Noam Chomsky on Democracy

Noam Chomsky on democracy and participation.

[@FloppityFlopFlop777]

"Reduce them to apathy and obedience." That's exactly what's happened.

[@goldenhawk9322]

It's human nature. I'm not sure if the corporations did it to us.

[@Avielse7en]

@@goldenhawk9322 Statements like this completely miss the point entirely. Corporations are an invented thing and have only existed in the last hundred years or so. This is not how you define human nature. Greed, love and hate are some things you can associate with human nature - not hammers, not cars, not computers and certainly not corporations.

[@crazymusicman13]

Probably one of the most important Chomsky videos on youtube. This is really the heart of (humanistic) liberation. I love the idea about 'finding values through democracy'

[@crazymusicman13]

@Frog King I think you mean college libtards, not librards.

[@gregbagel791]

There are no values to democracy greater than local democracy. It’s useless to try and apply it on a large scale due to inherent need to create factions. That’s why the US government was initially set up as a representative government, not a democratic one.

[@hrob6381]

This man is literally the symbol of intellectualism and human integrity.

[@chtomlin]

Explain his "human integrity" as he sells his snake oil economics to poor labor ?

[@hrob6381]

@@chtomlin is that your question? explain human integrity? Shouldn't you be the one explaining snake oil "economics" ? Whatever that means.

[@chtomlin]

@@hrob6381 snake oil economics is when you try to sell the idea that only materials and labor go into the sale of an item on the free market.

[@hrob6381]

@@chtomlin what exactly are you saying he has, or hasn't propagated?

[@chtomlin]

@@hrob6381 I'm saying he is often cited for his lack of understanding on the value of labor.

[@phivrl2074]

May that man live happily for many more years

[@redblitzridden9021]

93 years strong and still sharp minded!!

[@CIARUNSITE]

Nah he's kind of lost it recently. But he gave us 70 years of work so fair enough. Seems like people should stop trotting him out on their show for clicks since he rambles about the world ending far too much these days.

[@utilitymonster8267]

@@CIARUNSITE In what sense did he lose it? He has always emphasized the threat of nuclear war, and recently the threat of environmental catastrophe became perhaps even bigger. He’s doing the same as he did, but now climate change became more prominent.

[@ScottMccain117]

@@CIARUNSITE And 2 days ago, the Ukrainian missiles landing in Poland prove him right. Chomsky is the greatest intellectual still alive but it's ok if you can't stand the way he talks now. He is a very old man but to this day, I am still hearing this young man (polite or shy we never knew) who stood up for Vietnam.

[@CIARUNSITE]

@@utilitymonster8267 But it was as part of a larger message that retained hope. His old age has removed that and just left the doom and gloom. This is completely reasonable for someone of his age, but it's not nearly as powerful as his older work.

[@ivannasha5556]

If people had been smart enough to understand what he said. "They" would have killed him decades ago.

[@MagaLaan]

Well said, and basically common sense for any feeling human being. I find it difficult to understand that this rather moderate and carefully formulating man is painted as a leftist extremist in the USA.

[@bbkingzor]

It is not so surprising actually. He is a threat to the establishment, so it is better to paint him as a Commu or extremist or whatever fear mongering profile is popular at the time.

[@rosserjake]

bbkingzor It's quite amusing that American right wingers who claim to hate the government, unwittingly regurgitate Cold War McCarthyite propaganda that came from their bloody government. The irony.

[@MetteC5]

Maga Laan *When one has been in the dark for a long time, any form of light feels aggressive.* Of course Chomsky isn't a leftist extremist. Such accusation reminds me of what a centrist friend of mine once said: to those on the far left, I'm on the extreme right; to those on the far right, I'm on the extreme left.

[@chtomlin]

because you don't understand Freedom and Justice.

[@shaneshankly4518]

Anything not to extreme right in America is a communist. Plus he exposes terrorist Israel and it's daily war crimes

[@d4lep0ro]

100 years ahead of all of us.

