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Noam Chomsky Quotes - Page 2

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Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you’re really in favor of free speech, then you’re in favor of freedom of speech for precisely the views you despise. Otherwise, you’re not in

Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you’re really in favor of free speech, then you’re in favor of freedom of speech for precisely the views you despise. Otherwise, you’re not in favor of free speech.

Views, Freedom Of Speech, Favors

"Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media". Documentary, Biography, War, www.imdb.com. 1992.

When I was in high school I asked myself at one point: "Why do I care if my high school's team wins the football game? I don't know anybody on the team, they have nothing to do with me... why am I here and applaud? It does not make any sense." But the point is, it does make sense: It's a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority and group cohesion behind leadership elements. In fact it's training in irrational jingoism. That's also a feature of competitive sports.

Sports, Football, Attitude

"Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media". Documentary, Biography, War, www.imdb.com. 1992.

Education is a system of imposed ignorance.

Education, Ignorance, Thrive

"Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media". Documentary, Biography, War, www.imdb.com. 1992.

The whole educational and professional training system is a very elaborate filter, which just weeds out people who are too independent, and who think for themselves, and who don't know how to be submissive, and so on -- because they're dysfunctional to the institutions.

Weed, Educational, Learning

Noam Chomsky (2013). “Understanding Power: The Indispensible Chomsky”, p.111, The New Press

If something is repeated over and over as obvious, the chances are that it is obviously false.

Chance, Obvious, Chances Are

If you want to control a population... give them a God to worship.

Giving, Population, Want

The point of public relations slogans like "Support Our Troops" is that they don't mean anything ... that's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody is going to be against and I suppose everybody will be for, because nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean anything. But its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something, do you support our policy? And that's the one you're not allowed to talk about.

War, Mean, Media

WBAI Radio Interview, January 1992.

The goal is to keep the bewildered herd bewildered. It's unnecessary for them to trouble themselves with what's happening in the world. In fact, it's undesirable - if they see too much of reality they may set themselves to change it.

Reality, Goal, World

Noam Chomsky (2011). “How the World Works”, p.69, Soft Skull Press

The best defense against democracy is to distract people.

People, Democracy, Defense

Noam Chomsky (2011). “How the World Works”, p.241, Soft Skull Press

The media want to maintain their intimate relation to state power. They want to get leaks, they want to get invited to the press conferences. They want to rub shoulders with the Secretary of State, all that kind of business. To do that, you've got to play the game, and playing the game means telling their lies, serving as their disinformation apparatus.

Lying, Mean, Media

"Chronicles of Dissent: Interviews with David Barsamian". Book by David Barsamian, chomsky.info. 1992.

Neoliberal democracy. Instead of citizens, it produces consumers. Instead of communities, it produces shopping malls. The net result is an atomized society of disengaged individuals who feel demoralized and socially powerless. In sum, neoliberalism is the immediate and foremost enemy of genuine participatory democracy, not just in the United States but across the planet, and will be for the foreseeable future.

Shopping, Community, Enemy

Noam Chomsky (2011). “Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order”, p.8, Seven Stories Press

All public resources go to the rich. The poor, if they can survive in the labor market, fine. Otherwise, they die. That's economics in a nutshell.

Rich, Economics, Poor

A basic principle of modern state capitalism is that costs and risks are socialized to the extent possible, while profit is privatized.

Risk, Principles, Cost

If anybody thinks they should listen to me because I'm a professor at MIT, that's nonsense. You should decide whether something makes sense by its content, not by the letters after the name of the person who says it.

Thinking, Names, Mit

Noam Chomsky (2013). “Understanding Power: The Indispensible Chomsky”, p.138, The New Press

Concentration of wealth yields concentration of political power. And concentration of political power gives rise to legislation that increases and accelerates the cycle.

Yield, Concentration Of Wealth, Giving

Noam Chomsky (2012). “Occupy”, p.19, Penguin UK

The press is owned by wealthy men who only want certain things to reach the public.

Men, Want, Certain

It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies.

Leadership, Truth, Lying

Noam Chomsky (2010). “The Chomsky Reader”, p.60, Pantheon

If you are working 50 hours a week in a factory, you don't have time to read 10 newspapers a day and go back to declassified government archives. But such people may have far-reaching insights into the way the world works.

Government, People, Archives

What's the point of being better than someone else?

The threat of China is not military. The threat of China is they can't be intimidated. Europe you can intimidate. When the US tries to get people to stop investing in Iran, European companies pull out, China disregards it. You look at history and understand why - they've been around for 4,000 years, they have contempt for the barbarians, they just don't give a damn.

Military, Iran, Years

Interview with Robert Trivers, seedmagazine.com. September 06, 2006.

A language is not just words. It's a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is. It's all embodied in a language.

Communication, Community, Culture

"We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân". Documentary, January 10, 2011.

For those who stubbornly seek freedom, there can be no more urgent task than to come to understand the mechanisms and practices of indoctrination.

Practice, Tasks, Indoctrination

Noam Chomsky, Carlos Peregrín Otero (2003). “Chomsky on Democracy and Education”, p.212, Psychology Press

The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.

Smart, Passivity Is, People

Noam Chomsky (2013). “How the World Works”, p.234, Soft Skull Press

If you go to one demonstration and then go home, that's something, but the people in power can live with that. What they can't live with is sustained pressure that keeps building, organisations that keep doing things, people that keep learning lessons from the last time and doing it better the next time.

Religious, Home, People

Noam Chomsky (2013). “How the World Works”, p.71, Soft Skull Press

Nobody should have any illusions. The United States has essentially a one-party system and the ruling party is the business party.

Party, Should Have, United States

"The United States Has Essentially a One-Party System". Interview with Gabor Steingart, www.spiegel.de. October 10, 2008.

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