Manufacturers Consent

Manufacturers Consent...interesting movie I'm not going to lie it was hard for me to get into the movie but I did find it really interesting to hear about Noam Chompsky's views on the media in the United States. I feel like I've had this conversation in classes more then once. Any time I pick up a newspaper I think about the information I'm reading, is this credible? Can I trust the information I'm reading? Is there another side to this story? More likely then not the answers to these questions are not the preferred. When I can't even trust what I'm reading how can I decide what is really going on in other countries is actually happening?

Noam Chompsky's base for an argument is that the media is censoring what the United States public sees and eventually they will control our thoughts and feelings toward certain debates that were not really a democracy anymore if were being swayed to think one way or another. I think the media can be a good asset to our country but I think we have become so cautious about what we want to know and what we want our future generations to know that we have fluffed up the real news to protect the rest of the country.

Last year I read Fahrenheit 451 which is set in the future where almost all media and contact with the outside world is forbidden. Firefighters no longer stop fires but start them. Their job is to burn down houses that defy the laws and read or keep books. The main character become curious and discovers that books aren't wrong the government just didn't want the public to think for themselves and form their own idea or opinions. They wanted to show the people what is right and wrong and anything that may get in the way of that should be burned or put away forever.

I hope that our society won't ever amount tot anything that happens in this book but Noam Chompsky makes some great points explaining that if we don't take part in our media then were really not thinking on our own, which isn't a good thing. Here is an article about how much the media effects citizens thoughts twords polotics. This is a good example of how media can be forming our opinions for us rather then deciding for ourselves who the best candidate is for the place of offices.http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/january_2010/67_say_news_media_have_too_much_influence_over_government_decisions I think that Fahrenheit 451 is a good reminder that we do have our own opinions and we never want anyone to control our lives and what we see and hear.