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Read 9 Free Books By Noam Chomsky Online. Deterring Democracy (1991): Chomsky details the major shift in global politics that has left the United States unchallenged as the preeminent military power even as its economic might has declined drastically in the face of competition from Germany and Japan.
Noam Chomsky Understanding Power Pdf
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A major new collection from 'arguably the most important intellectual alive' (The New York Times). Noam Chomsky is universally accepted as one of the preeminent public intellectuals of the modern era. Over the past thirty years, broadly diverse audiences have gathered to attend his sold-out lectures. Now, in Understanding Power, Peter Mitchell and John Schoeffel have assem..more
Published February 1st 2002 by The New Press
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Dec 19, 2011Ted rated it it was amazing Shelves: classics, society, reviews-most-liked, history-us, politics-political-theory, americana, language
This really is the indispensable Chomsky. It's a summary of his views on just about everything.
Many of Noam's views are very left wing, progressive, anti-American policy, anti-Israel policy .. so a lot of people care not much for him. He is to me the most rational, truth seeking person I've read.
The book is not 'writings' of Chomsky's. Rather it is edited transcriptions of Q&A sessions from a great number of teach-ins and college talks that he has given over the years. The editing has been..more
Many of Noam's views are very left wing, progressive, anti-American policy, anti-Israel policy .. so a lot of people care not much for him. He is to me the most rational, truth seeking person I've read.
The book is not 'writings' of Chomsky's. Rather it is edited transcriptions of Q&A sessions from a great number of teach-ins and college talks that he has given over the years. The editing has been..more
Want to understanding international politics? Want to know how to read between the lines of the days headlines? Want to know where to start with Noam Chomsky? The answer to all those questions is: Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky.
First read Chomsky as a teenager. At first I couldn't believe what he was saying.
I never wanted to be a radical; it's just that when I started checking the footnotes I couldn't stop.
Jan 15, 2018Kaelan Ratcliffe▪Κάϊλαν Ράτκλιφ▪كايِلان راتكِليف rated it it was amazing · review of another editionI never wanted to be a radical; it's just that when I started checking the footnotes I couldn't stop.
Shelves: colonialism-imperialism, environment, horror, anarchism-libertarian, classic, corporation, civilisation-critique-of, class, favorites, culture-cultural-studies
The Future Of History
I believe this to be the ultimate way to understand and experience Chomskys work. It strikes the perfect balance. For those who find his lectures / talks too dry and dull, yet struggle with his written work due to its academic nature, this provides an excellent compromise. By transcribing many conversations the Professor has had over the years, we as readers are able to read - in a relatively informal language - dozens of topics discussed by the man.
My attention never wav..more
Mar 02, 2017Thomas Ray rated it it was amazingI believe this to be the ultimate way to understand and experience Chomskys work. It strikes the perfect balance. For those who find his lectures / talks too dry and dull, yet struggle with his written work due to its academic nature, this provides an excellent compromise. By transcribing many conversations the Professor has had over the years, we as readers are able to read - in a relatively informal language - dozens of topics discussed by the man.
My attention never wav..more
Shelves: politics, war, important, detailed-reviews, history, truth-about-power, favorites
Noam Chomsky, Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky, 2002, based on talks he gave 1989–1999. 401 pages. isbn 1565847032. 449 pages of footnotes at understandingpower.com
Real power is not in the political system. It’s 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. Political changes can make only a minor difference. So long as power remains privately concentrated, everybo..more
Real power is not in the political system. It’s 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. Political changes can make only a minor difference. So long as power remains privately concentrated, everybo..more
Dec 23, 2018Lobstergirl rated it really liked it
Chomsky is a national and international treasure. It saddens me that his life won't go on for another 50 years.
There's so much good content here so I'll just pick one passage. Chomsky is speaking no later than 1999:
Actually, I think that the United States has been in kind of a pre-fascist mood for years--and we've been lucky that every leader who's come along has been a crook. See, people should always be very much in favor of corruption - I'm not kidding about that. Corruption's a very good thi..more
Understanding Power is quite brilliant. Chomsky is a damn intelligent and refreshingly frank human being; I simply can’t recommend this enough.
Here are some of the choicest points Mr. Chomsky made:
'Look, every government has a need to frighten its population, and one way of doing that is to shroud its workings in mystery. The idea that a government has to be shrouded in mystery is something that goes back to Herodotus [ancient Greek historian]. You read Herodotus, and he describes how the Medes..more
Here are some of the choicest points Mr. Chomsky made:
'Look, every government has a need to frighten its population, and one way of doing that is to shroud its workings in mystery. The idea that a government has to be shrouded in mystery is something that goes back to Herodotus [ancient Greek historian]. You read Herodotus, and he describes how the Medes..more
Jun 01, 2010Eric added it · review of another edition
I'm always afraid of reading political things (A) because I'm scared of it being completely over my head and (B) because I'm aware that I have a tendency to uncritically accept what people say [which makes for a lot of fun if you read different points of views because everything everybody says (even the contradictory stuff) sounds 100% right:].