[@danilthorstensson8902]

Literally. Dude’s like 150

[@capitalistholocaust3128]

Rather than him being a 1000 years ahead of his time, let's hope you're right

[@Ozcreepycrawly]

Leader of the free world in my opinion..

[@liamj2363]

Somewhat ironic...

[@johanf9495]

He certainly has a way of getting his views across that I, and I believe many people, aren't able to. If only there were more people such as Chomsky to give talks and speeches on such important issues.

[@elephantwarrior53]

Leader of the nonexistent free world...

[@johnvanvliet2076]

I like the way Jesus Christ spoke, and in 3 years He was able to make an impact on the world that no else has done since or will do in the future. Chomsky talks and has no answers really, leaves many questions unanswered, I understand, you can philosophy what you like and we all love that, but life is very pragmatic.... talking does not make a living, work does , educate your self, if you want to work, make a living you study get an education then work and not live off the STATE ... Humans seem to be unable to make this planet a better place and more and more we are drowning in a moral downturn and into a more and more lawless society where all rules are oke....

[@Aria-Invictus]

You mean like the alleged Jesus who made false promises and failed at even being a prophet, assuming that what was written about him in the NT is ever remotely true. That and the fact that the larger Christianity is, the less happy Christians are. "The no answers" comment really means no answers you like since you are pro tyranny, and any anarchist is against tyranny.

[@DerMacDuff]

Someone has to translate this in several different languages.

[@rominav.931]

DerMacDuff I know English and Spanish but have some difficulty understanding his pronunciation. If someone can help me with that I may be able to do the Spanish subs and add them to the video!

[@icantbelieveitsnotbutter4714]

Romina V. I can take you up on that if you're still interested, and give you a transcript

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

I did my part, now time to share :)

[@hibaalmayahi7095]

Hi, I am translating this clip to Arabic and I was wondering if anyone can explain to me what the interviewer says at 3:10 as I am having difficulties hearing him. Thanks in advance!

[@skyguy5587]

DerMacDuff jeez just translate it to ‘stupid’ so that people who blindly support right wing conservatives andddd left wing democrats.Hence those who STILL follow trump and those who say that Clinton and Obama are the answer.Despite the overwhelming evidence showing that BOTH parties are corrupt to the core

[@Spock0987]

the more you educate yourself the more you agree with Dr Chomsky and don't matter what side you are.

[@user-ej3jy6eg6h]

go outside and talk to some people. you'll realise how wrong he is.

[@subsonic9854]

It's very easy to agree with his morality. But it's easy to agree with most people's morality when you really listen. Kim Jong Un probably has strong morals that would largely sound like yours or mine. We start to argue when we get to the politics and policies which will attain our shared goals.

[@mitchclark1532]

@@user-ej3jy6eg6h That's not an argument. Why do you feel the need to attack Chomsky but you don't even have anything to attack him with? lol Weak

[@mitchclark1532]

@@subsonic9854 Okay, but what's your point? We all have disagreements, especially about specific policies and tactics. But at the foundation of all of that is the core conviction that a democratic world is desirable and attainable. No one agrees with everything someone else believes. We all have our differences and that's great. What democracy would do is allow us to hash out our differences in an arena where each of us have equal say, equal opportunity to influence the outcome, instead of the fake "democracy" we have now where we have 2 options but those options are predetermined by other people. Just admit it. Wherever else we may disagree, Chomsky is 100% correct here.

[@mitchclark1532]

@@subsonic9854 Also, if you have to compare Noam Chomsky to Kim Jong Un in order to cast doubt on Chomsky's ideas, then that just shows how far you have to reach, which in turn shows how strong Chomsky's arguments are. :)

[@LegionarioCruel]

Americans are only recently discovering they do not live in a real democracy. I find the US presidential election process in particular quite apalling.

[@chtomlin]

so true about the US scandal Presidential election.

