Noam Chomsky - Turning the Tide U.S. intervention in

The Challenge Ahead
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
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form to early liberal theorists, with “scientific” contributions by the noted
psychologist Edward Thorndike and others in the modern period. 34
In one of his later efforts, Bernays achieved great success in
preparing the “public mind” for the overthrow of Guatemalan democracy
in 1954, including the “first-class public relations” coups involving the
New York Times described by the United Fruit PR director (see chapter
3, section 9). Shortly after World War I, America’s leading journalist,
Walter Lippmann, devised the term “manufacture of consent” for this
new and essential “art” in “the practice of democracy.” Leading
intellectuals, social scientists and psychologists extolled the virtues of
manipulating the public mind to achieve the goals of enlightened
leadership, observing that this was a necessity in a stage of history when
violence could not be used to control a population that has a theoretical
voice in public affairs. We must not succumb to “democratic
dogmatisms” about “men being the best judges of their own interests,”
the influential political scientist Harold Lasswell warned. A system of
thought control with few parallels and remarkable successes has been
devised, with a good deal of conscious thought and planning
throughout. 35 It is reinforced by the “resource constraint” and the
“demand constraint,” which help explain why political life tends to
become the province of blocs of investors who find it worthwhile to
invest to control the state.
Returning to the elections in Nicaragua, the Independent Liberal
Party, which withdrew two weeks before the elections (apparently under
intensive US pressure and possible bribery that was barely reported
here 36 ), objected that elections could not be held freely while the staterun
television network broadcast “programs that promote hatred and
class struggle” and while students were subject to “an ideological
campaign in favor of the Sandinista front.” 37 As noted, the point is not to
be dismissed, even putting aside the public and private resources at the