This book was very conversational (partly due to format, transcribed Q&A sessions and I imagine partly due to Chomsky's dislike of the idea of an 'int..more
This book was very conversational (partly due to format, transcribed Q&A sessions and I imagine partly due to Chomsky's dislike of the idea of an 'int..more
This book is a feat of editing. It condenses aspects of Chomsky's talks from across decades and references them at a separate website, understandingpower.com. Here are some favourite quotes:
You should not expect an institution to say, 'Help me destroy myself,' that's not the way institutions function. And if anybody inside the institution tried to do that, they wouldn't be inside it much longer.
If you're getting accepted in elite circles, chances are very strong that you're doing something wrong..more
You should not expect an institution to say, 'Help me destroy myself,' that's not the way institutions function. And if anybody inside the institution tried to do that, they wouldn't be inside it much longer.
If you're getting accepted in elite circles, chances are very strong that you're doing something wrong..more
May 05, 2012BeeQuiet rated it really liked it
I have strong feelings moving in both ways on this book, as whilst Chomsky does make very good points on multiple issues, his attempts at modesty occasionally fall flat as it becomes apparent that he thinks he understands the whole world order more than he does. I do feel that his analysis of the media is by and large correct - if one is funded by advertisers, those advertisers must be pleased and they will not be pleased if you run the wrong messages. I know plenty of people who simply swallow..more
Cautionary tale: If you are a conscientious liberal person believing in human rights , reading this book will fill you up with unbridled rage.
It's a collection of Chomsky's talks with general public over two decades or so. Chomsky basically reveals things what nobody else will tell you, because the media tells you only what the power wants it to tell. He will tell you how the big corporations run the 'military -industrial complex' for their own profit, and keep the public soothed by framing the..more
Feb 18, 2011Evelyn rated it it was amazing · review of another editionIt's a collection of Chomsky's talks with general public over two decades or so. Chomsky basically reveals things what nobody else will tell you, because the media tells you only what the power wants it to tell. He will tell you how the big corporations run the 'military -industrial complex' for their own profit, and keep the public soothed by framing the..more
Shelves: philosophy, all-time-favourites, history, current-affairs, anarchism, read-in-2011, media, economics, politics, non-fiction
An eye-opening book which is accessible for almost everyone to read without too much trouble and a great introduction to many topics surrounding the politics of Power. Packed within these 400 pages, Chomsky discusses US foreign policy & US politics in general, Israel, Palestine & the Middle East, histories of labour and social movements, propaganda techniques of the mainstream media, the military-industrial complex and the UN to name just a few. He also talks about activism and the need..more
'I never wanted to be a radical; it's just that when I started checking the footnotes I couldn't stop.'
Statements about power that are often true:
* Power is brutal.
* People with power use it brutally.
* People who have been powerful for a long time have also been brutal for a long time.
Noam Chomsky writes about power, and the way it has been used (brutally) by the United States. He also writes about language, and how we settle into ways of using it that distort our perceptions. This is one of..more
Mar 19, 2014Robb Seaton rated it liked it
Look, you don't need to read this book. Here's how Chomsky works:
1. Identify an authority.
2. Is it necessary? If not, dismantle it.
How do you identify an authority? Watch when someone gets fired, put in prison, forced to resign, etc. What aren't you allowed to say or do? What happens when you push something too far?
Now, I'm partial to this algorithm, but it's not at all obvious that it's a good idea, for all the same reasons that it's not obvious that it's a good idea to eradicate an unnecessar..more
Jul 29, 2017Kevin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition1. Identify an authority.
2. Is it necessary? If not, dismantle it.
How do you identify an authority? Watch when someone gets fired, put in prison, forced to resign, etc. What aren't you allowed to say or do? What happens when you push something too far?
Now, I'm partial to this algorithm, but it's not at all obvious that it's a good idea, for all the same reasons that it's not obvious that it's a good idea to eradicate an unnecessar..more
Shelves: critique-propaganda, 1-how-the-world-works, critique-imperialism-america, 2-brilliant-intros-101, theory-socialism-anarchism-socdem
Now my go-to recommendation for those seeking an introduction to how the world works.
*The Brilliant:
--Accessibility to critical thinking is indispensable, and this format highlighting Chomsky’s Q&As with audiences is surprisingly effective. The wealth of topics covered, wow, the editing is superb.
