States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on powerful institutions.
NOAM CHOMSKYHuman language appears to be a unique phenomenon, without significant analogue in the animal world.
More Noam Chomsky Quotes
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I would feel no hesitation in saying that it is the responsibility of a decent human being to give assistance to a child who is being attacked by a rabid dog.
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The murder of Lumumba, in which the U.S. was involved, in the Congo destroyed Africa’s major hope for development. Congo is now total horror story, for years.
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The principle that human nature, in its psychological aspects, is nothing more than a product of history and given social relations removes all barriers to coercion and manipulation by the powerful.
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There’s a tremendous gap between public opinion and public policy.
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It’s a near miracle that nuclear war has so far been avoided.
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So slavery, for example, or other forms of tyranny, are inherently monstrous. The individuals participating in them may be the nicest guys you can imagine.
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If you follow the trail, it led to kicking Europeans out of Asia – that saved tens of millions of lives in India alone.
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But China, they’ve been there for 3,000 years and are paying no attention to the barbarians and don’t see any need to.
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If workers are more insecure, that’s very ‘healthy’ for the society, because if workers are insecure, they won’t ask for wages, they won’t go on strike, they won’t call for benefits; they’ll serve the masters gladly and passively. And that’s optimal for corporations’ economic health.
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You cannot control your own population by force, but it can be distracted by consumption.
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In the US, there is basically one party – the business party. It has two factions, called Democrats and Republicans, which are somewhat different but carry out variations on the same policies.
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If you don’t like what someone has to say, argue with them.
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In America, the professor talks to the mechanic. They are in the same category.
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The United States has even gone so far as to veto Security Council resolutions calling on all states to observe international law. That was in the 1980s under Reagan.
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Unlike Europe, China can’t be intimidated. Europe backs down if the United States looks at it the wrong way.
NOAM CHOMSKY