this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2026
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Considering all the recent attention surrounding Noam Chomsky and his connections to Jeffery Epstein, I thought I might ask this question.

I personally think Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media is a good book and makes a lot of good points regarding the bourgeois media which few other left-wing authors have made, at least not in such a concise and easily-explained way. When I shared this book with new leftists, they seem to appreciate and comprehend its contents rather quickly. The only part which I found myself majorly disagreeing with was the conclusion in which Chomsky suggests that "American democracy" is "under threat," as opposed to being non-existent in the first place.

With that being said, I consider Chomsky's work to be a pearl in an ocean of bad takes. I think that Chomsky, particularly recently, is an anti-communist propagandist and apologist for the bourgeois system, basically a left-liberal.

Is my take incorrect?

Edit: I failed to mention how this book was co-authored by someone else who is not on the Epstein files. Thank you to all those who mentioned that.

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[–] onoira@lemmy.dbzer0.com 37 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

aren't the parts of the book that everyone cites singularly written by Herman anyway?

also Parenti's Inventing Reality: The Politics of News Media exists, too.

[–] FloridaBoi@hexbear.net 16 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

So hard to find a hard copy. There are also two editions

[–] darkcalling@hexbear.net 20 points 11 hours ago

And what does it say that the softer one written by a guy in the Epstein files who was probably a court jester for capitalism is easy to find while the reviled Marxist who defended the USSR, Cuba, etc all his life in the face of overwhelming opposition is impossible to find? Clearly one of these is approved opposition POV and other is not.

[–] git@hexbear.net 5 points 9 hours ago

Second edition is better as it includes post-Cold War analyses.

There was a 2022 reprint by lulu.com so it isn’t as rare as it used to be unless you’re specifically looking for a first edition or original second edition prints. Though even the 2022 version is out of print and climbing in price.

So glad I managed to grab a copy of the original second edition before prices started reaching mid three figures and beyond.