--This joins these brilliant intros to foundational topics:
1) “Power”: this book
2) “The Economy”: Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works - and How It Fails
3) “Democracy..more
*The Brilliant:
--Accessibility to critical thinking is indispensable, and this format highlighting Chomsky’s Q&As with audiences is surprisingly effective. The wealth of topics covered, wow, the editing is superb.
--This joins these brilliant intros to foundational topics:
1) “Power”: this book
2) “The Economy”: Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works - and How It Fails
3) “Democracy..more
Not assembled by Chomsky, but by some genius editors who organized and very precisely cut pieces of many interviews with him. I loved the format. The covered a much broader range of topics than I expected and the more conversational style made it a lot easier to swallow.
Now, to the more complicated part of the review – the content itself. Based on knowing a little bit about Chomsky, my approach to listening the book was to pay closer attention to the facts and explanations how and why the works..more
Now, to the more complicated part of the review – the content itself. Based on knowing a little bit about Chomsky, my approach to listening the book was to pay closer attention to the facts and explanations how and why the works..more
This is the best single source of Chomsky's work I've come across. A triumph of editing, this book is made up of excerpts of talks Chomsky gave throughout the 80s and 90s. Loosely organized by topic, the book is highly flowing and readable. It includes an encyclopedic reference section available online that is longer than the main text of the book. This is where I recommend anyone not familiar with Chomsky's work to begin; it's the most comprehensive and accessible compilation of his thoughts. M..more
Literally changes your world view. I've seen a lot of people mention how they became disillusioned at mainstream media and even stopped following politics and news in general because this book showed them how hopeless the status quo is. But I arrived at the exact opposite conclusion. Chomsky reads between the lines, and breaks down events in a lucid and satisfying way. You need not give up on news altogether, just need to learn how to process it. 10/10 highly recommended for anyone
Oct 15, 2018Tadas Talaikis rated it it was amazing Shelves: psychology, best, history, politics, american-empire
Summary of some points in my own words:
1. Nothing is hidden in the public records about imperial terrorism network, because officials are disciplined. Problem is that average Americans never look or read them.
2. Manufacturing consent. If you lose trust of people when using power, then you just need better indoctrination through highly centralized and concentrated corporate media propaganda.
3. American 'democracy' is a belief that people should be ruled by a class of 'elites'. Translating from Am..more
1. Nothing is hidden in the public records about imperial terrorism network, because officials are disciplined. Problem is that average Americans never look or read them.
2. Manufacturing consent. If you lose trust of people when using power, then you just need better indoctrination through highly centralized and concentrated corporate media propaganda.
3. American 'democracy' is a belief that people should be ruled by a class of 'elites'. Translating from Am..more
Intentions Good, Views Dangerous: Understanding Power is, without question, the most comprehensive and compelling presentation of Noam Chomsky's ideas. Reading this book will change the way you see the world. If you are interested in Chomsky, it is likely that you are a noble person who genuinely cares for others and yearns for a better world. Beware, reader, and make sure you choose the right vehicle for your hope. While his intentions are for a peaceful, safe, and healthy world, Chomsky's poli..more
Chomsky is one of the critical deans of American political history: ironic and pessimistic; forever probing and analyzing the decrepitude, deceit, and delusion rife within the ready presentation and understanding of the United States as an exceptional force of good in the world, and a constant decrier of the various means and manipulations the government and media undertake to stoke this view; content in generally limiting himself to pointing out the flaws in the system, the hypocrisy and moral..more
Having only read Chomsky in snippets here and there, I thought this book was a broad, accessible introduction to Chomsky's thoughts on the issues for which he is best known in pop culture (those relating to politics and power). Regardless of what one ultimately thinks of Chomsky's opinions (and he reiterates constantly that his intent is to provoke discussion, not to provide all the answers), the man is at least important to understand for modern democratic citizens. His knowledge of global curr..more
Jan 11, 2017Thomas rated it really liked it
If you haven't read Chomsky, this is a good place to start. It's a well-edited collection of Chomsky's talks, so it's rather wide-ranging, but it always circles back to the same themes so it doesn't seem scattered. I started this a few days after the presidential election, hoping it could help me with the universal question: 'What the Fuck?' It did, sort of. Take this, for example:
I think that the United States has been in kind of a pre-fascist mood for years -- and we've been very lucky that e..more
I think that the United States has been in kind of a pre-fascist mood for years -- and we've been very lucky that e..more
Nov 26, 2017AbdulRahman AlHamali rated it really liked it
Understanding Power is a series of transcribed discussions between Chomsky and activists that occurred during the late 80's and the 90's. In these discussions, Chomsky explains his opinions about how the media works, and about the power dynamics in our current world. In addition, Chomsky discusses thoroughly his beliefs about the state of activism in the world; how it has helped change our world, how it can remain effective, where is stands nowadays, and what challenges it faces.
