NECESSARY ILLUSIONS

Thought Control in Democratic Societies

Noam Chomsky, 1989, South End Press

Created: May 24th, 2003 Saturday 10:36, Ankara

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Necessary Illusions is about the "world order" and the way governments manipulate their people. Thought provoking and essential reading... Notes that I took while reading:

• "In capitalist democracies there is a certain tension with regard to the locus of power. In a democracy the people rule, in principle. But decision-making power over central areas areas of life resides in private hands, with large-scale effects throughout the social order. One way to resolve the tension would be to extend the democratic system to investment, the organization of work, and so on." (p.vii)
• "My personal feeling is that citizens of the democratic societies should undertake a course of intellectual self-defense to protect themselves from manipulation and control, and to lay the basis for more meaningful democracy." (p.viii)
• "...the general public must be reduced to its traditional apathy and obedience, and driven from the arena of political debate and action, if democracy is to survive." (p.3)
• "The Qeens opens Parliament by reading a political program, but no one asks whether she believes it or even understands it." (p.5)
• "The process of barring public interference with important matters takes a step forward when elections do not even enable the public to select among programs that originate elsewhere, but become merely a procedure for selecting a symbolic figure." (p.5)
• "Charges against official enemies barely require substantiation; they are, furthermore, protected from correction, which can be dismissed as apologetics for the criminals or as missing the forest for the trees. The system protects itself with indignation against a challenge to the right of deceit in the service of power, and the very idea of subjecting the ideological system to rational inquiry elicits incomprehension or outrage, though it is often masked in other terms." (p.9)
• "Standards are radically different when we observe that 'good intentions' are not properties of states, and that the United States, like every other state past and present, pursues policies that reflect the interests of those who control the state by virtue of their domestic power, truisms that are hardly expressible in the mainstream, surprising as this fact may be." (p.9)
• "One needs no evidence to condemn the Soviet Union for aggression in Afghanistan and support for repression in Poland; it is quite a different matter when one turns to U.S. aggression in Indochina or its efforts to prevent a political settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict over many years, readily documented, but unwelcome and therefore a non-fact." (p.9)
• "As in the case of eighteenth-century doctrine on seditious libel, truth is no defense; rather, it heightens the enormity of the crime of calling authority into disrepute." (p.11)
• "If the conclusions drawn in the propaganda model are correct, then the criticisms of the media for their adversarial stance can only be understood as a demand that the media should not even reflect the range of debate over tactical questions among dominant elites, but should serve only those segments that happen to manage the state at a particular moment, and should do so with proper enthusiasm and optimism about the causes-noble by definition-in which state power is engaged. It would have not surprised George Orwell that this should be the import of the critique of the media by an organization that calls itself 'Freedom House'." (p.11)
• "What is at issue is not the honesty of the opinions expressed or the integrity who seek the facts but rather the choice of topics and highlighting of issues, the range of opinion permitted expression, the unquestioned premises that guide reporting and commentary, and the general framework imposed for the presentation of a certain view of the world." (p.11-12)
• "The public has the right to ratify policies that originate elsewhere, but if these limits are exceeded, we have not democracy, but a 'crisis of democracy', which must somehow be resolved." (p.14)
• "The people must be kept in ignorance, reduced to jingoist incantations, for their own good." (p.18)
• "It is probable that the most inhuman monsters, even the Himmlers and Mengeles, convince themselves that they are engaged in noble and courageous acts." (p.19)
• "Across a broad spectrum of articulate opinion, the fact that the voice of the people is heard in democratic societies is considered a problem to be overcome by ensuring that the public voice speaks the right words." (p.19)
• "In its dependencies, the United States must often turn to violence to 'restore democracy.' At home, more subtle means are required: the manufacture of consent, deceiving the stupid masses with 'necessary illusions', covert operations that the media and Congress pretend not to see until it all becomes too obvious to be suppressed. We then shift to the phase of damage control to ensure that public attention is diverted to overzealous patriots or the personality defects of leaders who have strayed from noble commitments, but not to the institutional factors that determine the persistent and substantive content of these commitments. The task of the Free Press in such circumstances, is to take the proceedings seriously and to describe them as a tribute to the soundness of our self-correcting institiutions, which they carefully protect from public scrutiny." (p.19-20)
• "Other Western democracies are generally a few steps behind... Most gave not yet achieved the U.S. system of one political party, with two factions controlled by shifting segments of the business community. They still retain parties based on working people and the poor which to some extent represent their interests." (p.22)
• "In brief, it is necessary to ensure that those who own the country are happy, or else all will suffer, for they control investment and determine what is produced and distributed and what benefits will trickle down to those who rent themselves to the owners when they can." (p.22)
• "Young people in particular had to be convinced that they must be concerned only for themselves, in a 'culture of narcissism'; every person may know, in private, that the assumptions are not true for them, but at a time of life when one is insecure about personal identity and social place, it is all too tempting to what the propaganda system asserts to be the norm." (p.33)
• " 'In history', Francis Jennings observes, 'the man in the ruffled shirt and gold-laced waistcoat somehow levitates above the blood he has ordered to be spilled by dirty-handed underlings'...educated elites...are the prime targets of propaganda..." (p.38)
• "In the Third World, we must ensure 'the protection of our raw materials' (as George Kennan put it) and encourage export-oriented production, maintaining a framework of liberal internationalism - at least insofar as it serves the needs of U.S. investors. Internationally, as at home, the free market is an ideal to be lauded if its outcome accords with the perceived nedds of domestic power and privilege; if not, the market must be guided by efficient use of state power." (p.40)
• "...even a totalitarian state of the Hitler or Stalin variety relies on mass mobilization and voluntary submission" (p.45)
• "When both major world systems of propaganda are accord, it is unusually difficult for the individual to escape their tentacles. The blow to freedom and democracy throughout the world has been immense." (p.45)
• "Particularly welcome, and a sure ticket to success, is the fabrication of an evil past." (p.46)
• "In the democratic system, the necessary illusions cannot be imposed by force. Rather, they must be instilled in the public mind by more subtle means. A totalitarian state can be satisfied with lesser degrees of allegiance to reqired truths. It is sufficient that people obey; what they think is a secondary concern. But in a democratic political order, there is always the danger that independent thought might be translated into political action, so it is important to eliminate the threat at its root.

