You cannot control your own population by force, but it can be distracted by consumption.
NOAM CHOMSKYBut I would not intend this to imply that in all imaginable circumstances one must, necessarily, act in accordance with this general responsibility.
More Noam Chomsky Quotes
-
-
The U.S. – the idea that the U.S. has introduced and imposed principles of international law, that’s hardly even a joke.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
Two days after the Boston marathon bombings, there was a drone strike in Yemen attacking a peaceful village, which killed a target who could very easily have been apprehended. But, of course, it is just easier to terrorise people.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
History shows that, more often than not, loss of sovereignty leads to liberalisation imposed in the interests of the powerful.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
Dissident intellectuals aren’t all beautiful.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
Our only real hope for democracy is that we get the money out of politics entirely and establish a system of publicly funded elections.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
Perhaps the most striking assault on the foundations of traditional liberties is a little-known case brought to the Supreme Court by the Obama administration, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
If you’re working 50 hours a week to try to maintain family income, and your children have the kinds of aspirations that come from being flooded with television from age one, and associations have declined, people end up hopeless, even though they have every option.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
There’s a lot of fuss on the Left about election irregularities, like, you know, the voting machines were tampered with, they didn’t count the votes right, and so on.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
In the academic world, most of the work that is done is clerical. A lot of the work done by professors is routine.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
Once the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union was beginning to collapse, that reason was gone. So, first question: why does NATO exist?
NOAM CHOMSKY -
It followed international law and treaty obligations. It collected evidence, brought the evidence to the highest existing tribunal, the International Court of Justice, and received a verdict – which, of course, the U.S. dismissed with contempt.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
Governments regard their own citizens as their main enemy, and they have to be – protect themselves.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
France had a policy, initiated by General de Gaulle, of trying to turn Europe into what was then called a ‘third force,’ independent of the two superpowers, so Europe should pursue an independent course.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of struggles from below.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
The elections are run by the same industries that sell toothpaste on television.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
The drones are a terrorist weapon; they not only kill targets but also terrorise other people.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
Unlike Europe, China can’t be intimidated. Europe backs down if the United States looks at it the wrong way.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
The truth is that the whole episode was almost insane.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
The very design of neoliberal principles is a direct attack on democracy.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
Nicaragua dealt with the problem of terrorism in exactly the right way.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
The probability of apocalypse soon cannot be realistically estimated, but it is surely too high for any sane person to contemplate with equanimity.
NOAM CHOMSKY -
That’s all accurate and of some importance, but of far more importance is the fact that elections just don’t take place, not in any meaningful sense of the term ‘election.’
NOAM CHOMSKY -
They come from acceptance of American values, not a rejection of them, and recognition that they’re rejected by the U.S. government and by U.S. elites, which does lead to hatred and anger.
NOAM CHOMSKY