fearroyo on Manifestoon

Marx’s description of the economy relates to Chomsky’s “Propaganda Model” in that the two state that there is a significant disparity amongst access to and the distribution of property and information between a mass of individuals that determine a majority of a population, versus the small minority with control of the concentrated resources.
The economy in Marx’s Manifesto is the center of scrutiny and contempt for the proletariat (the working class) because competition amongst established and well off governments encourages unfair exploitative practices for the sake of advancing each state’s own interests; part of seeking advantage in terms of Capitalist goals means invading the periphery of the state and tapping into foreign resources of developing states. This translates into a snowball effect, and ever growing unfair advantage that the bourgeoisie gain over the proletariat that greatly widens the achievement gap amongst the two groups. On one side of the capitalist spectrum, there is the group in control that maintains control over resources (that includes labor pools which in turn means working classes) to sustain their position on top of their self-constructed system. This group that controls a vast amount of resources is normally concentrated to very few individuals, or organizations for the sake of autonomy in making major decisions. Then there is the group, that comprises the majority as stated earlier, that is more directly affected by the actions, and decisions of the group in power. These majorities are the proletariat, again reiterating the class struggle in power politics that Marx criticizes in his Manifesto.
Noam Chomsky’s “Propaganda Model” is not too far from the same essential argument that Marx uses to call attention to each individual’s cause, whether it be the economy, or arbitrary censorship. Chomsky’s “Propaganda Model” heeds individuals to recognize the extent that conglomerates that own major stakes in the media –where the media encompasses major forms of communication and reporting, otherwise known as news, and to how much of an extent do the conglomerates that own the media influence what the audience, or mass public can and cannot see for the sake of the businesses’ own interests. Again, the similarities between the Manifesto and Chomsky’s model is one that, there is a huge concentration of control and influence over a resource, in this case information through the news reporting organizations that are really a part of a greater business that manages the organizations and thus have say of what is published. And then the model points to the passive majority (not the entire population, but a considerable amount, about 80% from what Manufacturing Consent describes in contrast to the “active public” that comprise 20% of the population) that are the targets of the conglomerates, the businesses seeking to consume and control. Control properly describes the implicit influence and constructs created by the businesses that own significant portions of the media to attract consumers to take in and internalize the information that is fed and provided; the hope for the conglomerates is attention is drawn away from particular world events that would detract from the business’ personal interests. Perhaps the simplest means that this goal is achieved is through knowledge by authority in which a popular figurehead is a mediator between the viewers, audience, public, the majority and the information permitted by the media conglomerates. Again, the “Propaganda Model” shows the apparent unfair advantage that organizations that own the media have over information control, and in turn thought control through influence against the majority of the population.
On a final note, it is important to realize that the “Propaganda Model” was also created during the Cold War to describe the scare tactics, or rather the process of instilling fear into the ignorant masses of people to better gain control, and influence over them. This is another aspect of society seen in Marx’s Manifesto where the majority (proletariat) must be encouraged and called together to overcome the evident fear of what may possible happen to individuals advocating insurrection.