Internet is Full of Talking People

Noam talks about the role of mass media and democracy.



The most interesting part of this video is when he talks about the NED, National Endowment for Democracy, established under Reagan, which funds programs such as Students for a Free Tibet and other programs which used to be funded and run by the CIA. The US government is often involved in politics in ways we do not expect. It really distorts Americans' view of the world. For example, the NED and other groups get money from Congress, which then fund Chinese democracy activists who are exiled from China. In the West, we are given the impression that these people are hugely influential, but in fact, there are not very many democracy activists, and they are largely dismissed in China by the public as idealist radicals.