The book is a gr..more
Feb 23, 2016blakeRThe book is a gr..more
Noam Chomsky Pdf
rated it it was amazing Shelves: political-science, alltime-favorites, history
Reading this lets you fully understand a band like Rage Against the Machine, and that their album title 'Evil Empire' wasn't just about being provocative. It makes you realize that all of the mindless action movies or cartoons that you watched as a kid, where the villain is some cruel, Machiavellian tyrant, or maybe some alien invaders, that they were less about subconscious fears and more about projecting our own guilt and shame onto our enemies.
Because those villains are us, and the U.S. is t..more
Because those villains are us, and the U.S. is t..more
Jun 08, 2017Avi Singh rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Understanding Power is a collection of discussions sessions that Chomsky has had with attendees of his talks. The discussions covered in this book happened in 1989-1999, and discuss US policies in the 1960-1990 period. The central thesis behind Chomsky's arguments is that the US is essentially a plutocracy, and is backed up with a lot of evidence - a substantial portion of which comes from those in power itself - declassified documents, memoir written by bureaucrats, articles in right-wing news..more
Feb 18, 2017Deogratias Rweyemamu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Good medicine always tastes bad.
Reading Chomsky's work, I've been amazed at how much I couldn't discern that's been laid out in plain view. Kudos to the editor for wonderfully organizing transcripts of Chomsky's Q&A sessions and making this book.
Chomsky shares his views across a multitude of topics, and most of his views are backed up in the footnotes, which makes for compelling truth.
Some of the interesting themes include American foreign and domestic policy, the propaganda system, function..more
Reading Chomsky's work, I've been amazed at how much I couldn't discern that's been laid out in plain view. Kudos to the editor for wonderfully organizing transcripts of Chomsky's Q&A sessions and making this book.
Chomsky shares his views across a multitude of topics, and most of his views are backed up in the footnotes, which makes for compelling truth.
Some of the interesting themes include American foreign and domestic policy, the propaganda system, function..more
Aug 30, 2019Redouan Elkham rated it it was amazing
If you want to have a clear, total , clever understanding of what does world policy stands for or how powerful countries enslaving poor people in and out the borders, Chomsky's books are the best to get all the enlightenments you need.
Thanks Chomsky and all the intellectuals who are aiming at serving humanity with no fear or hesitation.
Thanks Chomsky and all the intellectuals who are aiming at serving humanity with no fear or hesitation.
I think this audio book has lived up to its title. I feel like I now have a better understanding of power. Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky is a collection of talks and discussions by Noam Chomsky, famous MIT professor of linguistics and political activist. Before listening to this 22.5 hour audio book, I had never exposed myself to anything by Chomsky with the exception of one article I recently ran across in the June 2014 issue of The Sun – an interview by David Barsamian called..more
May 27, 2014Laura rated it it was amazing
Noam Chomsky is an incredible force. I so enjoyed this book, which gives a snapshot of his views on a very wide range of topics. It is so refreshing to read the thoughts of a man who, above all, is a truth seeker. Both a pragmatist and an idealist (you can, in fact, be both!), Chomsky helps nudge society toward a more humane path by challenging us all to rethink social, economic, and political structures and entertain ideas about what an alternative future could look like, and how we might get t..more
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Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, political activist, author, and lecturer. He is an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Chomsky is credited with the creation of the theory of generative grammar, considered to be one of the most significant contributions to the field of linguistics made in the 20th century. H..more
Chomsky is credited with the creation of the theory of generative grammar, considered to be one of the most significant contributions to the field of linguistics made in the 20th century. H..more
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“Look, part of the whole technique of disempowering people is to make sure that the real agents of change fall out of history, and are never recognized in the culture for what they are. So it's necessary to distort history and make it look as if Great Men did everything - that's part of how you teach people they can't do anything, they're helpless, they just have to wait for some Great Man to come along and do it for them.” — 31 likes
“..the qualifications that I have to speak on world affairs are exactly the same ones Henry Kissinger has, and Walt Rostow has, or anybody in the Political Science Department, professional historians—none, none that you don't have. The only difference is, I don't pretend to have qualifications, nor do I pretend that qualifications are needed. I mean, if somebody were to ask me to give a talk on quantum physics, I'd refuse—because I don't understand enough. But world affairs are trivial: there's nothing in the social sciences or history or whatever that is beyond the intellectual capacities of an ordinary fifteen-year-old. You have to do a little work, you have to do some reading, you have to be able to think but there's nothing deep—if there are any theories around that require some special kind of training to understand, then they've been kept a carefully guarded secret.” — 26 likes
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Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomskyby6,027 ratings, 4.41 average rating, 402 reviews
Understanding Power Quotes Showing 1-30 of 97
“Look, part of the whole technique of disempowering people is to make sure that the real agents of change fall out of history, and are never recognized in the culture for what they are. So it's necessary to distort history and make it look as if Great Men did everything - that's part of how you teach people they can't do anything, they're helpless, they just have to wait for some Great Man to come along and do it for them.”
