A democracy barely functions under the neoliberal system. Noam Chomsky More Quotes by Noam Chomsky More Quotes From Noam Chomsky There’s no more morality in world affairs, fundamentally, than there was at the time of Genghis Khan. Noam Chomsky affair morality world Our health care is rationed by wealth. Noam Chomsky health-care wealth care The key element of social control is the strategy of distraction that is to divert public attention from important issues and changes decided by political and economic elites, through the technique of flood or flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information. Noam Chomsky issues political keys Because they don't teach the truth about the world, schools have to rely on beating students over the head with propaganda about democracy. If schools were, in reality, democratic, there would be no need to bombard students with platitudes about democracy. They would simply act and behave democratically, and we know this does not happen. The more there is a need to talk about the ideals of democracy, the less democratic the system usually is. Noam Chomsky democracy reality school It is a virtual reflex for governments to plead security concerns when they undertake any controversial action, often as a pretext for something else. Noam Chomsky controversial government action We're supposed to believe that oil had nothing to do with it, that if Iraq were exporting pickles or jelly and the center of world oil production were in the South Pacific that the United States would've liberated them anyway. It has nothing to do with the oil, what a crass idea. Anyone with their head screwed on knows that that can't be true. Noam Chomsky oil believe ideas In our society, real power does not happen to lie in the political system, it lies in the private economy: that’s where the decisions are made about what’s produced, how much is produced, what’s consumed, where investment takes place, who has jobs, who controls the resources, and so on and so forth. And as long as that remains the case, changes inside the political system can make some difference-I don’t want to say it’s zero-but the differences are going to be very slight. Noam Chomsky zero jobs lying If you care about other people, you might try to organize to undermine power and authority. That's not going to happen if you care only about yourself. Noam Chomsky care trying people Before the 1970s, banks were banks. They did what banks were supposed to do in a state capitalist economy: they took unused funds from your bank account, for example, and transferred them to some potentially useful purpose like helping a family buy a home or send a kid to college. Noam Chomsky college home kids The costs of the Bush-Obama wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now estimated to run as high as $4.4 trillion - a major victory for Osama bin Laden, whose announced goal was to bankrupt America by drawing it into a trap. The 2011 military budget - almost matching that of the rest of the world combined - is higher in real terms than at any time since World War II and is slated to go even higher . Noam Chomsky real military running It's perfectly obvious that there is some genetic factor that distinguishes humans from other animals and that it is language-specific. The theory of that genetic component, whatever it turns out to be, is what is called universal grammar. Noam Chomsky language theory animal Under capitalism, we can't have democracy by definition. Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are in principle under autocratic control. Noam Chomsky definitions democracy principles 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. Noam Chomsky iran military years The term "intellectual" is used conventionally to refer to people who happen to have unusual opportunities in this regard, and as always, opportunity confers moral responsibility. Noam Chomsky responsibility opportunity people My suspicion is that those who seem oblivious to suffering, whether it is nearby or in remote corners, are for the most part unaware, perhaps blinded by doctrine and ideology. For them, the answer is to develop a critical attitude toward articles of faith, secular or religious; to encourage their capacity to question, to explore, to view the world from the standpoint of others. And direct exposure is never very far away, wherever we live - perhaps the homeless person huddling in the cold or asking for a few pennies for food, or all too many more. Noam Chomsky religious suffering attitude The number of people killed by the sanctions in Iraq is greater than the total number of people killed by all weapons of mass destruction in all of history. Noam Chomsky mass-destruction iraq numbers If we choose, we can live in a world of comforting illusion. Noam Chomsky anarchy hero comforting In a capitalist system, there's a principle that if you invest, especially in a long-term risky investment, if something comes out of it, you're supposed to get the profit. It doesn't happen in our system. The taxpayer paid for it and gets nothing - assumes all of the risk, gets zero. The money goes into the pockets of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, who are ripping off decades of work in the public sector. Noam Chomsky zero jobs long The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. Noam Chomsky corporations democracy government If you are not offending people who ought to be offended, you're doing something wrong. Noam Chomsky offended-you offending people
