U.S. has no feudal background, so institutions that remained in place in Europe did not remain in place here. Noam Chomsky More Quotes by Noam Chomsky More Quotes From Noam Chomsky The public is not to see where power lies, how it shapes policy, and for what ends. Rather, people are to hate and fear one another. Noam Chomsky hatelyingpeople If [Respulicans] can't get rid of [Obamacare], they're going to have to tell their base, we've been lying to you for the last five years. So they're willing to go to almost any extent to do that. That's unusual, in fact I think it's unique in the history of modern parliamentary systems. And it's very dangerous for the country and for the world. Noam Chomsky uniquecountrylying The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people. Noam Chomsky drugmotherpeople If there are dollars to be made, you destroy the environment. The reason is elementary. The people who are going to be harmed by this are your grandchildren and they don't have any votes in the market. Their interests are worth zero. Anybody that pays attention to their grandchildren's interests is being irrational. Because what you're supposed to do is maximize your own interests, measured by wealth, right now. Nothing else matters. So destroying the environment and militarizing outer space are rational policies, but within a framework of institutional lunacy. Noam Chomsky grandchildrenzerospace Another problem is the confrontation with India. Pakistan just cannot survive if it continues to do so (continue this confrontation). Noam Chomsky pakistanindiaproblem Look at the ozone story. As long as it was the southern hemisphere that was being threatened, there was very little talk about it. When it was discovered in the north, very quickly actions were taken to do something about it. Right now there's discussion of putting serious effort into developing a malaria vaccine, because global warming might extend malaria to the rich countries, so something should be done about it. Noam Chomsky rich-countriestakencountry If the US were to attack North Korea, they'd certainly destroy North Korea, but South Korea would be pretty well wiped out too. Noam Chomsky koreawellswould-be Our current prison state has the dual effect of getting rid of a superfluous population of basically unskilled workers (with a close race-class correlation), and also demonizing them... The drug war is basically for this - It has nothing to do with drugs, but it has plenty to do with criminalizing an unwanted population and scaring everybody else. Noam Chomsky raceclasswar The Obama administration is dedicated to increasing terrorism. In fact, he is doing it all over the world. Obama is running the biggest terrorist operation that exists, maybe in history. The drone assassination campaigns - which are just part of the special forces operations and so on - all of these operations are terror operations. Noam Chomsky administrationspecialrunning In the American Jewish community, there is little willingness to face the fact that the Palestinian Arabs have suffered a monstrous historical injustice . . . Until this is recognized, discussion of the Middle East crisis cannot even begin. Noam Chomsky middle-eastcommunityhistorical As far as Bernie Sanders is concerned, he is a decent, honest person, and I supported him. What he means by socialism is New Deal Liberalism. In fact, his actual policies would not have been a great surprise to General Eisenhower. The fact that this is called a "political revolution" is a sign of how far to the right the political spectrum has shifted, mainly in the last 30 years since the neoliberal programs began to be instituted. What he was calling for was a restoration of something like New Deal Liberalism, which is a very good thing. Noam Chomsky political-revolutionmeanyears It may be beyond the limits of human intelligence to understand how human intelligence works. Noam Chomsky limitshumansmay People who call themselves supporters of Israel are actually supporters of its moral degeneration and ultimate destruction. Noam Chomsky moralisraelpeople We can try to gain some of the sensibility of some of the indigenous populations of the world or our predecessors 800 years ago. We can laugh at them as being naive and unsophisticated, but unless we can gain that sensibility that there has to be rights of nature as Bolivians and others put it, then we're going to be destroyed. Noam Chomsky rightslaughingyears Suppose that the US really is trying to get rid of drugs in Colombia. Does Colombia then have the right to fumigate tobacco farms in Kentucky? They are producing a lethal substance far more dangerous than cocaine. More Colombians die from tobacco-related illnesses than Americans die from cocaine. Of course, Colombia has no right to do that. Noam Chomsky kentuckydrugpolitical There is no western concern for issues of aggression, atrocities, human rights abuses and so on if there's a profit to be made from them Noam Chomsky abuseissuesrights I had relatives in New York City who I stayed with. And in those days, the area from Union Square down Fourth Avenue had small bookstores, many of which were run by Spanish immigrants who'd fled after [Francisco] Franco's victory. I spent time in them, and also in the offices of Freie Arbeiter Stimme (Free Worker's Voice) with anarchists. I picked up a lot of material and talked to people, and it became a major influence. Noam Chomsky squaresnew-yorkrunning The United States is unusual among the industrial democracies in the rigidity of the system of ideological control - 'indoctrination,' we might say - exercised through the mass media. Noam Chomsky united-statesdemocracymedia You can’t have meaningful political democracy without functioning economic democracy. Noam Chomsky democracypoliticalmeaningful When geologists announced the beginning of a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, humans destroying the environment, one of the main things they pointed to is the use of plastics in the earth. We don't think about it, but it has a tremendous effect. But these are things you don't see right in front of your eyes. You need to think about them a little, to see what the consequences are. It's easy to put them aside, and the media don't talk about them. Noam Chomsky mediaeyethinking
