Letters From Lexington: Reflections on Propaganda [Hardcover]

Noam Chomsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2003

The original edition of Letters from Lexington, first published in 1993, solidified Noam Chomsky's position as American's most distinguished critic of the media. In this new, updated edition, a new chapter, 'What makes the Mainstream Media Mainstream', offers Chomsky's latest thinking on the role of the media in a rapidly changing word -- especially in justifying US government and corporate actions. Throughout the book, Chomsky's analysis of the politics of the Reagan and earlier Bush administrations offer a striking and surprisingly prescient perspective on the events, key players and policies that shape America's national agenda under the current presidency of George W. Bush and the 'War on Terrorism'. Chomsky explores media coverage of events and issues including the Middle East 'peace process', the US invasion of Panama, the first Gulf War, the UN, the Soviet Union, the coup in Haiti, and democracy and terrorism generally. Letters from Lexington has been called "an indispensable antidote to TV 'news' and the verities found in major daily newspaper such as the New York Times." Perfect as an introduction to Chomsky's thought more generally, it will be of particular interest to students of media studies and anyone who wants an up-to-date account of the relationship of the new US administration with the media and what impact it is having on foreign and domestic US policy.

--This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"One of the radical heroes of our age" - Guardian" --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

About the Author

Noam Chomsky is a world renowned linguist and one of America's foremost social critics. He is Institute Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at M.I.T. He is the author of numerous books, including Pirates and Emperors Old and New, Fateful Triangle, The New Military Humanism: Lessons from Kosovo and Rogue States: The Rule of Force in World Affairs. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 167 pages
• Publisher: Common Courage Press (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567510116
• ISBN-13: 978-1567510119
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,139,030 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One thumb up, way up., August 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Letters from Lexington: Reflections on Propoganda (Paperback)

Chomsky is the American Empire's worst enemy. Like anyone who challenges powerful interests and their claims to authority, he has been the target of an unrelenting, but increasingly ineffectual (sometimes comical), smear campaign. Noam Chomsky is a national treasure and a credit to the human species. Read Chomsky's "Letters", or anything else by one of the world's leading advocates for democracy and freedom.

10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars illuminates Chomsky's dissident analysis, October 26, 2000

By 

egalitarian ethos - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters from Lexington: Reflections on Propoganda (Paperback)

"Letters from Lexington : Reflections on Propaganda" is a compelling collection of letters which reveal the role of the US major media in justifying and championing US government and corporate actions throughout the world. One chapter which illuminates Chomsky's dissident analysis is the chapter entitled, "The PC Thought Police". In this chapter, Chomsky compares the US propaganda system to that of Brezhnev's USSR:

"In the study of any system, it is often useful to look at something radically different, to highlight crucial features. Let's begin, then, by looking at a society that is close to the opposite pole from ours: Brezhnev's USSR.

Consider policy formation. In Brezhnev's USSR, economic policy was determined in secret, by centralized power; popular involvement was nil, except marginally, through the Communist Party. Political policy was in the same hands. The political system was meaningless, with virtually no flow from bottom to top.

Consider next the information system, inevitably constrained by the distribution of economic-political power. In Brezhnev's USSR there was a spectrum, bounded by disagreements within centralized power. True, the media were never obedient enough for the commissars. Thus they were bitterly condemned for undermining public morale during the war in Afghanistan, playing into the hands of the imperial aggressors and their local agents from whom the USSR was courageously defending the people of Afghanistan. For the totalitarian mind, no degree of servility is ever enough.

There were dissidents and alternative media: underground samizdat and foreign radio. According to a 1979 US government-funded study, 77% of blue-collar workers and 96% of the middle elite listened to foreign broadcasts, while the alternative press reached 45% of high-level professionals, 41% of political leaders, 27% of managers, and 14% of blue-collar workers. The study also found most people satisfied with living conditions, favoring state-provided medical care, and largely supportive of state control of heavy industry; emigration was more for personal than political reasons.

Dissidents were bitterly condemned as "anti-Soviet" and "supporters of capitalist imperialism," as demonstrated by the fact that they condemned the evils of the Soviet system instead of marching in parades denouncing the crimes of official enemies. They were also punished, not in the style of US dependencies such as El Salvador, but harshly enough.

The concept "anti-Soviet" is particularly striking. We find similar concepts in Nazi Germany, Brazil under the generals, and totalitarian cultures generally. In a relatively free society, the concept would simply evoke ridicule. Imagine, say, that Italian critics of state power were condemned for "anti-Italianism." Such concepts as "anti-Soviet" are the very hallmark of a totalitarian culture; only the most dedicated and humorless commissar could use such terms.

Well-behaved party hacks were guilty of no such crimes as anti-Sovietism. Their task was to applaud the state and its leaders; or even better, criticize them for deviating from their grand principles, thus instilling the propaganda line by presupposition rather than assertion, always the most effective technique.

With these observations as background, let us turn to our own free society.

Begin again with policy formation. Economic policy is determined in secret; in law and in principle, popular involvement is nil. The Fortune 500 are more diverse than the Politburo, and market mechanisms provide far more diversity than in a command economy. But a corporation, factory, or business is the economic equivalent of fascism: decisions and control are strictly top-down. People are not compelled to purchase the products or rent themselves to survive, but those are the sole choices.

The political system is closely linked to economic power, both through personnel and broader constraints on policy. Efforts of the public to enter the political arena must be barred: liberal elites see such efforts as a dangerous "crisis of democracy," and they are intolerable to statist reactionaries ("conservatives"). The political system has virtually no flow from bottom to top, apart from the local level; the general public appears to regard it as largely meaningless.

The media present a spectrum of opinion, largely reflecting tactical divisions within the state-corporate nexus. True, they are never obedient enough for the commissars. The media were bitterly condemned for undermining public morale during the war in Vietnam, playing into the hands of the imperial aggressors and their local agents from whom the US was courageously defending the people of Vietnam; a Freedom House study provides a dramatic example. For the totalitarian mind, again, no degree of servility is enough.

There are dissidents and other information sources. Foreign radio broadcasts reach virtually no one, but alternative media exist, though without a tiny fraction of the outreach of samizdat. Dissidents are bitterly condemned as "anti-American" and "supporters of Communism" as demonstrated by the fact that they condemn the evils of the American system instead of marching in parades denouncing the crimes of official enemies. But they are not severely punished, at least if they are privileged and of the right color. Again, the concept "anti-American" is particularly striking, the very hallmark of a totalitarian mentality."

Just one example of Chomsky's brilliant analysis contained in this seminal study of how the major US media works together with the US government and its corporate interests to undermine democracy. A must read for any student of journalism.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chomsky at his Best and most accessible, April 2, 1999

By 

Chris Green ([e-mail]) (Edgewood Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters from Lexington: Reflections on Propoganda (Paperback)

This short book is lucidly written and full of Chomsky's subtle humor. It is Chomsky at his best and most accessible.