What Is Karl Marx Ruling Class

In the Karl Marx essay “Ruling Class and Ruling Ideas” from The German Ideoogy, Marx argues that the ruling class, through their cultural and media control, have the ability to shape the ideology of the common man. Marx’s thoughts on the ruling class’s control over public opinion still hold true more than a century after his writing. In 2009, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) fell victim to a smear campaign by Fox News, Brietbart, and other conservative media outlets using highly-edited sting video clips to stop ACORN from mobilizing low-income and minority voters. The public’s blind and unquestioning acceptance of these outlets’ ultimately false allegations as fact proves Marx’s idea that the ruling class has
Founded in 1970, ACORN was a nationwide network of organizations focused on eliminating poverty; it received federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for portions of its operations (Farrell). Organizations like ACORN seek to increase the influence of lower social class Americans by organizing their involvement in government and encouraging the use of public services. Despite ACORN’s non-partisan, non-profit status, they still engaged in electoral politics by operating voter registration drives, initiating ballot measures, and lobbying in support of their progressive policy
The conservative media block—Fox News, Breitbart, and associates—had a clear goal in the ACORN scandal. They firmly believed that ACORN was a front using federal funds to influence elections for liberal candidates; the organization’s supposedly fraudulent activities were reason alone to warrant its death. These elites believed that the traditional path of journalism and investigative discovery was tainted by the bias that made ACORN possible. Therefore, it was their responsibility as the ruling class to convince the American public that ACORN is bad by whatever means necessary. Through their campaigning, they were able to create the ruling ideology that ultimately led to the defunding and liquidation of ACORN and marred the reputation of community organizing efforts. Unfortunately for them, the side effect of this action exposed the true nature of their “news” organizations and can be used as evidence against their journalistic integrity. Unfortunately for the public, the ACORN scandal is a worrying comment on public opinion and democracy; if this example proves to be a widely-applicable principle, then the will of the common man is not free but rather the creation of a ruling