Debate cannot be stilled, and indeed, in a properly functioning system of propaganda, it should not be, because it has a system-reinforcing character if constrained within proper bounds. What is essential is to set the bounds firmly. Controversy may rage as long as it adheres to the presuppositions that define the consensus of elites, and it should furthermore be encouraged within these bounds, thus helping to establish these doctrines as the very condition of thinkable thought while reinforcing the belief that freedom reigns.In short, what is essential is the power to set the agenda. If controversy over the Cold War can be focused on containment of the Soviet Union - the proper mix of force, diplomacy, and other measures - then the propaganda system has already won its victory, whatever conclusions are reached. The basic assumption has already been established: the Cold War is a confrontation between two superpowers, one aggressive and expansionist, the other defending the status quo and civilized values. Off the agenda is the problem of containing the United States, and the question whether the issue has been properly formulated at all, whether the Cold War does not rather derive frım the efforts of the superpowers to secure for themselves international systems that they can dominate and control - systems that differ greatly in scale, reflecting enormous differences in wealth and power." (p.48)

• "...no state has the right to defend itself from U.S. attack..." (p.55)
• "News reporting satisfies the same conditions, as has been documented in many investigations, ensuring that public opinion will not stray from proper bounds, at least among those segments of the population that count." (p.73)
• "We are to understand...that 'democracy' is a system that rejects democratic forms so as to facilitate reduced consumption and superexploitation, with state control over the economy in coordination with domestic conglomerates and international corporations, a pattern closer to traditional fascism than to democracy. All makes sense, however, when we take the term 'democracy' to mean domination of the economy and social  and political life by domestic elements that are properly sensitive to the needs of corporations and the U.S. government." (p.108)
• "...the U.S. 'concept of democracy' is 'closely identified with private, capitalistic enterprise'..." (p.111)
• "If the enemies of democracy are not 'Communists', then they are 'terrrorists'; still better 'Communists terrorists,' or terrorists supoorted by international Communism. The rise and decline of international terrorism in the 1980s provides much insight into 'the utility of interpretations.'" (p.113)
• "The U.S. role is easily excised; after all, the phrase 'U.S. terrorism' is an oxymoron, on a par with 'thunderous silence' or 'U.S. aggression.' Israeli state terrorism escapes under the same literary convention, Israel being a client state, though it is recognized that there were Jewish terrorists in a distant and forgotten past." (p.114)
• "The great significance of international terrorism as an ideological instrument is illustrated by the reaction when someone breaks ranks and documents the part that the United States and its clients have played in conducting, organizing, and supporting international terrorism. If such work cannot simply be ignored, it elicits virtual frenzy - 'deranged,' 'absurd,' and 'fantasies' are some phrases drawn from 1988 commentary, unaccompanied by even a semblance of an argument. Such reactions are not without interest and merit some thought." (p.115)
• "That Arafat and the PLO have engaged in terrorist acts is not in doubt; nor is it in doubt that they are minor actors in the arena of international terrorism." (p.117)
• "We therefore have phenomena called 'peace missions' and 'the peace process,' terms that apply to whatever the United States happens to be doing or advocating at some moment." (p.120)
• "One might imagine that even a great power that is sublime beyond imagination might sometimes be standing in the way of some peace process, perhaps because of misunderstanding or faulty judgement. Not so the United States however - by definition." (p.121)
• "The U.S. policy is also by definition 'moderate,' so that those who oppose it are 'extremists' and 'uncompromising.'" (p.122)
• "Reinhold Niebuhr once remarked that 'perhaps the most significant moral characteristic of a nation is its hypocrisy.'" (p.123)
• "I have been discussing methods of thought control and the reasons why they gain such prominence in democratic societies in which the general population cannot be driven from the political arena by force. The discussion may leave the impression that the system is all-powerful, but that is far from true. People have the capacity to resist, and sometimes do, with great effect." (p.134)
• "There are ample opportunities to help create a more humane and decent world, if we choose to act upon them." (p.135)
