MANUFACTURING CONSENT

The documentary MANUFACTURING CONSENT takes one on a journey throughout the world exploring the media’s role in indoctrinating democratic societies. As such, it chronicles the political life and radical views of the infamous leftist Noam Chomsky. Chomsky maintains that democratic societies use the media as a puppet to indoctrinate the masses. He uses the occurrences in East Timor to prove his point. Because the country was not important to the U.S., the brutal massacres that occurred there were not covered by the media. Consequently, the brutalities continued longer than they should have because the media failed to show interest and rally the necessary support to end the atrocities.

Of significance, Chomsky maintains an impassioned hatred of America’s institutions and national identity, and through his endorsement of individuals such as Robert Faurisson, a leading intellectual proponent of the claim that the Nazi Holocaust is a “Zionist Hoax,” has degraded his own reputation. The fashion in which this film chronicles Chomsky’s views make it difficult for a viewer to see the systematic approach to his arguments. Chomsky himself constitutes the sole constant in the film as it fades in and out of artistic clips, interviews and historical scenes. Finally, Chomsky’s conclusions lead one to ask a host of questions which MANUFACTURING CONSENT fails to answer.