[@joenelson3375]

Many scholars, such as Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and even Socrates were very distrustful of democracy for a reason. Vast majority of voters in open democracies are woefully under educated, or have been intentionally misled.

[@chtomlin]

@@joenelson3375 yes, exactly...just look at the bell curve and realize that avg isn't too bright, then remember that half the population is below that....

[@pragmaticpolitics1413]

Most have known. They are just passive and use the excuse at least we don’t have the other guy. “No one is more conservative then a liberal who’s got their way” and conservatives just suck.

[@pragmaticpolitics1413]

@@chtomlin but we know that’s intentional

[@jayrokmaster5220]

I wish the United States government was composed of more people like this. The system has failed 😞

[@gabrielasilva3387]

Best human being alive...

[@fredoctober292]

I second that fact.

[@EcksPression]

Agreed.

[@chtomlin]

odd how people like this Noam can charm the naive....

[@michaelsmith8665]

@@chtomlin Revealing how Chomsky's enemies can never come up with a convincing rebuttal to his arguments.

[@chtomlin]

@@michaelsmith8665 Interesting given Chomsky isn't close to a legit claim to rebut...

[@oo0OAO0oo]

Professor Chomsky is one of the most important people of our time. He is incredibly wise, not only smart. People will praise his words for centuries. From what I've seen and heard from him so far, impressed me very much. He is there where I would expect to see a wise man and he is years or even decades ahead of the time. He is talking about the issues where I would expect a wise man to voice his mind. I praise him so much right now because he hits the score marks, like I've rarely seen. It's incredible that we have a professor like Chomsky in this world.

[@markmclean4144]

Thank you MR Chomsky you are a living legend...I watched an interview last week on the Ukraine war...

[@lllllliiiiillllll]

What A Man 🙏🏼

[@ahappydolphin937]

We're being controlled and manipulated from birth to death. Bread and circuses, folks. Bread and circuses.

[@kyleganse4978]

To be honest the only voting power we have is with our money.... so much fluff people buy because swayed by propaganda. The only necessities are cars, houses, clothes, food and within that we can change it all.

[@PGraveDigger1]

@@kyleganse4978 I wouldn't say that cars are a necessity. A mode of transportation is necessary, obviously, but there's no reason for cars to be the only one.

[@kaashee]

And pornography

[@chtomlin]

@@kyleganse4978 this is so true. Our spending combined with our words is the true power we could wield via our Unity, but scammers like Chomsky and Obama ensure division and confusion. They are probably both CIA operatives.

[@user-nv5ix3ib5b]

Great mind.

[@liamtaggart57]

Nobody listened to this great man then....and they’re still not listening

[@aerobique]

Not true. x

[@michaelsmith8665]

Lots of people are listening . . . and acting. Chomsky's political talks are sold out years in advance to overflow audiences throughout the world.

[@mitchclark1532]

@@michaelsmith8665 No, we're not listening. He doesn't just want us to buy tickets to his lectures. He wants us to get ORGANIZED. He wants there to be a MASS MOVEMENT to challenge power and demand democratization. Sitting and listening to Chomsky for an hour and a half is not "acting". And sure, you're technically listening to him speak but you're not taking his words to heart if you're not actively organizing. And I'm not saying I'm any better than you, I just realize what we need to do. We need to use our numbers to antagonize the wealthy and powerful. That's Chomsky's message. I'm sure Chomsky appreciates the patronage but there's extremely important, hard work to be done. I can't do it, you can't do it. No one can do it alone. It can only happen if we get together and make an unbreakable commitment to each other, if we're all mutually invested in each other's success and failure. If we have solidarity.

[@adambrinn2293]

He's been talking about this for years and the people have not done anything to change the reality of the situation we have today. It's very sad.

[@subsonic9854]

We're busy exercising our freedom to not vote, buy useless things which will soon be obsolete, rent bodies and minds to our overlords, and get increasingly smaller hits of dopamine from commenting on online media platforms. The best part is that the ruling class is doing exactly the same thing, just more!

