In the United States, and to a certain extent in Canada, there's very little interest in what happens outside their borders. Noam Chomsky More Quotes by Noam Chomsky More Quotes From Noam Chomsky I don't see how one can "believe in organized religion." What does it mean to believe in an organization? One can join it, support it, oppose it, accept its doctrines or reject them. There are many kinds of organized religion. People associate themselves with some of them, or not, for all sorts of reasons, maybe belief in some of their doctrines. Noam Chomsky organizationmeanbelieve Today, the danger of some sort of a nuclear catastrophe is greater than it was during the Cold War, and most people are blissfully unaware of this danger. Noam Chomsky todaywarpeople The threat and use of violence is stimulating nuclear proliferation along with jihadi terrorism. Noam Chomsky nuclear-proliferationviolenceuse To go back to a moment of Western civilization remote enough in time so that we should be able to look at it dispassionately, ask what happened during World War I. What was the typical behavior of respected intellectuals in Germany, England, the United States? What happened to those who publicly questioned the nobility of the war effort, on both sides? I do not think the answers are untypical. Noam Chomsky warcivilizationthinking I think religion has often played a very positive role. Take western civilization, the Catholic Church has played an honorable role in helping those in need. In contrast, the US carried out a virtual war against the church in central America in the 1980's primarily because prime elements in the church were working with great courage and honor to help those in need. And to organize them to help themselves. Noam Chomsky warcivilizationthinking Expressing criticism of society is not being a grouch. Noam Chomsky grouchescriticism [Mikhail] Gorbachev complained. He was told look, there's nothing on paper. People didn't actually say it but the implication was look, if you are dumb enough to take faith in a gentleman's agreement with us, that's your problem. NATO expanded to East Germany. Noam Chomsky east-germanyagreementpeople It is familiar to mainstream academic scholarship. One very prominent political scientist, in his standard text American Politics 20 years ago, observes that "The architects of power in the United States must create a force that can be felt but not seen." Noam Chomsky united-statespoliticalyears In the primary debates for the 2016 election, every single Republican candidate was a climate change denier, with one exception, John Kasich - the "rational moderate" - who said it may be happening but we shouldn't do anything about it. For a long time, the media have downplayed the issue. Noam Chomsky issuesmedialong Trump keeps the spotlight on himself with one act after another, assuming correctly that yesterday's antics will be swept aside by today's. Noam Chomsky assuming Tough love is just the right phrase: love for the rich and privileged, tough for everyone else. Noam Chomsky tough-lovephraseslove-is The evangelicals. . . . If all they want is gold Cadillacs and sex and so on, no big problem. Noam Chomsky cadillacsgoldsex All media depend on advertisement to survive. Noam Chomsky advertisementsdependsmedia The process of shaping opinion, attitudes, and perceptions was termed the 'engineering of consent' by one of the founders of the modern public relations industry, Edward Bernays. Noam Chomsky engineeringperceptionattitude If something comes along that you don't like, there are a few sort of four-letter words that you can use to push it out of the sphere of discussion. If you were in a bar downtown, they might have different words, but if you're an educated person what you use are complicated words like "conspiracy theory" or "Marxist." It's a way of pushing unpleasant questions off the agenda so that we can continue in our own happy ideology. Noam Chomsky downtownagendasfour In any case, it is better to have some deal than no deal, but it's interesting that Obama picked the day of implementing of Iran deal to impose new sanctions on North Korea. Noam Chomsky koreairaninteresting It's easy to put [serious threats] aside, and the media don't talk about them. Other things are more important. How am I going to put food on the table tomorrow? That's what I've got to worry about, and so on. It's very serious, but it's hard to bring out the enormity of these issues, when they do not have the dramatic character of something you can show in the movies, with a nuclear weapons falling and everything disappears. Noam Chomsky mediacharacterfall Bear in mind that we [ with Edward Herman] did not devise the terms "manufacture of consent" and "engineering of consent." We borrowed them from leading figures in the media, public relations industry, and academic scholarship. Noam Chomsky engineeringmediamind Nicaragua was destabilizing Central America, meaning moving in a direction the US didn't like. So Nicaragua was crushed. Noam Chomsky nicaraguaamericamoving The actual consequences of Plan Colombia are to devastate peasant communities, which have been driven to drug production. These peasants have no particular desire to grow coca, but their other means of livelihood have been wiped out. Noam Chomsky drugcommunitymean
