Those of you who have been through college know that the
educational system is very highly geared to rewarding conformity and
obedience … it is kind of a filtering device which ends up with people
who really honestly (they aren’t lying) internalize the framework of
belief and attitudes of the surrounding power system in the society.
— Noam Chomsky, What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream, Z Magazine, 1997
Berlin.
It’s easy to forget at times, living in the social
bubbles that we all do, that approximately two-thirds of Americans are
not university graduates, and thus have not completed the process of
“internalizing the framework of belief and attitudes of the surrounding
power system in the society” that Chomsky was referring to above. This
is not one of those times.
Throughout the 2016 primary elections season to date,
the “mainstream media,” both “liberal” and “conservative,” along with
the establishments of both the Republican and Democratic parties, have
been desperately working — at times in a state of barely-concealed panic
— to contain, divert, coopt and otherwise neutralize a tsunami of
discontent among the “uneducated,” “working class” masses, many of whom
are “stubbornly” refusing to cooperate with the extremely expensive
simulation of democracy that the corporate plutocracy is forced to stage
for us every four years.
These “discontents” have already handed the Republican
presidential nomination to Donald Trump, a buffoonish billionaire real
estate mogul whose incoherent demagogic ramblings make George W. Bush
sound articulate in comparison, and are “childishly” dragging out the
coronation of Democrat Hillary Clinton by continuing to vote for a
74-year-old self-proclaimed “socialist” who has had the audacity to talk
about Clinton’s shady ties to Wall Street, and the rest of the
transnational corporate elite that more or less rules the world at this
point, and things like that.
Now, when we talk about the “mainstream media,” it’s
easy to end up speaking in overly simplistic terms, as if they were some
sort of neo-Orwellian Ministry of Information pumping out bald-faced
lies and propaganda that they wanted everyone to mindlessly parrot … but
what we’re talking about is something much subtler and more insidious
than that, generally.
As Chomsky notes in the brief article referenced above (and in detail in Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, with co-author
Edward S. Herman), the mainstream media is an
informal
network of news and opinion sources (i.e. corporations) that together
define the “acceptable” boundaries of political and cultural discourse
(i.e. what one is allowed to say and how one is allowed to say it), a
network owned and operated by people who have “internalized the
framework of belief and attitudes of the surrounding power system in the
society.” In our case, of course, “the surrounding power system in the
society” is global Capitalism, or Neoliberalism, or whatever you want to
call it. And it is this internalization of capitalist values, and not
any type of conspiracy or direct editorial censorship, that produces the
mainstream media’s monolithic aspect, despite the fact that reporters
and editorialists are “free” to write whatever they want.
The current election season in the US is providing us
with a rather clear example of this. Anyone halfway paying attention has
witnessed the mainstream media (both “left” and “right”) operating as a
superficially diverse yet essentially monolithic echo chamber …
manufacturing public opinion in perfect synchronization as if following a
Hill+Knowlton script. According to this script, Clinton is the only
reasonable choice for “normal, intelligent grown-ups,” Sanders is the
“unrealistic” protest-vote candidate (who is also racist, sexist and
sometimes anti-Semitic, depending on the publication and whether he has
just won another primary), and Trump is … well, Hitler. One could go
back and catalogue the mainstream media’s coverage of the campaign
season so far — in both “liberal” and “conservative” news sources — and
marvel at their dogged adherence to this simplistic narrative.
Now it remains to be seen whether Trump can be
transformed into some “mainstream” version of himself that the
liberalize GOP establishment can possibly live with. At the moment, the
odds of that happening seem pretty slim, and the big liberalize money is
flowing toward Clinton, who has proven her allegiance to the global
banking and corporate elites time and time again. (Although I wouldn’t
put anything past Trump, who has no real principles whatsoever.)
Sanders, meanwhile, is doomed, and appears to be preparing his
supporters for the day when he will herd them all into the Clinton camp
(i.e. the mainstream) and instruct them to ignore Clinton’s corrupt ties
to Wall Street, and her war-mongering and coup-inciting, and so on,
because, well … Hitler.
