media for their vested interests like promoting their goods or supporting their policies, thus the media acts as a medium to convey their messages to the masses and it manufactures the people’s consent without them even knowing.

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In the book ‘Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature’, Ngugi wa Thiong’o discusses the role of language in colonial efforts and in doing so establishes certain fundamental roles of language. Ngugi identifies two roles of a language: communication and creation of culture. The latter is the focus of the first chapter, which draws the link between language and the development and passing down of belief systems. Considering Ngugi is from Kenya, the book revolves around the impact the forced learning of English had on East Africa, however his arguments aren’t context specific and are applicable to all colonised nations.

The fundamental concept Ngugi explores is the use of language and literature to shape the neo-colonial mindset of the people living in the commonwealth nations of today. While violence and fear mongering were used by coloniser’s to extract the maximum economic benefit from the natives (which was the primary incentive of imperialism), Ngugi brings forth a greater force which was at play: the imposition of language and cultural hegemony. Ngugi explains that by creating missionary school, central boards of education and making English education compulsory, the British were able to indoctrinate the native children and make them write, read and even think in English. In order to minimize resistance, Ngugi says that the British used corporal punishment as a deterrent to not speak in the native language: Igbo or Gikuyu on school campus. Apart from suppressing native languages, they also highly incentivized mastering English by highly rewarding winners of essay writing, loud reading and debating competitions. Ngugi describes this as “psychological violence in the classroom” which acted as a means of spiritual subjugation for the youth (which now forms the English-speaking class of these commonwealth nations). Similar methods seemed to have been employed in India as well and the extent of this was so great that the freedom fighters and fathers of the nation: Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Pandit Nehru themselves all spoke and thought in English. This created a similar neo-colonial (brown sahib) class in India, who wholly adopted the foreign culture and in the midst of all this the culture of pre-colonial India was lost. With the coming of a more right-wing BJP government, things seem to be changing and even now, in order to transform the culture back to that of the pre-colonial times, the Modi administration uses language; this can be seen in the form of the proposal of making Hindi compulsory in secondary education across the nation. Such an example re-enforces the idea of language and literature being the basis of a culture.

Ngugi states that language and literature, using story-telling and folklore, were used to create an image of the world for children. So, in Asian and African nations folklore and grandmother myths revolve around the importance of the community, collective force and the weak standing up to the powerful because of their colonial past which has forced them to adopt what the western world calls ‘Asian Values’. This entails prioritizing the community and the welfare of society over the individual and such a narrative has formed the belief system of most Africans and Asians. The Panchatantra or Amar Chitra Katha collection of short stories in India does a similar job of imparting certain values which are essential to the Indian belief system and are in tandem with ‘Asian Values’ as a whole. This belief system has been formed using language as a tool of communication and this is where culture creation and communication (the two roles of language) inter link. It is this link that Ngugi brings to light when talking about how English has become the first language of commonwealth nations in terms of communication and how that has created the neo-colonial culture of the present day.

Looking into the role played by English literature, Ngugi says that its study replaced the native narratives with works of Shakespeare, Dickens and Tolstoy. This had the effect of creating an alternate- somewhat superior- reality for the native youth and all the works which were studied seemed to glorify western values of individual freedom and capitalism. This caused the youth- who would go on to join the civil service, military or colonial agencies- to adopt these values and, therefore, this class of people were conditioned to think and live like the British. This adoption of culture, via language, helped the British exercise their power over this superior native class. The heads of princely states, teachers and civil servants formed this class during the British Raj in India. This colonial control exists even today in the era of post modernism because this class still has maximum control over the commonwealth nations. Now, of course, the Britain and France share this pedestal with America, but the essence of the control remains the same: it is the control of the mind.

Ngugi talks about a personal experience he, as an author who writes in Gikuyu, had. Many African writers, who write about African struggles in English, have called him abnormal for writing in their mother tongue- this goes to show that the native has become abnormal and the foreign has been normalized. This shows the extent to which commonwealth minds have been colonised and this also goes to show that the colonisers have been successful. Therefore, a book like ‘Decolonising the Mind’ really puts things into perspective for the neo-colonial youth and provides food for thought.