[@michaelsmith8665]

Not true. The people are more active now on a wider range of issues than ever before in U.S. history. Chomsky regularly points this out.

[@mikearchibald744]

YEs, the sad part is he doesn't talk as MUCH about this as he used to. He mostly just criticizes and a few times when asked he's said the problems are so bad that its not worth talking about 'idealized states', when I think thats when its most important. And thats what he was best at, there's no lack of people criticizing foreign and domestic policy.

[@Spock0987]

so funny to live in Brazil and listen to this....

[@daniellauzon9297]

Fascinating

[@stepananokhin693]

Time to inform ourselves, organize and start acting.

[@vcuheel1464]

I miss Bill Moyers so much. Such a good interviewer. Such.a good man. We need so much more of his content.

[@iran4040]

a true wizard of our times. he has wisdom, honesty and selflessness to be considered a wise man, a wizard.

[@Minimalrevolt-m83]

😊 You’ll need a philosophical knowledge in order to have a reasoning, logical (truth), ethics and epistemology or else people will be in trouble in life due to ignorance of the truth and believing the superstition

[@haarpanoid]

Some people should never die

[@DG-lo]

4:19 What a great and clear answer to a question that's common in many different forms. (For a moment, it seems like Chomsky is straying away from the interviewer's question, but he comes right back to it.) "Why is freedom, or cooperation, actually all that important?" Because a society that doesn't value those creates innumerable other problems.

[@noisepuppet]

The Crisis of Democracy is essentially a crisis of profitability. That's a genuine crisis with material consequences in a society where production and distribution is structured as it is in ours. That wasn't always true in society. It wasn't always true that the economy ground to a halt absent the prospect of profit or even of growth more generally. In fact, I suspect that this is a peculiar feature of a system that has only developed over the last 200 or 250 years, although it has roots in the preceding period of colonial expansion and competition among nation states. If the production and circulation of life necessities were decoupled from the prospect of profit or growth, the Crisis of Democracy as it was spelled out at the advent of neoliberalism would cease to be a general crisis. But that decoupling would require the revocation of rights that are now considered sacred in much the same way as the divine right of kings once was. It's a serious problem.

[@waindayoungthain2147]

It’s amazing what’s he saying is about innermost.Thanks 🙏🏼.

[@donaldwhittaker7987]

Great stuff

[@anonymlulz8273]

had to download a volume booster because of this guy

[@sujayjadhav4248]

No wonder elon musk hates him

[@isabellab1033]

well duh elon musk is a space weirdo

[@N0Xa880iUL]

Source?

[@karanswamygowda]

​@@N0Xa880iULhe made it up

[@CompleteRenewalOfMankind]

Wow! This is amazing! Beautiful

[@hishammughal9662]

Lots of respect for this gentleman

[@icgantshat]

brilliant

[@Banana_Split_Cream_Buns]

I've known of Chomsky for ages, but I never really delved deep into him until quite literally this week (I had been going hard on trying to examine Marxism... and while there is definitely value in Marxian thought, it's just so dense and rigid). That being said, what he's expressing here is what I've been thinking for ages.... he just articulates my thoughts so presciently.

[@Acanthophis]

Same here. Chomsky is the peak of mental liberation, in my mind. Nobody starts with Chomsky, they start with people far less "extreme" who don't offend our preconceived notions so much. But once you finally reach Chomsky, you realize just how deep the indoctrination really is. I started deep diving into Chomsky in the past few months. But my first experience with him was about 10 years ago, I thought he was far too radical. But no. He's literally just describing the world when you wipe away the propaganda and systemic indoctrination you experience basically from birth. Pretty much everyone I know who follows Chomsky agrees: they all saw him early on but we're immediately turned off because his attacks on our preconceived notions were too strong. In order to understand Chomsky, it seems that other people need to attack your preconceived notions first.