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“..the qualifications that I have to speak on world affairs are exactly the same ones Henry Kissinger has, and Walt Rostow has, or anybody in the Political Science Department, professional historians—none, none that you don't have. The only difference is, I don't pretend to have qualifications, nor do I pretend that qualifications are needed. I mean, if somebody were to ask me to give a talk on quantum physics, I'd refuse—because I don't understand enough. But world affairs are trivial: there's nothing in the social sciences or history or whatever that is beyond the intellectual capacities of an ordinary fifteen-year-old. You have to do a little work, you have to do some reading, you have to be able to think but there's nothing deep—if there are any theories around that require some special kind of training to understand, then they've been kept a carefully guarded secret.”
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tags: henry-kissinger, qualifications, world-affairs
“So what the media do, in effect, is to take the set of assumptions which express the basic ideas of the propaganda system, whether about the Cold War or the economic system or the “national interest” and so on, and then present a range of debate within that framework—so the debate only enhances the strength of the assumptions, ingraining them in people’s minds as the entire possible spectrum of opinion that there is.”
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“Another thing they talk about a lot is water—and that’s a very crucial thing, which is not discussed very much in the United States but it’s probably the main reason why Israel is never going to give up the West Bank. See, this is a very arid region, so water is more important than oil, and there are very limited water resources in Israel. In fact, a lot of the wars in the Middle East have been about water—for instance, the wars involving Israel and Syria have usually been about the headwaters of the Jordan, which come from Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. And as a matter of fact, one of the main reasons why Israel is holding on to the so-called “Security Zone” it seized in southern Lebanon [in the 1982 invasion] is that that area includes a mountain, Mount Hermon, which is a big part of the watershed that brings water to the region.”
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“the countries that have developed economically are those which were not colonized by the West; every country that was colonized by the West is a total wreck.”
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“Interviewer: Did you go through a phase of hopelessness, or…
Chomsky: Yeah, every evening.
Interviewer: I feel like I’m kind of stuck in one.
Chomsky: Every evening. I mean, look: if you want to feel hopeless, there are a lot of things you could feel hopeless about. If you want to sort of work out objectively what’s the chance that the human species will survive for another century, probably not very high. But I mean, what’s the point?
Interviewer: You’ve just got to work at it.
Chomsky: Yeah, what’s the point? First of all, those predictions don’t mean anything—they’re more just a reflection of your mood or your personality than anything else. And if you act on that assumption, then you’re guaranteeing that that’ll happen. If you act on the assumption that things can change, well, maybe they will. Okay, the only rational choice, given those alternatives, is to forget the pessimism.”
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Chomsky: Yeah, every evening.
Interviewer: I feel like I’m kind of stuck in one.
Chomsky: Every evening. I mean, look: if you want to feel hopeless, there are a lot of things you could feel hopeless about. If you want to sort of work out objectively what’s the chance that the human species will survive for another century, probably not very high. But I mean, what’s the point?
Interviewer: You’ve just got to work at it.
Chomsky: Yeah, what’s the point? First of all, those predictions don’t mean anything—they’re more just a reflection of your mood or your personality than anything else. And if you act on that assumption, then you’re guaranteeing that that’ll happen. If you act on the assumption that things can change, well, maybe they will. Okay, the only rational choice, given those alternatives, is to forget the pessimism.”
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![Noam chomsky understanding power pdf file Noam chomsky understanding power pdf file](/uploads/1/2/6/0/126072615/705406979.jpg)
“Real education is about getting people involved in thinking for themselves- and that's a tricky business to know how to do well, but clearly it requires that whatever it is you're looking at has to somehow catch people's interest and make them want to think, and make them want to pursue and explore.”
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“there has been a deepening recognition among elites in the West that as you begin to lose the power to control people by force, you have to start to control what they think. And in the United States, that recognition has reached its apogee.”
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“Bombing of urban areas was not considered a war crime at Nuremberg; reason is, the West did more of it than the Germans.”
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“what are called opinions “on the left” and “on the right” in the media represent only a limited spectrum of debate, which reflects the range of needs of private power—but there’s essentially nothing beyond those “acceptable” positions. So what the media do, in effect, is to take the set of assumptions which express the basic ideas of the propaganda system, whether about the Cold War or the economic system or the “national interest” and so on, and then present a range of debate within that framework—so the debate only enhances the strength of the assumptions, ingraining them in people’s minds as the entire possible spectrum of opinion that there is.”