But let’s set the elections aside for the moment and
take a look at this concept of “the mainstream,” and what is considered
“acceptable” or “normal,” and who produces these concepts for us, and
how and why they do that. Now keep in mind we’re not talking about
facts; we’re talking about opinion-making, and consensus building, and
other such marketing strategies that none of us are completely immune
to. (If you’re skeptical about that last statement, please refer back to
the extremely effective PR campaigns in advance of the USA’s invasions
of Iraq in 1990 and 2003, or ask yourself whether butter is good or bad
for you this week, or maybe research the dramatic increase in the
“discovery” of various pharmaceutically-treatable mood disorders since
the 1980s.)
A Very Brief History of the Mainstream
Now the whole idea of the “mainstream” and “normality”
comes into being right around the same time as modern Capitalism, which
is of course no mere coincidence. Until the middle of the 18th Century
or so, there wasn’t any need for such concepts, which are essential
components of social control under Capitalism, but which were
unnecessary under Despotism, when monarchs and the church could torture
and kill whoever they wanted, and so didn’t have to bother with
manipulating the masses into worrying about whether they were “normal,”
or adopting the values of the ruling classes, or believing they were
“free.” (OK, granted, the church, and organized religion, generally, was
kind of performing this function, but that was a very different,
despotic ball of wax, which is why the whole “God” business starts to
die out fairly quickly under modern Capitalism.)
In any event, by the end of “the Age of Revolution,”
modern Capitalism had replaced Despotism as the dominant
political-economic power structure throughout the Western world. This
was actually a good thing, as Despotism was really no fun at all, unless
you were an aristocrat, which most people weren’t. One of the ways
Capitalism did that (i.e. freed us all from Despotism), was by doing
away with any and all despotic values and replacing them with exchange
value (i.e. the value of a thing, or idea, as determined by the market,
rather than by the King or the Church). This was also a step forward, as
no one enjoys having their values determined for them by despots and
priests. At the same time, a significant number of people are also not
so fond of having the value of every thing, every idea, and pretty much
every other aspect of their lives, determined for them by the market.
Which has made things somewhat challenging for Capitalism, in terms of
its efforts to transform everything in sight into a commodity. The 20th
Century was a particularly problematic period, as Capitalism had to deal
with reactionary challenges from both the left and right (i.e. Fascism
and fake Communism). Fortunately, however, history was on its side, and,
by the late 1980s, modern Capitalism had done away with any serious
threat to its global dominance and, well, here we are.
Now the capitalist mainstream has been neatly divided
for us into “left” and “right” halves, which we are encouraged to freely
choose between, which cynics will tell you is about as meaningful as
choosing between Coca Cola and Pepsi, or Burger King and McDonalds, but
it’s actually a little more interesting than that. We’ll cover the
“right” half first, as the “left” half is a bit more complex, and we’ll
also look at the “non-mainstream” margins of both, where all those
“discontents” reside.
The Mainstream Right and Its Margins
The right half of the capitalist mainstream is comprised
of the global capitalist avant-garde, also known as Neoliberalism, or
Transnational Capitalism. This is the global network of transnational
corporations, banks and other financial institutions, governments and
quasi-governmental bodies, and extremely wealthy individuals that many
people think of as the “one percent.” You know who these people and
entities are.
Just to the right of the right half of the capitalist
mainstream we encounter the reactionary (i.e. nostalgically despotic, or
in some cases neo-fascist) opposition, who are attempting to preserve
what is left of their “traditional values” and social structures, which
the capitalist avant-garde is eradicating and replacing with its only
operative value (i.e. exchange value). Without getting all Deleuze and
Guattari on you, here’s how this works …
As global Capitalism continues to expand, destabilizing,
debt-enslaving, regime changing, and otherwise restructuring whatever
despotic territories remain resistant to its relentless efforts to
impose “freedom” upon them and commodify everything, some of the people
in those territories attempt to halt or turn back the march of progress,
in order to preserve their “traditional” values. Examples of this
include: Christian Fundamentalism and other neo-conservative or
nationalist movements in the USA; various nationalist movements
currently on the rise in Europe (e.g. FN, AfD, BNP, FPÖ, Golden Dawn);
and of course Islamic Fundamentalism, and the various groups and
individuals operating under its banner.
