Reply #33: The system is brilliant, because it tells you how "free" you are,

[JoshK]

while in fact ramming propaganda down your throat 24/7/365.

Most people get so used to it, that they accept it as being natural as the sunrise, and don't even notice it. Now THAT is some powerfully effective brainwashing system!

As Chomsky & others point out, the US system achieves a uniformity of opinion that formally totalitarian states could only dream of. A key element of this success is that the US system appears on the surface to tolerate "freedom of expression," while a Soviet or Nazi system makes no bones about the fact that what you are being told by the state is the only permissible opinion. This latter approach, in its crudeness, is not as readily internalized as the US approach, which guides you to the desired opinions without making it evident that you're being guided.