Answer the following questions:
1. The title of this film is
"Manufacturing Consent." What does this title mean? Whose consent is
being manufactured? By whom? For
what purposes?
2. Explain the phrase "necessary
illusions." What illusions in particular are the object
of this phrase? In what sense are they "necessary"? Necessary for whose purposes?
3. How does the media
(particulary news organizations and advertisers) work
to manufacture consent? Are all news media susceptible to this charge? In other
words, must one fall into the trap of manufacturing consent if one participates
in the media at all? How might one exempt oneself from
that project?
4. What role do sports (as spectator events)
play in manufacturing consent? How do schools play a role in this?
5. One of the longest examples of
"manufacturing consent" in the film concerns the Indonesian
government's action against the Timorese people. How does this example
illustrate and give evidence for Chomsky's theory? How has consent been
manufactured, by whom, and to what possible ends?
6. Chomsky has been accused of being a
"conspiracy theorist." Why does this charge seem plausible? How does
Chomsky defend himself from the charge?
7. How might ordinary people protect
themselves from simply being taken in by the consent-manufacturing machine,
according to Chomsky? What can we do?