Blog 5 Manifestoon

Chomsky and Marx are definitely dissatisfied with how government, in this particular argument the capitalist US government, treats the public majority, and have a similar goal in mind with the presentation of their opinions: to speak out to the better judgment of the public masses and remove the propagandistic wool that the government has pulled over eyes of the people.

Marx and Chomsky separate the social classes into two distinct groups, in which a small collective of educated, charismatic individuals, who wield the majority of political power and control the means of economic production, deceive and thereby exploit the working majority. Marx asserts the two groups are, in fact, “hostile camps”, in that the working class (the Proletariat) are in an ongoing war with the state-running class (the Bourgeoisie) over how the country will run its economy; Chomsky's view relates to Marx, because he describes a similar (though less war-like) social structure, in which a “specialized class” is intelligently designed to look after the general public's vast number of affairs.

However, there is a divergence between their outlooks. Marx believes that the bourgeoisie “conquered for itself... exclusive political sway... for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie...” (Communist Manifesto); in his eyes, government control exists solely and always existed for the purpose of “[an] organized power of one
class oppressing another.” (Communist Manifesto) Chomsky does not so much counter Marx, as he does present an alternative viewpoint, that government control exists because an otherwise unrestricted public would “[lack] the humanity to submit to a civil rule” (Manufacturing Consent); therefore, by this interpretation, government control exists for the overall protection of its citizens from harmful disorder.

Marx and Chomsky agree, then, in the respect that they both believe that the government is corrupted by certain individuals (selfish or otherwise) who use the power entrusted to them by the public, to exploit and mislead the public for their personal interests or the interests of other individuals involved with running the state; this is usually accomplished through the use of propaganda. Marx mentions how the bourgeoisie “converted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the scientist, into its paid wage-laborers.” (Communist Manifesto); considering this from a propagandistic position, it could be argued that Marx means the bourgeoisie use these specialist groups to create and support government propaganda, because the public views these men and women as well-educated individuals who occupy honorable professions. Chomsky likewise notes that in a democracy like the US, “you have to control what people think” by “[creating] necessary illusions...” (Manufacturing Consent) The purpose of these illusions, as he so puts forth, is the “mobilization [of] public support for the [government's] special interests...” Taking into account that Chomsky believes the “stupidity of the average man” (Manufacturing Consent) prevents him from making decisions based exclusively on fact, it could be argued then, that Chomsky also believes intelligent individuals would likely take full advantage of the average man, because “blind faith” keeps the average public passive, so long as the government keeps up the appearance that it is working for the greater good of its citizens.