Noam Chomsky Quotes on Freedom
Noam Chomsky's political writing treats freedom, and especially freedom of expression, as both essential and routinely undermined, and the quotes gathered here set out that view. Chomsky defends free speech without qualification, holding that if we do not believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we do not believe in it at all. But he argues that formal liberties can coexist with effective control of thought: the most efficient method of keeping a population passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion while permitting vigorous debate inside those bounds. On this analysis even the mainstream press, by quietly fixing the presuppositions of debate, can function as part of a propaganda system. Drawn from his interviews, talks, and books, these passages present genuine freedom as a matter of widening the range of thinkable thought, not merely of legal permission.
Quotes
-
“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.”
The Common Good -
“If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.”
Noam Chomsky in interview by John Pilger on The Late Show BBC Television, November 25, 1992 . -
Attributed to Noam Chomsky:
“Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied.”
-
“[...] one must be cautious in assessing the political significance of the relative freedom from repression — at least for the privileged — in the United States. Exactly what does it mean, concretely?”
Language and Responsibility(1977) -
“”Some Elementary Comments on The Rights of Freedom of Expression”, preface to Robert Faurisson Mémoire en défense (October 11, 1980)”
1980s -
“[The "liberal media"] love to be denounced from the right, and the right loves to denounce them, because that makes them look like courageous defenders of freedom and independence while, in fact, they are imposing all of the presuppositions of the propaganda system.”
1995–1999 | Interview by Ira Shorr, February 11, 1996 [25] -
“Talk titled "Free Market Fantasies" at Harvard University , April 13, 1996 [27] .”
1995–1999