Considering all the recent attention surrounding Noam Chomsky and his connections to Jeffery Epstein, I thought I might ask this question.
I personally think Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media is a good book and makes a lot of good points regarding the bourgeois media which few other left-wing authors have made, at least not in such a concise and easily-explained way. When I shared this book with new leftists, they seem to appreciate and comprehend its contents rather quickly. The only part which I found myself majorly disagreeing with was the conclusion in which Chomsky suggests that “American democracy” is “under threat,” as opposed to being non-existent in the first place.
With that being said, I consider Chomsky’s work to be a pearl in an ocean of bad takes. I think that Chomsky, particularly recently, is an anti-communist propagandist and apologist for the bourgeois system, basically a left-liberal.
Is my take incorrect?
Edit: I failed to mention how this book was co-authored by someone else who is not on the Epstein files. Thank you to all those who mentioned that.
I think there’s a level where you can separate the uh “art from the artist” being a a child predator is really pushing that line though. Him actively being involved in and defending Epstein and his government and capitalist cabal shows me he was never seriously invested in his work.
In the case of manufacturing consent there’s already a,I think, better alternative in Parenti’s Inventing Reality that you can reference if you don’t want to support Chomsky on this one.
You have to admit that, retrospectively, the dude being known for a book called ‘manufacturing consent’ is so irony-pilled you’re likely to die of an overdose.
Manufacturing ( the age of) Consent
The perfect username does not exi…
I mean, he is a good linguist, just never really particularly good as a political activist.
A lot of Maoists are snake-bitten (for lack of a better term) with Parenti because he seems to have supported the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact after de-Stalinization. I think that Parenti had some good things to say and his works do hold value if read critically, which is why I occasionally do read him. I have never read that work, but I really should considering how often it is recommended by communists.
Even linguists have issues with him, Epstein ties aside
Yea I can see the criticism of Parenti and think a lot of it is fair, at least coming from people on the left. I would recommend the read but as you can probably tell by my PFP I’m a little biased lol.