Necessary Illusions

Necessary Illusions
Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies  
Necessary Illusions.jpg
Author(s) Noam Chomsky
Publisher South End Press, Pluto Press
Publication date June 1989
Media type Paperback
Pages 422
ISBN 0-8960-8366-7
OCLC Number 19457706
Dewey Decimal 302.2/3 19
LC Classification P95.8 .C48 1989

Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies is a 1989 book by US academic Noam Chomsky concerning political power using propaganda to distort and distract from major issues to maintain confusion and complicity, preventing real democracy from becoming effective. The title of this book borrows a phrase from the writings of Reinhold Niebuhr.

Nearly the entire first half of the book is based on Chomsky's five 1988 Massey Lectures on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio from November 1988 and extends his and Edward S. Herman's propaganda model to a variety of new situations. The remaining appendices address criticisms of the work and provide additional detail.

As a genre of political thought, parallels exist between Niebuhr's "necessary illusions" and the "noble lies" of Leo Strauss, "public relations" of Edward Bernays and "myth making" of Niccolò Machiavelli. Likewise, Chomsky's analyses in Necessary Illusions represent a refocus on the use of these patterns of power, which he implies to underscore the failure of populations - particularly in a representative democracy - to learn from history in this regard.

Contents

Democracy and the Media

Containing the Enemy

The Bounds of the Expressible

Adjuncts of Government

The Utility of Interpretations

Appendix I

  1. The Propaganda Model: Some Methodological Considerations
  2. On Critical Balance

Appendix II

  1. The Containment Doctrine
  2. The Red Scare

Appendix III

  1. The Sanctity of Borders

Appendix IV

  1. The Craft of "Historical Engineering"
  2. The Obligation of Silence
  3. The Summits
  4. The Media and International Opinion
  5. Demolishing the Accords

Appendix V

  1. The US and Costa Rican Democracy
  2. "The Evil Scourge of Terrorism"
  3. Hereos and Devils
  4. The "Peace Process" in the Middle East
  5. The Best Defense
  6. La Prensa and its Colleagues
  7. "The Courage to Preserve Civil Liberties"
  8. The Continuing Struggle

See also

External links

Necessary Illusions, full book



Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Illusions perdues — infobox Book | name = Illusions perdues title orig = translator = image caption = author = Honoré de Balzac illustrator = cover artist = country = France language = French series = genre = publisher = release date = english release date = media… …   Wikipedia

  • Positive illusions — People often hold beliefs about themselves, the world, and the future which are more positive than reality can sustain. These beliefs are called positive illusions. What positive illusions do people hold? Three types of positive illusions have… …   Wikipedia

  • Noam Chomsky — Chomsky redirects here. For other topics with the same name, see Chomsky (disambiguation). Noam Chomsky Noam Chomsky visiting Vancouver, Canada in 2004 …   Wikipedia

  • Giacomo Leopardi — Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi Born June 29, 1798(1798 06 29) Recanat …   Wikipedia

  • Noam Chomsky's political views — Noam Chomsky at an antiwar rally in Vancouver, 2004 Noam Chomsky is a widely known intellectual, political activist, and …   Wikipedia

  • Politics of Noam Chomsky — Noam Chomsky is a widely known intellectual, political activist, and critic of the foreign policy of the United States and other governments. Noam Chomsky describes himself as a libertarian socialist, a sympathizer of anarcho syndicalism and is… …   Wikipedia

  • Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media —   …   Wikipedia

  • Noam Chomsky bibliography — Bibliography of Noam Chomsky. Contents 1 Books by Chomsky 1.1 Linguistics 1.2 Computer science 1.3 Politics …   Wikipedia

  • Criticism of the Israeli government — State of Israel …   Wikipedia

  • Peter Wintonick — (born 1953, Trenton, Canada) is an independent documentary filmmaker based in Montreal, Canada. A winner of the 2006 Governor General s Award in Visual and Media Arts, former Thinker in Residence for the Premier of South Australia, prolific award …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”