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“So I think it's completely realistic and rational to work within structures to which you are opposed, because by doing so you can help to move to a situation where then you can challenge those structures.”
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Noam Chomsky On Language Pdf
“But you see, 'libertarian' has a special meaning in the United States. The United Statesis off the spectrum of the main tradition in this respect: what's called 'libertarianism' here is unbridled capitalism. Now, that's always been opposed in the European libertarian tradition, where every anarchist has been a socialist—because the point is, if you have unbridled capitalism, you have all kinds of authority: you have extreme authority. If capital is privately controlled, then people are going to have to rent themselves in order to survive. Now, you can say, 'they rent themselves freely, it's a free contract'—but that's a joke. If your choice is, 'do what I tell you or starve,' that's not a choice—it's in fact what was commonly referred to as wage slavery in more civilized times, like the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for example.
The American version of 'libertarianism' is an aberration, though—nobody really takes it seriously. I mean, everybody knows that a society that worked by American libertarian principles would self-destruct in three seconds. The only reason people pretend to take it seriously is because you can use it as a weapon. Like, when somebody comes out in favor of a tax, you can say: 'No, I'm a libertarian, I'm against that tax'—but of course, I'm still in favor of the government building roads, and having schools, and killing Libyans, and all that sort of stuff.
Now, there are consistent libertarians, people like Murray Rothbard [American academic]—and if you just read the world that they describe, it's a world so full of hate that no human being would want to live in it. This is a world where you don't have roads because you don't see any reason why you should cooperate in building a road that you're not going to use: if you want a road, you get together with a bunch of other people who are going to use that road and you build it, then you charge people to ride on it. If you don't like the pollution from somebody's automobile, you take them to court and you litigate it. Who would want to live in a world like that? It's a world built on hatred.
The whole thing's not even worth talking about, though. First of all, it couldn't function for a second-and if it could, all you'd want to do is get out, or commit suicide or something. But this is a special American aberration, it's not really serious.”
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The American version of 'libertarianism' is an aberration, though—nobody really takes it seriously. I mean, everybody knows that a society that worked by American libertarian principles would self-destruct in three seconds. The only reason people pretend to take it seriously is because you can use it as a weapon. Like, when somebody comes out in favor of a tax, you can say: 'No, I'm a libertarian, I'm against that tax'—but of course, I'm still in favor of the government building roads, and having schools, and killing Libyans, and all that sort of stuff.
Now, there are consistent libertarians, people like Murray Rothbard [American academic]—and if you just read the world that they describe, it's a world so full of hate that no human being would want to live in it. This is a world where you don't have roads because you don't see any reason why you should cooperate in building a road that you're not going to use: if you want a road, you get together with a bunch of other people who are going to use that road and you build it, then you charge people to ride on it. If you don't like the pollution from somebody's automobile, you take them to court and you litigate it. Who would want to live in a world like that? It's a world built on hatred.
The whole thing's not even worth talking about, though. First of all, it couldn't function for a second-and if it could, all you'd want to do is get out, or commit suicide or something. But this is a special American aberration, it's not really serious.”
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tags: anarcho-capitalism, capitalism, libertarian, libertarianism
“The trick is not to be isolated―if you're isolated, like Winston Smith in 1984, then sooner or later you're going to break, as he finally broke. That was the point of Orwell's story. In fact, the whole tradition of popular control has been exactly that: to keep people isolated, because if you can keep them isolated enough, you can get them to believe anything. But when people get together, all sorts of things are possible.”
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tags: 1984, indoctrination, isolated, isolation, orwell
“Real wages have been declining for twenty years. People are working harder, they have to work longer hours, they have less security things are just looking bad for a lot of people, especially young people. I mean, very few people expect the future for their children to be anything like what they had, and entry-level wages in the United States have just declined radically in the last fifteen years-for instance, wages you get for your first job after high school are now down 30 percent for males and 18 percent for females over 1980, and that just kind of changes your picture of life.”
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“So we know that human nature, and that includes our nature, yours and mine, can very easily turn people into quite efficient torturers and mass-murderers and slave-drivers..To the extent that the statement is true, and there is such an extent, it's just not relevant: human nature also has the capacity to lead to selflessness, and cooperation, and sacrifice, and support, and solidarity, and tremendous courage, and lots of other things too.”
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“…jingoism, racism, fear, religious fundamentalism: these are the ways of appealing to people if you’re trying to organize a mass base of support for policies that are really intended to crush them.”
