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26 posts tagged noam chomsky
Noam Chomsky on the economy, Iran and NATO expansion in 2009.
via thenoobyorker
(via mohandasgandhi)
Source sleepflower
Reblogged from sleepflower
“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.”
(via optimoprime)
Source ahippoonyourcampus
Reblogged from ahippoonyourcampus
“I don’t bother writing about Fox News. It is too easy. What I talk about are the liberal intellectuals, the ones who portray themselves and perceive themselves as challenging power, as courageous, as standing up for truth and justice. They are basically the guardians of the faith. They set the limits. They tell us how far we can go. They say, ‘Look how courageous I am.’ But do not go one millimeter beyond that. At least for the educated sectors, they are the most dangerous in supporting power.”
(via notational)
Source revolutionofconsciousness
Reblogged from revolutionofconsciousness
A Warning From Noam Chomsky on the Threat Posed By Elites | AlterNet
“Perhaps the most basic reason Americans should read Chomsky’s work today, therefore, is simply to understand the real world in which they live, that which is obscured by their leaders and the U.S. mass media. The purpose of “Newspeak” in the novel “1984” was to eliminate whole categories of thought. In our time, one such category is the fact that “U.S. leaders regularly and illegally kill enormous numbers of foreign innocent civilians.” The elimination of this thought-category in our cognitive framework understandably led President George W. Bush to explain 9/11 by saying “they hate our freedom”—a logical conclusion to someone ignorant of the trail of blood left by his predecessors. As Chomsky notes, however, “historical amnesia is a dangerous phenomenon … because it lays the groundwork for crimes ahead” and, it should be noted, increased dangers of terrorism against Americans….
Obama also presumably holds two contradictory opinions when, as Chomsky reports, he continues Bush policies he so recently criticized and promised to change: extending executive power to indefinitely imprison people without trial, torture (though by allied rather than U.S. torturers), indiscriminate killing (particularly by escalating in northern Pakistan, as described in Truthdig, “Unintended Consequences in Nuclear Pakistan”), and supporting Israeli policies precluding a two-state solution. Chomsky also observes that Obama could not have been elected in the first place, given his greater need for campaign funds from above than fidelity to his voters below, had he not been prepared to continue these imperial policies.”
The Calm before the Storm(s).
Reblogged from “
Since Obama was supposed to be their [Financial Industry] man in Washington, the principal architects of government policy wasted little time delivering their instructions: Unless Obama fell back into line, they would shift funds to the political opposition. “If the president doesn’t become a little more balanced and centrist in his approach, then he will likely lose” the support of Wall Street, Kelly S. King, a board member of the lobbying group Financial Services Roundtable, told the New York Times in early February. Securities and investment businesses gave the Democratic Party a record $89 million during the 2008 campaign.
Three days later, Obama informed the press that bankers are fine “guys,” singling out the chairmen of the two biggest players, JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs: “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That’s part of the free-market system,” the president said.
Noam Chomsky On Pot (via PotTVNetwork)
“There has never been a medical reason for the prohibition of marijuana.”
via loudandsoft : sunsmudge
Source sunsmudge
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
Reblogged from “The educational system is supposed to train people to be obedient, conformist, not think too much, do what you’re told, stay passive, don’t cause any crises of democracy, don’t raise any questions, and so on. That’s basically what the system is about. Even the fact that the system has a lot of stupidity in it has a function; it means that people are filtered out for obedience. If you can guarantee lots of stupidity in the educational system—you know, like stupid assignments, things like that— you know that the only people who will make it through are people like me and most of you, I guess, who are willing to do it no matter how stupid it is because, well, we want to go to the next step… So you may know that this assignment is idiotic and the guy up there couldn’t think his way out of a paper bag but you’ll do it anyway because that’s the way that you get to the next class…Well, there are people that don’t do that. There are people who say, ‘I’m not gonna do it, it’s too ridiculous.’ Those people are called behavioral problems.” - Noam Chomsky
via loudandsoft
“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.”
Noam Chomsky compares Right-Wing Media to Nazi Germany
From ForaTv. Chomsky on the parallels between Germany in the 20s and America today. His premise is that, the right-wingers are speaking to real grievances that ordinary people have, and redirecting them toward liberals.
As long as you fockers keep slinging mud at each other there will be no mud left to sling at US!
Noam Chomsky: Big Business Dictates the Presidency
Financial industry knew they would be served well by Obama and they were right!
Via: nosugaradded
Reblogged from Conversations on U.S. Power in a Changing World Oct. 2007
ynopsis
Conversations with Noam Chomsky about current affairs.
Marcia L. Sprules - Library Journal
Linguist, philosopher, and political activist Chomsky has long been critical of U.S. foreign policy and has authored many books expressing his views, beginning with American Power and the New Mandarins(1969). This latest book gathers 2006-07 interviews with radio journalist Barsamian (host, “Alternative Radio”; The Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting), a frequent partner in dialog with Chomsky-they have produced at least six books together prior to this one. Presented in chronological order, these conversations cover many topics frequently in the news, including the Middle East and Iraq, Latin America, trade and globalization, and Israel. Despite the format, statements are extensively footnoted, with references to both mainstream media and the web sites of relevant organizations. The basic points are not new: that the United States regularly, through many administrations, violates international law, assuming that as sole superpower it can do whatever it chooses whenever it decides to. Chomsky criticizes those journalists and public intellectuals who, in reporting and commenting on events, do not question the assumptions under which the country acts and have framed the debate so that only the details are fodder for discussion. Chomsky’s points are challenging and will make readers uncomfortable, yet most libraries will want to acquire this.