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Hemingway and Characterisation: Article Review 

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Hemingway and Characterisation: Article Review 

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In the ‘By Heart’ series of the Atlantic magazine, Téa Obreht writes about Ernest Hemingway’s most famous novel- ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ and how the protagonist’s identity remains with the reader even after “years go by”. Obreht discusses how this identity is formed because of an association the reader makes with a particular image in the text. In the case of Santiago in ‘The Old Man and the Sea’, it is the image of lions running on a beach, which is continuously referred to as Santiago’s most vivid childhood memory. The main idea of the article is appreciation for a technique employed by Hemingway, wherein he makes the reader feel like they have shared an experience with the protagonist and, therefore, establishes intimacy between the reader and the text. Obreht analyses how the use of such a technique makes the narrative more engaging and sets certain works, like ‘Old Man and the Sea’, apart.

The image of the lions running on the beach is a constant memory that Santiago has through all his hardships on board his fishing boat. While this memory comes across as unrelated and out-of-place it serves to highlight the issue of human experience and how it plays up at the most unexpected of times. It is this broader issue that Obreht looks into and she characterises it as the essence of humanity when she says, “We all have our lion moments”. Obreht argues that while this image of the lions is a childhood memory and has no connection to the plot it is still etched in the reader’s memory because it is a glimpse into the private experience of the character and this “moment of interiority” which is shared with the reader establishes intimacy. Obreht’s argument seems to be applicable to many other works that I have read and by establishing this link between “interiority”, intimacy and memory, her article prompts the reader to think of their own Santiago and their own “lions”.

From this article, I have come to understand that a ‘lion moment’ is an experience a character has which is private and means a great deal to them. Letting the reader in on this creates a very deep connection with the character as the reader almost feels like he or she has been confided in by the character. This connection is even deeper when the information or experience being shared has a large impact on the plot and the other characters. Personally, I had a ‘lion moment’ in the short story ‘Tomorrow is Too Far’ from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s anthology ‘The Thing Around Your Neck’. In this narrative, the unnamed, Nigerian narrator is victim to gender discrimination from her grandmother, who always gives preference to her brother Nonso because he’s a boy. During her summer vacation in Nigeria, the narrator continues to get frustrated about this discrimination and purposely tries to hurt Nonso, who she identifies to be the reason for this discrimination and lack of love. In doing so, she manages creates a situation where he falls from a tree and dies. Apart from her cousin Dozie, no one else knows that she orchestrated Nonso’s death- not her mother, father or grandmother. It is this private information that Adichie reveals to the reader. Thus, at the end of the story - twenty years after her brother’s death- when the narrator returns to Nigeria and finds herself “weeping under the avocado tree” only the reader and Dozie know why. In doing this, Adichie makes the reader feel a similar feeling of guilt to the narrator because the reader knows more than the other characters. This dramatic irony is the technique Adichie employed to give the reader a glimpse into the interiority of the protagonist and create this ‘lion moment’ for me.

Conclusively, I have come to understand that these lion moments are fundamental in maintaining engagement with the reader through the course of a narrative and thus enhance the impact of both character and plot choices because the reader knows something important that other characters don’t. One can identify the sharing of such personal experiences across narrative forms like short stories, poems and plays. These lion moments are the trigger for a series of connections between the reader and the characters as the plot progresses and thereby, to my mind, form the basis of good story-telling.

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Earlier this year world-renowned dissident and linguist, Noam Chomsky gave an on-stage interview with Amy Goodman, which was broadcasted all over the world and is popularly referred to as ‘An Hour with Chomsky’. This interview primarily revolved around an array of issues which the global community faces today- ultra nationalism, climate change, workers’ rights and nuclear proliferation. Through the course of the interview, Chomsky presented his point of view on these pressing ideas and justified his stance by citing real world examples and outcomes.