[@leonsantamaria9845]

For people who live day by day... like me... is.... save my money ..... More l can , do the right thing, work, hard.. respect, the law, the people, the ecosystem, have this 😄...and love. that is democracy.... the other is are simply illusion.... life is the most beautiful thing we have.🦁😀.

[@leonsantamaria9845]

Professor Noam Chomsky... you are predicting what happens in are future of society....the problem is are planet is ready under that structure, and people whit power maybe don't care, and yes humanity is in big problem, l hope people like you make, people like mi and others make understand what is the reality, but unfortunately don't completely..the future generations have the job to change that or is to late.👍👍👍🤝🌍🌎🌏

[@randomtactician6290]

Exactly what I believe about modern democracy and the limits of electoral democracy

[@kaashee]

What a good man.

[@johnmaisonneuve9057]

What a great insight: You can’t have real democracy without democracy at the workplace. Fully agree. By the way, look around you, who makes all this stuff, from everything we use, eat, drive etc. It’s made by workers! Our infrastructure, roads, cars, housing, etc. And, the State contribution is absolutely immense, the Internet, computer technology, etc. Read for example. Mariana Mazzucato’s book “The Entrepreneurial State, in which she lists 100 or more government agencies, University labs, etc. research facilities that account for an outstanding amount of products, innovative technologies. And, the private sector uses it all and portrays themself selfs, as indispensable.

[@alizia2186]

25 Dislikes by The top 1.5%

[@SuperSSystem]

now after 5 months.. 29 so not even 1 unlike/month 🤣

[@AlloAnder]

@@SuperSSystem only 7 dislikes more after 7 month :D

[@sexykids6500]

No, more likely poor/middle income stupid and misinformed libertarian types.

[@Peter_Kropotkin]

.1%

[@KP_Oz]

One of the greatest minds... Cons of manufactured consent and personal gain so eloquently explained!

[@armandofernandezguillermet8996]

Thank You Mr. Chomsky for these enlightening comments...

[@Allisvanity75]

Aldus Huxley got it 100% correct entertainment is the order of the day

[@GrantTarredus]

Here’s Moyers’ and Chomsky’s full conversation. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3a8e4B5rsl5hKs

[@Wildrover82]

Thanks.🙌

[@geico1975]

Does anyone know what year this was? I'll scroll down now and see if this has already been answered:)

[@chomskysphilosophy]

+geico1975 1988.

[@realnaveen]

Relevance of talk! Conscious work on inner psyche is biggest challenge for society that gets excited with psychosis, conflicts, chaos, scapegoating, mobbing and provocations. It is undiagnosed issues of social abnorm that are considered as norms. Other is greed, rigidity ,manipulation of history or information and profiting at expense of lives.

[@brucemclennan9715]

What a decent, caring, brilliant human being. His analysis is so well explained, he should be invited to comment by every network when they pose the politicos. The average US citizen deserves to understand the implications of what they support. He is super pro democracy, anti the intrusive plagues that assail it. Noam’s positions are on KZbin decade by decade in his adult life and he never varies from having a clear analysis that ie well explained.

[@brendanvega-shoemaker6438]

Love it, échos another smart man Ray Dalio who basically champions constant open minded communication. Society can’t flourish without people cooperating and protecting each other from themselves.

[@unboxviews]

I finally agree with Chomsky

[@hamzasaleem3897]

UnboxViews Now he can sleep soundly

[@isaacribeiro5601]

"...Groups form in which people can join together, can share their concernes, can articulare their ideas, gain a response, can discover what they think, can discover what they believe, what their values are. This can't be impose on you from above, this have to be discovered by experiment, by effort, by trial, by application and so on. And this has to be done with others. Futhermore, surely, central to human nature is the need to be engaged with others in cooperative efforts of solidarity and concern. That can only happen, by definition, in group structures. "

[@Headbox1]

Only been awoken within last 3 yrs catching up now though!

