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Famous Noam Chomsky Quotes

“There is a noticeable general difference between the sciences and mathematics on the one hand, and the humanities and social sciences on the other. It's a first approximation, but one that is real. In the former, the factors of integrity tend to dominate more over the factors of ideology. It's not that scientists are more honest people. It's just that nature is a harsh taskmaster. You can lie or distort the story of the French Revolution as long as you like, and nothing will happen. Propose a false theory in chemistry, and it'll be refuted tomorrow.”

PeopleFirstsLongRealStoriesHandsHappensLyingHumanitySocialDifferencesHonestTheoryRevolutionTomorrowIntegrityScientistMathematicsFactorsIdeologyFormerChemistryHarshProposeSocial ScienceFrench RevolutionApproximationHonest People
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“Now, the Libertarian Party, is a *capitalist* party. It's in favor of what *I* would regard a *particular form* of authoritarian control. Namely, the kind that comes through private ownership and control, which is an *extremely* rigid system of domination - people have to... people can survive, by renting themselves to it, and basically in no other way... I do disagree with them *very* sharply, and I think that they are not..understanding the *fundamental* doctrine, that you should be free from domination and control, including the control of the manager and the owner.”

PeopleThinkingWayShouldKindFormUnderstandingPartyParticularRegardFundamentalsIncludingLibertarianFavorsDoctrineManagersOwnersDisagreeCapitalistOwnershipDominationLibertarian PartyOwnership And Control
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“One of the truths about the world is that there are two superpowers, one a huge power which happens to have its boot on your neck; another, a smaller power which happens to have its boot on other people's necks. I think that anyone in the Third World would be making a grave error if they succumbed to illusions about these matters”

PeopleIfsThinkingWorldTwoMatterHappensWould BeHugeIllusionThirdsErrorsGravesNecksBootsThird WorldSuperpower
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“I try to encourage people to think for themselves, to question standard assumptions... Don't take assumptions for granted. Begin by taking a skeptical attitude toward anything that is conventional wisdom. Make it justify itself. It usually can't. Be willing to ask questions about what is taken for granted. Try to think things through for yourself.”

PeopleThinkingTryingWisdomAsksAttitudeTakenDoubtWillingStandardsGrantedAssumptionJustifyQuestioningConventionalSkepticismSkepticalTaken For GrantedConventional WisdomDoubtersTaking Things For GrantedTake Nothing For Granted
Book:Power and Terror: Conflict, Hegemony, and the Rule of Force
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“As soon as one identifies, challenges and overcomes illegitimate power, he or she is an anarchist. Most people are anarchists. What they call themselves doesn’t matter to me. The world is full of suffering, distress, violence and catastrophes. Students must decide: does something concern you or not? I say: look around, analyze the problems, ask yourself what you can do and set out on the work!”

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Author:Noam Chomsky
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“What can one say about a country where a museum of science in a great city can feature an exhibit in which people fire machine guns from a helicopter at Vietnamese huts, with a light flashing when a hit is scored? What can one say about a country where such an idea can even be considered? You have to weep for this country.”

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Book:American Power and the New Mandarins
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“There is no reason to believe ... that the "essential purpose" of language is "communication". Language can be used to transmit information, but it also serves many other purposes: to establish relations among people, to express or clarify thought, for play, for creative mental activity, to gain understanding, and so on. In my opinion, there is no reason to accord privileged status to one or the other of these modes.”

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Author:Noam Chomsky
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“Anarcho-syndic alism took for granted that working people ought to control their own work, its conditions, the enterprises in which they work, along with communities, so they should be associated with one another in free associations, and democracy of that kind should be the foundational elements of a more general free society.”

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Author:Noam Chomsky
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“People have to be atomized and segregated and alone. They're not supposed to organize, because then they might be something beyond spectators of action. They might actually be participants if many people with limited resources could get together to enter the political arena. That's really threatening.”

PeopleIfsMightActionTogetherPoliticalPoliticsMediaResourcesOrganizeThreateningArenaSpectatorsParticipantsGet TogetherLimited Resources
Book:Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
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“The people of the Third World need our sympathetic understanding and, much more than that, they need our help. We can provide them with a margin of survival by internal disruption in the United States. Whether they can succeed against the kind of brutality we impose on them depends in large part on what happens here.”

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Book:How the World Works
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