• "Serious steps towards more meaningful democracy would aim to dissolve the concentration of decision-making power, which in our societies resides primarily in a state-corporate nexus." (p.136)
• "...the 'reality' created and assumed by the U.S. press is so one-sided and partisian that the U.S. government shall not need to censor its press in future coverage of the Third World." (p.142)
• "It is difficult to believe that such performances are intended seriously. A more plausible interpretation is that the questions raised are so intolerable that even a semblance of seriousness cannot be maintained." (p.148)
• "...the media will protect the interests of the powerful, not...state managers from their criticisms..." (p.149)
• "If the media function as predicted by a propaganda model, then they must present a picture of the world that is tolerably close to reality, even if only a selective version. Investors make judgements based on the facts of the real world, and the same is true for state managers. Privileged and politically active elites, who rely on the media, must have some awareness of basic realities if they are to serve their own interests effectively and play their social roles. Often, these realities demonstrate the ineptness, incompetence, corruption, and other failings of the state managers and their policies. These realities are detectable, even emphasized, in the media, and would be even if their sole function were to provide services to the powerful. To appeal to these facts to show that the media do not attempt to 'mobilize bias' is to betray a serious misunderstanding of social realities." (p.151)
• "The critics of media conformity must keep to matters of personality and secondary issues, steering clear of the nature and functioning of dominant institutions or such eternal verities as U.S. benevolence and yearning for democracy." (p.161)
• "My point here...is not that the assumptions about U.S. policy and the media that bound discussion are false (though they are), but rather that the possibility that they are false cannot be raised; it lies beyond the conceivable." (p.165)
• "The task assigned to the responsible strategic analyst...is to establish the conclusion that the United States is facing a threat to its existence, so that it is necessary to keep up your guard - and incidentally, to guarantee that the Pentagon system will continue to perform its crucial domestic and international toles." (p.184)
• "As fashions change, leading figures in the campaign to protect state violence from scutiny will doubtless create for themselves a different past, but the record is there for those who choose to see." (p.207)
• "The fact that such consistent behavior [Israeli violence] over many years is treated with respect, even regarded as saintly, speaks volumes about Western culture." (p.208)
• "There is a standard device to whip the domestic population of any country into line in support of policies that they oppose: induce fear of some terrifying enemy, poised to destroy them." (p.269)
• "There are many international terrorist states in the world, but the United States is unusual in that it is officially committed to international terrorism, and on a scale that puts its rivals to shame." (p.270)
• "The media are not called upon to defend the doctrine, only to adhere to it. The scholarly literature has a more demanding task. As an example, consider the contributions of the highly regarded terrorologist Walter Laqueur - a respected scholar whose insight into international affairs is illustrated by his decleration elsewhere that 'unlike the Soviet Union, the U.S. does not want to convert anyone to a specific political, social, or economic system.'" (p.278)
• "As the authors of children's tales understand, life is simple when there are heroes to admire and love, and devils to fear and despise. One goal of a well-crafted propaganda system is to dull the mental faculties, reducing its targets to a level at which they will respond with appropriate enthusiasm to slogans carrying a patriotic message." (p.282)
• "Rudolf Rocker observed that 'Poitical rights do not originate in parliaments; they are rather forced upon them from without. And even their enactment into law has for a long time been no guarantee of their security. They do not exist because they have been legally set down on a piece of paper, but only when they have become the ingrown habit of people, and when any attempt to impair them will meet with the violent resistance of the populace.'" (p.345)
• "Still, there have been victories. In other domains as well, there is detectable progress in the guarantee of fundamental human rights, difficult as it may be to pronounce such words in the century that has given us Hitler and Stalin, agonizingly slow as the process may be. There remains a long path ahead, and without constant vigilance and popular determination, there is no 'guarantee of security' for what has already been attained." (p.355)

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