[@ianmcmath92]

Where can I find this full video?

[@arupgoswami8581]

To have listened to Noam Chomsky speaking on various socio-political and also academic issues is the most significant experience of mine at age 76 living in a small town in Assam in India .

[@nicolinogiancola9644]

I cant even get my adult kids to agree which restaurant to go to.

[@leethomas7659]

This guys a fucking treasure.

[@DjWellDressedMan]

Bill Moyers of PBS interviewing Chomsky.

[@lessingesnus]

When was it recorded please ?

[@junaidimran4377]

1988

[@vulisritvars]

Out of curiosity, when was this interview filmed?

[@laskieg]

OP said 1988 in another comment.

[@michaelsmith8665]

@@laskieg Yes, the last year of the Reagan administration. It was a two-part interview (one hour each) for Moyers' "World of Ideas" on PBS.

[@mononoke721]

By re-examining the values that undergird our current political, cultural and social systems and re-aligning them to draw from our inherent compassionate natures (as opposed to our other inherent greedy, selfish and self-destructive tendencies) is truly the only way societial reform will come about on a large-scale. Change how people feel and think and you can change the world.

[@NoahBodze]

Compassion is not a virtue.

[@xepic665]

ITS THIS SIMPLE FOLKS! Fuckin proportional representation! EASY

[@joebernicke1580]

Anyone know when and who by this interview was given? Thanks!

[@peshawajalal2492]

what he's talking about is now in progress in Rovaja but the media is blind to it

[@PeerKristijan]

I don't really like him but I gotta say that he is looking really sharp in this video, so hats off to him!

[@kellymartin1099]

New everybody including yourself a favor and listen to this man

[@chillbeach7322]

Verbose. Our system works because we push ahead through fair and unfair and we realize that both need to exist.

[@user-yb6eo1xp2f]

Noam is right, still West is the best place to be...

[@LuisIlva18]

Where can I watch the full length?

[@BenGrem917]

My one critique of Chomsky is that he's so soft spoken I can barely hear him on my phone. It's not a very good critique, but there it is.

[@leftisttroll2217]

@Joseph Autumn It is very unfortunate that our society is not conducive to Chomsky's method of communicating ideas. The only way that anyone can actually have their ideas heard by the public is to get up on stage and make a lot of noise. There is no intellectualism surrounding it. There can be no immediate questioning or reasoned debate. Either the people like what they hear at face value, or they don't, and that's the end of it. People just don't have an opportunity to seriously talk about anything or consider the practical implications of different ideas. Even if they did, they wouldn't know how. Only the privileged elites have that luxury. That is precisely why capitalist democracy becomes mob rule, and why academics inherently seem like elitists. It's not actually inherent. Elitists are just the only ones capable of becoming academics the majority of the time. If education was open to all, then we could all seek elite academia. That would mean that everyone would be capable of organizing society. Great! Democracy would work as intended then! But as long as the system relies on the existence of uneducated workers and mindless consumers, we will receive information in the form of government propaganda and corporate marketing, not science and philosophy. Knowledge is power, and power is always hoarded by the powerful.

[@michaelsmith8665]

@@leftisttroll2217 There's nothing wrong with "uneducated workers." Chomsky says the greatest minds in anarchism were "illiterate Spanish peasants." You don't need to go to school to know what's wrong with society or what to do about it.

[@buzifalus]

@@michaelsmith8665 but you do need time and a comfortable setting and mental state, which workers are getting less and less

[@darrylcrute6763]

In some countries this train of thought is a blessing……..in others, it is blasphemy!

[@Clayman7769]

Do you have a link to the whole interview?

[@ssssssssss1638]

part 1: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHu4Y5ZtjsuEiqc part 2: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipuuqJeNf9iHoZI

[@GioKaidra]

Can someone tell me when did this interview happen?