On the existential crisis of climate change, Chomsky- apart from giving a spine-chilling characterisation of its consequences- attacked the root of the problem and why steps being taken to mitigate its harms can never be as effective as planned. This reasoning he gave was with regard to governments like the USA and big banks and how they have been funding, and thus promoting, fossil fuel production. Increasing production and development of fossil fuel resources is counter-productive to tackling climate change because they are the primary source of air pollution and greenhouse gases. Chomsky believes that the CEOs of banks and government officials are aware of the problem, but the institutional structures and issues are the reason why they can’t turn this awareness into tangible activism. Chomsky believes that in the case of banks it is their structural incentive of earning profit which is making them invest in fossil fuel and thus the institution tends to contradict the belief systems of the individuals that run the organisation. To my mind, Chomsky’s evaluation of the banking system’s incentive structures leaves out a very important structural motive of banks: more risk, more reward. Structurally, big banks give some risky, big loans because they can materialise into great profit for them and the risk of a loss is-therefore- overlooked. One such industry that involves risk and can mean great profit is that of renewable sources of energy. Across the world, from India to the USA, entrepreneurs are developing and producing renewable sources in tandem to the global trend of ‘going green’ and fighting climate change. Firms like Siemans and Vestas work in this field and they have reached the apex of the renewable industry due to a risky loan given to them in the past. Investing in renewables, therefore, is an investment which fits the structural incentive of banks. While Chomsky’s ideas are valid and can be observed in the real world even the other side of the spectrum exists, and in my opinion, we must understand both perspectives to move forward.

As President Trump pulled out of the INF treaty of 1987 and wishes to do the same with the New START treaty. Chomsky, sheds light on these and many other nuclear policies of the Trump administration and how this scenario seems to be re-igniting tensions between Russia and the US. Apart from the tensions, such moves are an indicator of the ultra-nationalist almost militant nationalist policies of the Trump administration. Chomsky recognises a similar trend and behaviour pattern of leaders and governments across the world like Nethanyu in Israel. This ultra-nationalism has given rise to policies and steps which are similar to those of the fascist regimes of the 20th century, according to Chomsky who cited the examples of the former president of Brazil- Lula Da Silva and the founder of WikiLeaks- Julian Assange, whose voices were silenced when they challenged those in power. This supressing of voices was compared by Chomsky with the imprisonment of dissenter Antonio Gramsci under Mussolini’s fascist dictatorship in Italy. This absolute control and power of Trump can be seen when he reversed the UN Security Council’s decision which declared Israel’s invasion of the Syrian Golan Heights as null and void, in doing so Trump broke international law and the UN could not do anything about it. By citing such examples, Chomsky paints a picture of an ultra-nationalist, all powerful leader of the free world and as a result a world heading towards fascism and the far right- be it Modi, Maduro or Duterte. Chomsky almost makes the reader feel a little scared and fearful of the future- be it the existential atomic bomb or climate change- having ultra-nationalist leaders driving such policies comes across as spine-chilling.

All in all, Chomsky gives the reader food for thought and this ‘Hour with Chomsky’ acts as a thread for reflection, thought and hopefully activism as well.

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An Introduction to my favourite Modern Indian Poet- Keki N. Daruwalla

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An Introduction to my favourite Modern Indian Poet- Keki N. Daruwalla

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Keki N. Daruwalla is a retired IPS officer and has, therefore, experienced the brutality of human behaviour and seen some very gory images. In that regard, his poems embody and encompass the larger issue of human suffering, which is portrayed to be cyclical and paradoxical in nature. Each of his poems discusses an aspect of human behaviour and action that can be characterised as a viscous cycle. I will be looking at three of his poems- ‘The Hawk’, ‘The King Speaks to the Scribe’ and ‘Wolf’- in more depth.

