Whether our nation is a corporatocracy rather than a functioning representative democracy is an empirical issue to be decided by the facts. Chomsky's analysis that we are ruled by corporate and political elites is supported by yesterday's Supreme Court decision -- contravening 100 years of congressional and judicial precedent -- giving corporations the right to spend unlimited amounts of money bankrolling their preferred candidates for political office. Some predict, I think correctly, that the Court's decision is the final nail in the coffin of whatever hopes we may have had that we could resuscitate what has been a failing democracy already on life-support. From now on, we should not be under any illusion that successful candidates for office will be anything but political prostitutes -- bought by corporations to do their bidding. The floodgates of oligarchic rule have opened.

Did you see any mention of the Court's decision on this morning's news programs? I didn't. Nowhere on CNN's list of "Hot Topics."

A check of mainstream broadcast media transcripts on Lexis-Nexis shows that, on the day after the ruling, there was only a brief discussion by Mark Shields and David Brooks on The Newshour as well on NPR radio. That's it. NBC's Today show devoted all of 126 words coverage to the most significant Supreme Court ruling in a century -- one that will radically transform our lives in countless unforeseen ways -- compared to:

845 words: Olympic ice dancers Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto discuss upcoming Olympics and their skating history

1363 words: P. Allen Smith discusses healing power of plants

1565 words: Ladies' Home Journal's Margot Gilman and sleep specialist Dr. Carol Ash discuss tips for helping get a better night's sleep

138 words: Dog rescued from swollen river; storms in Arizona

Why the deafening silence? Aren't the media supposed to inform us about important issues affecting our lives?

Not surprising, since the mainstream media are corporate owned. What else would we expect? They are not going to shoot themselves in the foot and criticize what is in their own interest. So, we happily skip along obsessed with John Edwards' and Tiger's sexual indiscretions, the latest celebrity scandal du jour, and in fear of terrorists attacking our local shopping mall.

Mainstream, corporate-owned media are banal and vapid - and dumb us down - for a reason: to inure us to the darkness of the cave and make its darkness seem like illumination, and the shadows cast by the puppet masters seem like reality.

Here's an interesting article by Joe Conason, "Where are the real populists now?"

And another from the Los Angeles Times, "Who are the judicial activists now?"

At least the print media haven't been muzzled and censored . . . yet.

The effect of propaganda on what we believe

Institutionalized lying and deception are nothing new: witness ongoing revelations of the extent of corruption at the nexus of political and corporate power. All of these instances of institutionalized deception, lying, and covert (and overt) propaganda and manipulation by government, media, and business, undermine freedom and democracy by interfering with your ability to function as a well-informed guardian of your interests.

In our second week of class, we will study Plato's Allegory of the Cave. What relevance do you think Plato's Allegory of the Cave has for understanding how your beliefs can be manipulated and shaped by others? To what extent do you think that your life is immune to being controlled by the invisible hand of covert propaganda?

What are some examples of how beliefs, attitudes, or behavior in our society are manipulated and shaped by propaganda, deception, the "manufacture of consent," and the dissemination of misinformation?

Is there anything (perhaps suggested by Plato's allegory of the cave) that you can do to prevent yourself and others from being misled and manipulated by those who seek to treat you as an ill-informed slave to their interests?