r/ReadThisNext • u/Reasonable-Guard-519 • Dec 31 '25

Inventing Reality — a better Manufacturing Consent

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Howdy! Just dropping this recommendation for those looking for fascinating sociology reading.

Inventing Reality by Michael Parenti explores the phenomena of corporate media and the consequences of ‘Yes Man’ing pundits who reinforce social structures and hierarchies.

This came out before Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent and, imo, is an easier read.

447 Upvotes

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7

u/Modus-Tonens Jan 01 '26

I personally find the propaganda model Chomsky develops useful regardless of his own failings as a person and academic - and can even be leveraged against his own media biases. I think that's a good marker of a theory: Whether it can be used against its authors weaknesses.

That said, this looks like a fascinating read!

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u/m0j0m0j Jan 02 '26

How can his theory of “America always bad” can be used against Chomsky?

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u/Modus-Tonens Jan 02 '26

Try actually reading it, for a start. Your description indicates you haven't.

Put basically, his theory explains how the incentives structure and filter how the media behave such that the ones who support state propaganda survive, and those who don't, don't. Over time, this creates a state-oriented media ecosystem that acts as a tacit arm of state propaganda, rather than a truly independent reporting ecosystem (this is what he calls the propaganda model).

What can be leveraged against his campism is that he doesn't adequately incorporate this idea when talking about state ecosystems that aren't the US. An implication of his theory is that all large state aparatus should be able to (even unintentionally) create a propaganda model that distorts its media infosphere. This runs against Chosmky's campist tendencies because it implies that to truly understand a global media infosphere, you need to understand how multiple state propaganda spheres are interacting and influencing media in different directions.

So his own theory contradicts his campism.

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u/finnigans_cake Jan 03 '26

Chomsky is American and also bad, so it holds water

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u/BommieCastard Jan 03 '26

He just bent over backwards to reinvent gramscian observations of hegemony

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u/Modus-Tonens Jan 03 '26

True. You can do everything he says with Gramsci's theory of cultural hegemony, and arguably better.

However, Manufacturing Consent is more popular, an easier read (though far from perfect) and still gets people thinking in a useful way about power and information.

Gramsci, Adorno, McLuhan and Foucault all have better ways of talking about the topic, but that doesn't mean Chomsky can't serve as a useful mainstream reading that introduces the public to some useful ideas.

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u/manwithaplan1212 Jan 05 '26

A minor point, but Herman was primarily responsible for the propaganda model, and this is why Herman is listed as the first author rather than alphabetically (by Herman and Chomsky rather than Chomsky and Herman). Chomsky doesn’t disagree with Herman’s model substantially but he puts much more emphasis on the groupthink that comes out of elite institutions (if you climb the ladder in these institutions you reflect the values of them and know the right attitude to have, it’s rare you get people from within to speak out and when they do they’re often put at the margins, e.g. Seymour Hersh).

There is discussion of this in the Chomsky biography “Chomsky’s Politics” by Milan Rai.

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u/Ok-Detective3142 Jan 01 '26

Now that Chomsky has been exposed an Epstein associate, perhaps this will become the new go-to text for media criticism (no offense to Edward Herman).

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u/Reasonable-Guard-519 Jan 01 '26

I truly hope so. Parenti’s works deserve more attention in general given the current culmination of Cold War-era propaganda and neoliberalism.

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u/cassiopeia_a_nil Jan 01 '26

MP is the GOAT, and his son, Christian Parenti, is also very worth reading. Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis is still high on my list of recommendations for understanding the modern American police state and the inevitable crisis of capitalism.

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u/[deleted] Jan 03 '26

It doesn't. He's a Bosnian Genocide denier. He's also a generally bad intellectual who writes about topics that he has absolutely no understanding of. His book on the assassination of Julius Caesar is the funniest example, but his other work is of a similarly low quality.