This reactionary (or “anti-capitalist”) sentiment
is, in in large part, what has been fueling Donald Trump’s campaign … a
sentiment never explored in any real depth (as that would deviate from
the simplistic Trump = Hitler script) but strongly condemned by both the
mainstream “left” and “right” at every opportunity. The challenge
facing the GOP establishment now is to coopt this reactionary discontent
with Capitalism and channel it into hatred of Clinton and her
constituency, assuming they can get Trump to play ball with
transnational Capitalism, and drop all the protectionist anti-trade
nonsense.
The Mainstream Left and Its Margins
The left half of the capitalist mainstream is also
comprised of the global capitalist avant-garde (i.e. the same the global
network of transnational corporations, financial institutions,
governments and quasi-governmental bodies, and wealthy individuals that
make up that elite one percent). The only real difference between the
left and right halves of the mainstream is on “social issues,” and both
halves are fairly flexible when it comes to that stuff. Yes, the
mainstream “right” has to pretend to oppose things like reproductive
rights, LGBT rights, affirmative action, open immigration policy, and so
on, just as the mainstream “left” has to pretend to serve the interest
of the working classes and various minority groups, but both halves of
the mainstream are committed, above all else, to preserving and
advancing global Capitalism, which, let’s remember, is effectively
transnational (or supranational) at this point, and is all about doing
away with any kind of despotic social structures or personal values that
get in the way of its ongoing efforts to privatize and commodify
everything. (See NAFTA, TTIP, or other such bipartisan-supported “trade
agreements,” or the workings of the World Bank, IMF, WTO, ECB, et al.,
or the “War on Terror,” for details on that.)
The Mainstream (or “liberal”) Left is often thought of
as “reformist.” It isn’t. The Mainstream Left is not interested in
reforming Capitalism at all, as it doesn’t believe there’s anything
wrong with it. Which is, of course, correct. Capitalism is working
perfectly. There is absolutely nothing faulty or dysfunctional about it.
Capitalism is doing exactly what it is designed to do — eliminating
despotic social structures and values and replacing them with markets
and exchange value — and it is doing this extremely well. Modern
Capitalism has never been interested in democracy, fairness, equality,
saving the planet (or whatever), other than as a means of rendering
everything a commodity and trading it all at a profit. The Mainstream
Left’s historical and ongoing struggles for equality and justice within
the capitalist system, while undeniably necessary, laudable and
progressive, have never been, are not now, a threat or a challenge to
the capitalist system; on the contrary, they are part and parcel of
Capitalism’s efforts to eradicate any despotic values (including racism,
sexism, homophobia, and so on) that interfere with its operations and
progress. Which, again — before you start composing that tweet calling
me racist, or a sexist, or whatever — is a good thing, which I am for (i.e. these struggles the Mainstream Left is engaging in … because Despotism is no fun at all).
Now just as the Mainstream Right is flanked on its right by that reactionary (or “anti-Capitalist”) contingent, the Mainstream Left is flanked on its left by a radical (or “post-Capitalist”)
contingent. Staring into the merciless jaws of a mindless and seemingly
unassailable global capitalist machine that is relentlessly privatizing
and debt-enslaving whatever segments of the planet it hasn’t already
razed, poisoned or otherwise decimated to make a few bucks, the anti-capitalist right wants to go backward, whereas the post-capitalist left wants to go forward.
OK, of course it’s not that black and white, as there
are elements of each on either side, as well as all kinds of other
forces floating around out there on the margins, but bear with me for a
moment, because I think I’m getting to my main point … which is about
those discontented masses that the mainstream media and the rest of the
plutocracy is working so hard to contain, divert, coopt and otherwise
neutralize at the moment.
