WIST Quotations

Chomsky, Noam -- “An Eight Point Brief for LEV (Lesser Evil Voting)” (2016-06-15) [with John Halle]

Dave — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 15:16:51 +0000

Another point of disagreement [over Lesser Evil Voting] is not factual but involves the ethical/moral principle […] sometimes referred to as the “politics of moral witness.” Generally associated with the religious left, secular leftists implicitly invoke it when they reject LEV on the grounds that “a lesser of two evils is still evil.” Leaving aside the obvious rejoinder that this is exactly the point of lesser evil voting — i.e. to do less evil, what needs to be challenged is the assumption that voting should be seen a form of individual self-expression rather than as an act to be judged on its likely consequences. […] The basic moral principle at stake is simple: not only must we take responsibility for our actions, but the consequences of our actions for others are a far more important consideration than feeling good about ourselves.

Noam Chomsky (b. 1928) American linguist and activist
“An Eight Point Brief for LEV (Lesser Evil Voting)” (2016-06-15) [with John Halle]
(Source)

Chomsky, Noam -- American Power and the New Mandarins, Introduction (1969)

Dave — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 14:03:59 +0000

Those who cry most loudly that we must smash and destroy are later found among the administrators of some new system of repression.

Noam Chomsky (b. 1928) American linguist and activist
American Power and the New Mandarins, Introduction (1969)

Chomsky, Noam -- The Common Good (1998)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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 (b. 1928) American linguist and activist
The Common Good (1998)

Chomsky, Noam -- The Late Show, TV interview with John Pilger, BBC2 (25 Nov 1992)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.

Noam Chomsky (b. 1928) American linguist and activist
The Late Show, TV interview with John Pilger, BBC2 (25 Nov 1992)