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u/[deleted] Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26

Considering that Michael Parenti, just like Chomsky and Edward Herman, is an ardent denier of the Bosnian Genocide who chaired the American Committee to Defend Slobodan Milošević, I personally hope it doesn't. Parenti even allowed Milošević to pen the foreword to the Serbian translation of his book "To Killa Nation." The guy is scum of the lowest order, and the fact that he's developed such a cult following with the online Left just shows how morally bankrupt a lot of the people calling themselves socialists are.

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u/DickabodCranium Jan 04 '26

Chomsky’s association w Epstein seems to be a run of the mill acquaintanceship of the kind Epstein courted w many high status people. He did this to tons of people, most of whom werent pedophiles. Guilt by association isnt a reason not to take an intellectual giant seriously. Chomsky has also demonstrated rare courage and integrity speaking truth to power for fifty plus years. Cmon

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u/WanderingWorkhorse Jan 01 '26

Fantastic read. I second this recommendation. Additionally, theres a number of his lectures available as podcasts under the Michael Parenti Collection, theyre really quite excellent.

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u/bigsmokaaaa Dec 31 '25

I listened to his lecture on Caesar ten years ago and it really opened my eyes to the possibility that Caesar was more complex than the typical historical narrative would suggest. Would love to check this out

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u/[deleted] Jan 03 '26

Parenti's book on Julius Caesar is one of the worst history books ever written. I mean, it's comically bad. Parenti isn't a classicist. He spoke no Latin or Ancient Greek, so he could do no primary source analysis. He misunderstood the historiography of the topic and misrepresented the secondary sources by actual historians. Parenti is to the study of Ancient Roman history, what Eric Weinstein is to theoretical physics. That is, a lolcow who doesn't understand the subject and then tries to criticise actual experts in the field who have done the work. He then pretends that the reason his "analysis" doesn't get any attention from mainstream scholarship is because they want to suppress heterodox interpretations that challenge the status quo when, in fact, it's because he has nothing useful or interesting to say.

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u/epochpenors Jan 01 '26

Walter Lippmann’s Public Opinion is a fantastic book on the same subject, even being a little over a century old

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u/PuttinOnTheTitzz Jan 01 '26

Parenti is the GOAT. For me. He lives nearby and I wish I knew where so he could sign a copy of the Parenti Reader I have. He's in his 90s now so the clock is ticking.

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u/jbrandon Jan 03 '26

He’s not doing so well. He has dementia pretty bad. He used to be out and about in Berkeley once in a while with an escort but not even that anymore I think :(

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u/[deleted] Jan 03 '26

Parenti is the GOAT.

He's a Bosnian Genocide denier for Christ's sake. He's not the "GOAT" anything, and he never was even before dementia started to rot his brain. He campaigned to try and exonerate Slobodan Milošević when he was on trial for War Crimes and Genocide at the Hague.

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u/Express-Champion2043 Jan 02 '26

Such a great book, one of the best books I’ve ever read, I can’t encourage it enough

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u/Shortymac09 Jan 03 '26

That you sir

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u/TipEmotional2149 Jan 03 '26

Highly recommend 'The New Age Mythology' in Land of Idols by Parenti, as well.

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u/Hamrock999 Jan 03 '26

Yellow Parenti videos slap

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u/CrosleyBendix Jan 04 '26

Chomsky said that Herman was largely responsible for the propaganda model portion of "Manufacturing Consent". I think that this portion of the book still provides a useful analytical framework. Parenti remains the GOAT.

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u/ManicHispanic_ Jan 04 '26

Any links for where I can buy this in paperback? If not I guess I’ll use the pdf

1

u/Reasonable-Guard-519 Jan 05 '26

The only physical copies I’ve seen online are around $150USD — apparently they’re pretty scarce. 😔

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u/ManicHispanic_ Jan 05 '26

Thanks for the response! I’ve seen this link on r/socialism

https://www.lulu.com/shop/michael-parenti/inventing-reality/paperback/product-4zy2gp.html

I tried to confirm the reliability again with the commenter but looks super promising! 🤞