Both of these discontented contingents want out of
Capitalism, at least in its current transnational form. And
understandably so, as it’s all pretty much downhill from here, for most
of us anyway, as the neoliberal “race to the bottom” continues. The
difference is that the post-Capitalist left (which I’m obviously
numbering myself among) doesn’t regard Capitalism as a mistake, and we
recognize and appreciate it having freed us from the tyranny of the
monarchies and the church and so on; we simply want to move forward
toward some sort of social and economic system that maybe has an ounce
of humanity, and humility, and wherein exchange value isn’t the only
value that matters.
The Mainstream (let’s go ahead and capitalize it),
unlike the two contingents we just covered, does not want out of
Capitalism. The Mainstream, both left and right halves of it, wants
Capitalism to go on ruling the world forever. Capitalism, like every
other historical empire, wants history to end with its ascension to
power.
Having succeed in its revolution against the monarchies, it wants
to ensure that there will be no further revolutions, ever, until the
end of time. Which is why those contingents on the left and right must
be continually ignored, dismissed, castigated and otherwise marginalized
by the mainstream media, and occasionally, when necessary, subdued with
brute force.
The Future
Now reactionary anti-Capitalism is never going to
succeed. Ask the Nazis, or any other nationalists or neo-nationalists,
how well they’ve done with that approach. Moreover, it’s not meant to
succeed. It’s actually just a built-in part of the machinery of the
system … how Capitalism keeps itself from completely imploding. Whenever
the machine gets overheated, it generates this “fascist” reaction,
which slows things down and allows Capitalism to reenact its founding
mythology (i.e. defeating despotism and securing freedom and justice for
all). Sometimes this cathartic ritual is conducted symbolically (as
appears to be the case with the current US elections), but at other
times it is also acted out with bombs, guns and so on. In any event,
although global Capitalism has no problem accommodating despotically-run
governments that play ball economically, the West is not going back to
actual Despotism as an operative power structure … so forget about
those V, Handmaid’s Tale and 1984 scenarios. They’re not going to happen.
The good news is, post-Capitalism is going
to succeed, someday … unless Capitalism manages to annihilate all human
life on the planet first. Because nothing lasts forever, not even
global empires, no matter how much their ruling elites want them to. The
specific character of this post-Capitalist future is, at this
stage, probably unimaginable, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t on the way.
Personally, I’m hoping for some version of Socialism, rather than, you
know, some Mad Max-type scenario. Whether that next tectonic
social-political transformation occurs, or begins, in our lifetimes is
an open question, as is whether it comes about gradually or as the
result of some global catastrophe.
In the meantime, we have this “Mainstream” problem. The
question is, how do we “discontents” on the left continue to support the
Mainstream Left’s struggles for equality and social justice within the capitalist system without
getting sucked into the trap of, well, for example, supporting (or
agreeing not to savagely criticize) mainstream liberal icons like Barack
Obama or Hillary Clinton, who are clearly servants of the neoliberal
corporate elites that are destabilizing, privatizing, debt-enslaving,
and otherwise pestiferously restructuring the entire planet?
While it’s relatively uncomplicated to align ourselves
with the Mainstream Left when it comes to issues like blatant racism,
sexism and other such forms of discrimination, or police brutality, mass
incarceration, labor reforms, and so on, it gets a little more
complicated at times like this, when the Mainstream Left expects (or
demands) that everyone sidle up to the establishment table for another
heaping serving of “hope and change,” or “love trumps hate,” or whatever
happy horseshit they’re serving up this time. It gets especially tricky
when the Mainstream Left starts insinuating (or just outright claiming)
that anyone who dares to criticize their neoliberal puppet candidate is
either a racist, a sexist, or an angry, uneducated, white trash Trump
supporter. This kind of bullying and guilt-tripping is only going to
intensify once Sanders concedes and it becomes a Clinton/Trump race. So,
unless you’re planning on shutting up about Clinton and conforming to
the mainstream script, get yourself a raincoat.
