There is no plausible theory under which the record of the Pentagon Papers can be interpreted as relating to the national defense.
Noam ChomskyRead
There is massive propaganda for everyone to consume. Consumption is good for profits and consumption is good for the political establishment.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the pervasive promotion of consumption in society as beneficial for both economic growth and political power.
Noam Chomsky highlights the idea that society is inundated with propaganda that encourages consumption, which in turn serves the interests of profit-driven businesses and the political establishment. This reveals a complex relationship between consumer behavior and the structures of power, suggesting that the push for constant consumption is not just an economic phenomenon, but also a means of political control.
Themes
PropagandaConsumptionPoliticsProfitsSociety
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about consumer culture at a university seminar.
More from Noam Chomsky
All quotes βThe 'free-floating intellectual' may occupy himself with problems because of their inherent interest and importance, perhaps to little effect.
Noam ChomskyRead
If you're teaching today what you were teaching five years ago, either the field is dead or you are.
Noam ChomskyRead
There are very few people who are going to look into the mirror and say, 'That person I see is a savage monster;' instead, they make up some construction that justifies what they do.
Noam ChomskyRead
The Republican Party has become overwhelmingly so extreme that it's hardly a traditional political party anymore.
Noam ChomskyRead
There is still much debate about whether torture has been effective in eliciting information - the assumption being, apparently, that if it is effective, then it may be justified.
Noam ChomskyRead
Similar quotes
The cruel ambush of 9/11 supposedly 'changed everything,' slapping us back to reality. Yet we are constantly shocked, shocked by the foreseeable.
Frank RichRead
If you keep on buying things made by child slaves in such conditions, you are equally responsible for the perpetration of slavery.
Kailash SatyarthiRead
Late twentieth-century machines have made thoroughly ambiguous the difference between natural and artificial, mind and body, self-developing and externally designed, and many other distinctions that used to apply to organisms and machines. Our machines are disturbingly lively, and we ourselves frighteningly inert.
Donna J. HarawayRead
It is intolerable that in our country citizens should feel so upset and under assault because of their religious choice that they would conclude that they have to hide.
Francois HollandeRead
Absolute truth belongs to Thee alone.
Gotthold Ephraim LessingRead
I used to tell women graduate students, half-seriously, that the role of slightly rebellious daughter was one of the better roles for women living in patriarchy.
Carol GilliganRead