In accordance with the prevailing conceptions in the U.S., there is no infringement on democracy if a few corporations control the information system: in fact, that is the essence of democracy. In the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the leading figure of the public relations industry, Edward Bernays, explains that the very essence of the democratic process is the freedom to persuade and suggest, what he calls the engineering of consent. A leader, he continues, frequently cannot wait for the people to arrive at even general understanding Democratic leaders must play their part in engineering consent to socially constructive goals and values, applying scientific principles and tried practices to the task of getting people to support ideas and programs; and although it remains unsaid, it is evident enough that those who control resources will be in a position to judge what is socially constructive, to engineer consent through the media, and to implement policy through the mechanisms of the state. If the freedom to persuade happens to be concentrated in a few hands, we must recognize that such is the nature of a free society.
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About Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky was a contemporary American linguist and activist. Avram Noam Chomsky is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. Read more on Wikipedia →
Themes
- Freedom — The value of liberty, independence, and self-determination
- Leadership — Guiding others with vision, integrity, and purpose