‘The Hawk’ is a poem which is divided into four sections, each one talking about a hawk and the power dynamic of the natural order. It is set at a time of draught and scarcity where “…land was filmed with salt”, in such a context the apex predatory- the hawk- is portrayed to be ruthless towards its prey. The hawk is described as “a rapist in the harem of the sky…” and “diminishes a rabbit one talon morsel at a time…”. Considering the context, the hawk is not only attending to his need for food, but also exploiting and being brutal towards the weak, its prey, in a time of scarcity. Such actions can be inferred as misuse of power and exploitation of the vulnerable. It is the discussion of such issues that make the poem’s extended metaphor come to light- the misuse of power by human beings. Daruwalla creates vivid and gory images of this misuse of power, in order to stress upon the harms of this ruthless nature exhibited by human beings.

A similar issue is discussed in ‘The King Speaks to the Scribe’- which is a narration of a conversation between “The King” and “the Scribe” on a battlefield which “reeks of slaughter”. They talk about the destruction caused by war and the moral burden on the scribe to record such an event in history. The poem has intricate descriptions of the war and the damage it has caused and a complementary reflective tone, which leads me to believe that it highlights the uselessness of war and asks existential questions about a person’s right to take another life. This poem also revolves around human action, such as war, and how it is mutually harmful to both parties, the winners and the losers- the definition of these two sides, therefore, becomes paradoxical. This shows how suffering is both caused and experienced by us humans and the roles simply keep changing.

In ‘Wolf’- a poem about poaching of animals and innocent realities- Daruwalla discusses the issues of greed and exploitation of resources in a very impactful way. He talks about how “the wolf” formed the basis of a story all the children in a village heard growing up, as wolves would howl in and around the area. However, over time these wolves had been killed and “smoking barrels ring… daughters’ dreams”. This personal and innocent sub-narrative of a village myth makes the act of poaching and destroying the environment feel graver and more sensitive as issues.

Conclusively, Daruwalla talks about the harms of the changes which have come about in the Post-Modern era. Exploitation of the weak can be seen to take root from the Industrial Revolution, depletion of resources and its impacts can be observed for the same reason- rapid industrialisation. Daruwalla, through his poems, highlights an important part of the zeitgeist we live in today and the issues he discusses pertain to our daily lives in a multitude of ways.

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So Long A Letter, by Mariama Ba (A Reflection)

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So Long A Letter, by Mariama Ba (A Reflection)

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In English Literature I have been studying 'The Thing Around Your Neck'- an anthology of short stories- by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. As a part of ancillary reading, my teacher recommended that I read 'So Long A Letter' by Mariama Ba. This book is also set in Africa or has African characters, which means that the context of characters in the short stories is similar to that of Aissatou in So Long A Letter.

So Long A Letter is an epistolary novel written by a recently widowed woman to her friend, Aissatou. The book is in the form of 27 letters which she wrote to Aissatou, all of which discussed similar themes, via personal anecdotes in her life, Aissatou's life and the lives of their friends and relatives. Some of the key issues include the objectification of women, empowerment of women, and the paradox of fertility most middle-aged women face at some point or the other.

The fertility paradox is an issue which even Nkem faces in Imitation, a short story in The Thing Around Your Neck. Her husband seems to have taken on a concubine back home in Nigeria, whilst she lives alone in the United States. The confusion, frustration and anger faced by Nkem is similar to that faced by Aissatou in this novel. She leaves her husband- breaking all convention and the patriarchy- because he takes on another wife. On the other end of the spectrum, one sees another female character- the narrator. She has recently been widowed, however whilst her husband lived he had taken on another, much younger wife, a friend of their daughter's. The narrator bore twelve of his children which is a sign of great fertility, but as a result his sexual interest in her decreased. This is the fertility paradox. But, unlike Aissatou and Nkem, who stood up for themselves and asserted their identities, the narrator succumbed. She continued to live like a second class citizen in his household. She was reduced to an object as her identity was usurped by her husband's decisions. All her reflections compare her disposition with that of Aissatou's, which also resembles that of Nkem's.