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tags: control, fear, jingoism, racism, religious-fundamentalism, social-control
“See, I focus my efforts against the terror and violence of my own state for really two main reasons. First of all, in my case the actions of my state happen to make up the main component of international violence in the world. But much more importantly than that, it's because American actions are the things that I can do something about. So even if the United States were causing only a tiny fraction of the repression and violence in the world-which obviously is very far from the truth-that tiny fraction would still be what I'm responsible for, and what I should focus my efforts against. And that's based on a very simple ethical principle-namely, that the ethical value of one's actions depends on their anticipated consequences for human beings: I think that's kind of like a fundamental moral truism.. Again, it's a very simple ethical point: you are responsible for the predictable consequences of your actions, you're not responsible for the predictable consequences of somebody else's actions.”
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“I mean, you can pretend up to a certain point that the world has infinite resources and that it's an infinite wastebasket-but at some point you're going to run into the reality, which is that that isn't true.”
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“what are called opinions “on the left” and “on the right” in the media represent only a limited spectrum of debate, which reflects the range of needs of private power—but there’s essentially nothing beyond those “acceptable” positions.”
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“we’re like a shattered peasant society. I mean, the last study I saw of it was done in around 1980, and the United States was at the level of Bangladesh, it was very close to Iran.33 Eighty percent of Americans literally believe in religious miracles. Half the population thinks the world was created a couple thousand years ago and that fossils were put here to mislead people or something—half the population. You just don’t find things like that in other industrial societies.34 Well,”
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“The basic principle I would like to see communicated to people is the idea that every form of authority and domination and hierarchy has to prove that its justified - it has no prior justification. For instance, when you stop your five year old kid from trying to cross the street, that's an authoritarian situation: it's got to be justified. Well, in that case you can give a justification. But the burden of proof for any exercise of authority is always on the person exercising it - invariably. And when you look, most of the time those authority structures have no justification: they have no moral justification, they have no justification in the interests of the person lower in the hierarchy, or in the interests of other people, or the environment, or the future, or the society, or anything else - they are just there in order to preserve certain structures of power and domination, and the people at the top.”
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“Now, the popular perception certainly is that violence is greater today-but that's mostly propaganda: that's just a part of the whole effort to make people frightened, so that they'll abandon their rights.”
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“Well, that's pretty much what the schools are like, I think: they reward discipline and obedience, and they punish independence of mind. If you happen to be a little innovative, or maybe you forgot to come to school one day because you were reading a book or something, that's a tragedy, that's a crime―because you're not supposed to think, you're supposed to obey, and just proceed through the material in whatever way they require.
And in fact, most of the people who make it through the education system and get into the elite universities are able to do it because they've been willing to obey a lot of stupid orders for years and years―that's the way I did it, for example. Like, you're told by some stupid teacher, 'Do this,' which you know makes no sense whatsoever, but you do it, and if you do it you get to the next rung, and then you obey the next order, and finally you work your way through and they give you your letters: an awful lot of education is like that, from the very beginning. Some people go along with it because they figure, 'Okay, I'll do any stupid thing that asshole says because I want to get ahead'; others do it because they've just internalized the values―but after a while, those two things tend to get sort of blurred. But you do it, or else you're out: you ask too many questions and you're going to get in trouble.
Now, there are also people who don't go along-and they're called 'behavior problems,' or 'unmotivated,' or things like that. Well, you don't want to be too glib about it―there are children with behavior problems but a lot of them are just independent-minded, or don't like to conform, or just want to go their own way. And they get into trouble right from the very beginning, and are typically weeded out. I mean, I've taught young kids too, and the fact is there are always some who just don't take your word for it. And the very unfortunate tendency is to try to beat them down, because they're a pain in the neck. But what they ought to be is encouraged. Yeah: why take my word for it? Who the heck am I? Figure it out for yourself. That's what real education would be about, in fact.”
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And in fact, most of the people who make it through the education system and get into the elite universities are able to do it because they've been willing to obey a lot of stupid orders for years and years―that's the way I did it, for example. Like, you're told by some stupid teacher, 'Do this,' which you know makes no sense whatsoever, but you do it, and if you do it you get to the next rung, and then you obey the next order, and finally you work your way through and they give you your letters: an awful lot of education is like that, from the very beginning. Some people go along with it because they figure, 'Okay, I'll do any stupid thing that asshole says because I want to get ahead'; others do it because they've just internalized the values―but after a while, those two things tend to get sort of blurred. But you do it, or else you're out: you ask too many questions and you're going to get in trouble.
Now, there are also people who don't go along-and they're called 'behavior problems,' or 'unmotivated,' or things like that. Well, you don't want to be too glib about it―there are children with behavior problems but a lot of them are just independent-minded, or don't like to conform, or just want to go their own way. And they get into trouble right from the very beginning, and are typically weeded out. I mean, I've taught young kids too, and the fact is there are always some who just don't take your word for it. And the very unfortunate tendency is to try to beat them down, because they're a pain in the neck. But what they ought to be is encouraged. Yeah: why take my word for it? Who the heck am I? Figure it out for yourself. That's what real education would be about, in fact.”
