Noam Chomsky on the Responsibility of Privilege

Noam Chomsky gave an interview on January 12, 2013 on the responsibility of privilege. This clip shows a brief discussion on the history of the Public Relations industry and how it is has undermined our markets and our democracy. He describes a PR industry devoted to creating uninformed consumers and voters who make irrational choices. He believes the goal has always been to keep the majority of people uninformed and marginalized so a few individuals can be in control for their own benefit. This desire to control the masses developed out of a fear that in the most democratic societies people have too many rights to be controlled other than through opinion.

This common mechanism in our culture has particular significance in the evolving world of social media, where group dynamics rapidly develop opinion through 140 characters of information, (on Twitter). But as Chomsky describes, very few people have the stomach to acknowledge the impact or workings of this industry, even though it is very transparent.