Reading this novel helped me further understand Imitation better as it re-enforced a similar narrative, regarding fidelity and the institution of marriage in the African culture.

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This play is a piece of literature which is relevant to my learning across both English Literature and History. It is set in a post-dictatorial nation, presumably Chile after Pinochet, but it is applicable across multiple contexts.

When dictatorial regimes come to an end, the citizens need some sort of reconciliation and closure after the traumatic experiences they have had. After any traumatic experience like death of a loved one, rape, or being witness to war, people can fall prey to neurotic illnesses like anxiety and PTSD. This can go on to lead to illnesses on the psychotic spectrum and possibly even schizophrenia. This cycle is exactly what Paulina- the protagonist in 'Death and the Maiden'- goes through. She was brutally tortured and raped by state agencies, under the regime. Now that the regime has been overthrown and the nation is on its path to democracy,   she desires closure. Her husband, Gerardo, a lawyer,  is invited to join an investigation commission on the crimes of the regime, much like the truth commissions that have been set up in South Africa, Gambia, and Nazi Germany. When Gerardo is retuning from work he has a flat tyre , and takes a lift with a man called Dr. Roberto- who he then invites to stay over at their beach house. Paulina, who seems to be deeply scarred by the atrocities committed toward her, seems to be suffering from some sort of mental illness. She suspects the doctor of being one of the perpetrators who were involved with the brutality against her. She takes it upon herself, and conducts a private trial: making him confess.

Through this narrative, one understands what traumatic experience can do to someone. Her schizoid reality seems to settle down towards the end of the play as she has received closure in the form of that confession and presumably even the murder of Dr. Roberto. This text has helped me understand the psychological impacts of totalitarian regimes on the individual and the community and the it is has also helped me understand the purpose and motif of Truth Commissions.

I see a link between this play and 'The American Embassy', a short story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. In American Embassy an unnamed woman whose anti-national journalist husband has fleed the nation and infant son has been murdered seeks asylum in the USA. In the narrative she stands in the Visa line and experiences a Schizoid reality because the ongoings of the line seem to blur and all she can think of is the night 'those men' shot her son. She seeks a new life as a means for reconciliation, whereas Paulina seeks a confession for the same purpose. This similarity has furthered my understanding of trauma, truth, and closure in a larger context.

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'The Danger of a Single Story'- a TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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'The Danger of a Single Story'- a TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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Recently, I saw a Ted Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, an African author whose anthology of short stories- ‘The Thing Around Your Neck’- I am presently reading as a part of my English Literature course. The Ted Talk was titled ‘The Danger of a Single Story’, in which Adichie spoke about what hearing a single narrative about any idea, nation, individual, race, etc. can do to a person.

Being a Nigerian immigrant to the USA, Adichie shared anecdotes from her own life regarding the stereotypes Americans had about Africa and how the single story they heard was to blame for it. Why is it that all ‘westerners’ view the commonwealth countries to be extremely underdeveloped, agrarian, and uneducated? This is because of the single narrative they are exposed to, by virtue of being colonisers.

As the saying goes, ‘Until the lions have historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter’. However, the fact is that the lions (i.e. commonwealth nations) have their own history (narratives), it is just that the colonisers haven’t been exposed to them. This alternative narrative about the colonised and how they have developed as sovereign nations, is something that Adichie attempts to bring to light in her writings. Other African writers like Chinua Achebe have also been fundamental in popularising this counter-narrative in the Western World, so that the people there are able to develop a better understanding of Africa and not give in to the single story that it is a place full of grasslands, exotic wild animals, and incomprehensible tribal people.

What such alternative narratives do is that they act as baby steps towards the development of empathy for the outsider. It is this empathy that is essential for globalism as a concept to materialise because it is only when people are able to understand another people’s disposition that they can cooperate and compromise with one another.

In this context, literature written by Africans and other colonised communities (Indians, Native Americans, or the aborigines) becomes very important to act as the counter-narrative. This Ted Talk has helped me understand the importance, purpose, and origin of African Literature.