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“So before and during the war, the Bush administration had to build up an image in people's minds of Iraq as a monstrous military superpower, in order to mobilize enough popular hysteria so that people here would go along with their policies. And again, the media did their job 100 percent. So I don't know how well you remember what was going on around the country back then, but people were literally quaking in their boots about the extraordinary might of Iraq―it was a superpower with artillery we'd never dreamt of, all this kind of stuff.93 I mean, this was a defenseless Third World country that was so weak it had been unable to defeat post-revolutionary Iran in eight years of warfare [from 1980 to '88]―and that was with the support of the United States, the Soviet Union, all of Europe, the Arab oil countries: not an inconsiderable segment of world power. Yet with all those allies, Iraq had been unable to defeat post-revolutionary Iran, which had killed off its own officers' corps and barely had an army left: all of a sudden this was the superpower that was going to conquer the world? You really had to be a deeply brainwashed Western intellectual even to look at this image―a defenseless Third World country threatening the two most advanced military forces in the world, the United States and Britain―and not completely collapse in ridicule. But as you recall, that's what all of them were saying―and people here really believed it.”
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“The rich and powerful are going to survive longer, but the effects are very real―and they're getting worse very quickly as more and more people get marginalized because they play no role in profit-making, which is considered the only human value. Well, the environmental problems are simply much more significant in scale than anything else in the past. And there's a fair possibility―certainly a possibility high enough so that no rational person would exclude it―that within a couple hundred years the world's water-level will have risen to the point that most of human life will have been destroyed.”
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tags: capitalism, climate-change, global-warming, inequality
“On the other hand, it has a number of other advantages for power. For one thing, it diverts people, it atomizes people. When you're sitting in front of your tube, you're alone. I mean, there's something about human beings that just makes face-to-face contact very different from banging around on a computer terminal and getting some noise coming back―that's very impersonal, and it breaks down human relations. Well, that's obviously a good result from the point of view of people with power―because it's extremely important to drive human sentiments out of people if you just want them to be passive and obedient and under control. So if you can eliminate things like face-to-face contact and direct interaction, and just turn people into what's caricatured as kind of an M.I.T. nerd―you know, somebody who's got antennae coming out of his head, and is wired into his computer all the time―that's a real advantage, because then you've made them more inhuman, and therefore more controllable.”
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“Actually, if you looked closely, even N.A.F.T.A.'s advocates conceded that it was probably going to harm the majority of the populations of the three countries. For instance, its advocates in the United States were saying, 'It's really good, it'll only harm semi-skilled workers'―footnote: 70 percent of the workforce. As a matter of fact, after N.A.F.T.A. was safely passed, the New York Times did their first analysis of its predicted effects in the New York region: it was a very upbeat article talking about how terrific it was going to be for corporate lawyers and P.R. firms and so on. And then there was a footnote there as well. It said, well, everyone can't gain, there'll also be some losers: 'women, blacks, Hispanics, and semi-skilled labor'―in other words, most of the people of New York. But you can't have everything. And those were the advocates.”
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“I mean, remember what the Vietnam War was fought for, after all. The Vietnam War was fought to prevent Vietnam from becoming a successful model of economic and social development for the Third World. And we don't want to lose the war, Washington doesn't want to lose the war. So far we've won: Vietnam is no model for development, it's a model for destruction. But if the Vietnamese could ever pull themselves together somehow, Vietnam could again become such a model―and that's no good, we always have to prevent that.”
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“So in the twentieth century, there’s a major current of American thought―in fact, it’s probably the dominant current among people who think about these things [political scientists, journalists, public relations experts and so on]―which says that precisely because the state has lost the power to coerce, elites need to have more effective propaganda to control the public mind. That was Walter Lippmann’s point of view, for example, to mention probably the dean of American journalists―he referred to the population as a “bewildered herd”: we have to protect ourselves from “the rage and trampling of the bewildered herd.” And the way you do it, Lippmann said, is by what he called the “manufacture of consent”―if you don’t do it by force, you have to do it by the calculated “manufacture of consent.”
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“Back in the 1920s, the major manual of the public relations industry actually was titled Propaganda (in those days, people were a little bit more honest). It opens saying something like this: the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is a central feature of a democratic system―the wording is virtually like that. Then it says: it is the job of the “intelligent minorities” to carry out this manipulation of the attitudes and opinions of the masses. And really that’s the leading doctrine of modern liberal-democratic intellectual thought: that if you lose the power to control people by force, you need better indoctrination.”
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