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Noam Chomsky

46 quotesEducationist · Born Dec 7, 1928 · United States Of America · Male

Avram Noam Chomsky (US /æˈvrɑːm ˈnoʊm ˈtʃɒmski/ a-VRAHM nohm CHOM-skee; born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes described as "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy, and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he has worked since 1955, and is the author of over 100 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media. Ideologically, he aligns with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism. Born to middle-class Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City. At the age of sixteen he began studies at the University of Pennsylvania, taking courses in linguistics, mathematics, and philosophy. From 1951 to 1955 he was appointed to Harvard University's Society of Fellows, where he developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he was awarded his doctorate in 1955. That year he began teaching at MIT, in 1957 emerging as a significant figure in the field of linguistics for his landmark work Syntactic Structures, which remodeled the scientific study of language, while from 1958 to 1959 he was a National Science Foundation fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. He is credited as the creator or co-creator of the universal grammar theory, the generative grammar theory, the Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of behaviorism, being particularly critical of the work of B. F. Skinne

All Media (4)Power (3)Media Manipulation (3)Limited Debate (2)Social Change (2)Ideas (2)Opinions (2)Terrorism (2)The United States (2)Political Landscapes (2)Democracy (2)Science (2)Iraq (2)The Nuances of Non-Violence (1)Fear (1)

From “Understanding Power: The Indispensible Chomsky”

The United States is like a shattered peasant society.

Opinions Political Landscapes Limited Debate

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.

Opinions Political Landscapes Limited Debate

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.

Power The West Colonization

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…

Power

It’s very important for institutions of concentrated power to keep people alone and isolated: that way they’re ineffective, they can’t defend themselves against indoctrination, they can’t even figure out what they think.

From “Noam Chomsky: A Life of Dissent”

Science is a bit like the joke about the drunk who is looking under a lamppost for a key that he has lost on the other side of the street, because that's where the light is. It has no other choice.

Science

From “Deterring Democracy”

One might ask why tobacco is legal and marijuana not. A possible answer is suggested by the nature of the crop. Marijuana can be grown almost anywhere, with little difficulty. It might not be easily marketable by major corporations. Tobacco is quite another story.

Marijuana Tobacco Weed Legalization of Marijuana

From “Powers and Prospects”

Tough love is just the right phrase: love for the rich and privileged, tough for everyone else.

Rich People

From “Chomsky: The U.S. behaves nothing like a democracy”

In the past, the United States has sometimes, kind of sardonically, been described as a one-party state: the business party with two factions called Democrats and Republicans. That’s no longer true. It’s still a one-party state, the business party. But it only has one faction. The faction is…

The United States US Politics

From “Corporate business models are hurting American universities”

You know better than I do what has to be done, the kind of problems you face. Just got ahead and do what has to be done. Don’t be intimidated, don’t be frightened, and recognize that the future can be in our hands if we’re willing to grasp it.

Get To Work Your Mission Your Life Purpose Your Meaning Inspirational

From “Violence and Dignity: Reflections on the Middle East”

Unless the powerful are capable of learning to respect the dignity of their victims, impassable barriers will remain, and the world will be doomed to violence, cruelty, and bitter suffering.

Violence Powerful Cruelty Sad World Middle East

From “A Roadmap to a Just World — People Reanimating Democracy”

One of the striking examples was the invasion of Iraq. U.S. and British intelligence agencies informed their governments that the invasion of Iraq was likely to lead to an increase in terrorism. They didn’t care. In fact, it did. Terrorism increased by a factor of seven the first year after the…

Iraq Terrorism

Interviewer: You have been very critical of the press. What would you like the press to do? Noam Chomsky: It’s very simple. I’d like the press to tell the truth about important things.

Press Media

From “The Radical Intellectual”

The world is too complex for history to repeat, but there are nevertheless lessons to keep in mind. There is no shortage of tasks for those who choose the vocation of critical intellectuals, whatever their station in life. They can seek to sweep away the mists of carefully contrived illusion and…

Intellectuals

I am just old enough to remember those chilling and ominous days of Germany’s descent from decency to Nazi barbarism, to borrow the words of the distinguished scholar of German history Fritz Stern. He tells us that he has the future of the United States in mind when he reviews ‘a historic process in…

The Seduction of Unreason Fitz Stern Germany Unreason

From “Hopes And Prospects (Amnesty International Lecture)”

Don’t ridicule, organize.

Social Change

Only an aroused public can end this folly before it ends us.

Social Change Outrage Culture

From “Noam Chomsky "How To Stop Terrorism?"”

Everyone’s worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there’s really an easy way: Stop participating in it.

Terrorism

From “The World of Our Grandchildren: Noam Chomsky discusses ISIS, Israel, climate change, and the kind of world future generations may inherit”

You can be pretty confident that as conflicts develop, they will become more extremist. The most brutal, harshest groups will take over. That’s what happens when violence becomes the means of interaction. It’s almost automatic. That’s true in neighborhoods, it’s true in international affairs. That’s…

ISIS The Extremism of ISIS Extremism Violence as Communication On Violence

From “Noam Chomsky interviewed by Bill Maher”

The invasion of Iraq was simply a war crime. Straight-out war crime.

Iraq War

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