[@bryanedwards187]

Can't really put it any better than that

[@fickgooglefickthem6884]

I think that for a propper democracy, You have to actually ensure that the voters are educated and informed enough in order to make decisions. This also implicates general education. I don't know how or wether the old greek and rome have ensured this but I assume that they were far better off in comparsion to holding that last straw just to "drain the swamp" in the 1st Trump election. Democracy has been since long in it's defense position, if any.

[@fickgooglefickthem6884]

Find peace within You. Sooner or later I will be forgotten. Live Your life.

[@chinhau8702]

He tells things you should know...

[@mattkaden3483]

The ambitious will always control the content and distribution of information and through that, the population. The democracy that Chomsky speaks about is incompatible with human group behavioral dynamics.

[@egay86292]

his definition of democracy is identical to my definition of communism.

[@hibaalmayahi7095]

Can anyone explain to me what the interviewer says at 3:10? Thanks!

[@michaelsmith8665]

Chomsky cut him off. Moyers was going to give a quote from the Vice President of a large corporation about the public mind. We'll never know what it was.

[@jonassteinberg3779]

Hm, interesting to know the origin of manufacturing consent, given I have not read the book.

[@mikearchibald744]

Watch the documentary, its a hell of a big book:)

[@primaryendo]

Without a doubt people's mentality/mindset is shaped by the economic system, this is especially true in the United States. People do not realize it because it influences their thoughts, personalities and way of life in insidious ways. Values and morals always relate back to the economic system or money. We could definitely use more humane values not influenced by capitalism.

[@lakrisa5614]

"Individuals should be free from the cohersion of the concentrated Power" - Chomsky. So the question arises, are we really free when we make the desicions? We precieve them as the sosciety wants us to precieve them so how could you prove to youself that you free when are in the system? Can you escape self-deception?

[@nqpvpyeti820]

+Lakris A Self Deception is a personal battle, when one overcomes this they start to realise their own thoughts even if imposed upon them in the past need to be put aside when making the best choice in a given situation.

[@Runner2706]

I am fairly new to politics but my opinion would be that in a democracy we are given the illusion that we are making decisions and have a voice that matters. However the system is designed so that whichever decisions we make, our Illusion of control, is a decision that will inevitably bring riches to the same corporations that are really in control of what happens in this world. Multiple options that all end with the same answer. Multi-national corporation greed.

[@ews915]

+Lakris A Derrida would say objectivity is impossible. Then again, to make a decision as yourself, to make a decision the way you want to make it, is to respect the factors that contributed to who you are today, bias and all as they are part of who you are. If you were to try to strip away those subjective factors, you would be stripping away at your identity.

[@ews915]

Aethion You make very good points, however I think that your concept of a "true" self underneath social conditioning is questionable. What you describe in finding this "true" self seems to me to be more of self-formation, that is, deciding who you will become as opposed to who you are right now. Of course, it is true that you can have a hand in deciding who you will be, and introspection is a powerful tool in that. As you point out, it can even overcome powerful social conventions. However, my argument is that even this choice in the process of becoming is grounded solely in who you are right now. I believe, however, that I believe that determinism and free-will are perfectly compatible. This can be demonstrated through a simple thought experiment. Imagine if I were to scan you with my magic-prediction-generator-90000 (patent pending) and predict all of your future decisions and actions (even those that reject conditioned social norms). Does the fact that I can predict, in advance, your decisions take away from the fact that they are, in fact, your decisions? My intuition, and I think you'll agree, is no. Your free will, as it were, is directly programmed into the prediction generator. In the same way, the deterministic atoms that make us up act the same as this generator. They are in the process of calculating our own free will. We are programmed, hard-wired, to act out the process of our free will. As Sartre said, we are condemned to be free. I take issue with your claim that there is no fertile ground for true identity, but more in the usage of "true" as a modifier. I don't think there is any such thing as identity independent from background. If that is what you mean by true identity, I agree. However, the identities that we all have are true in the sense that they are the product of our own decisions, given who we are, where we come from, and how that has affected us. That seems to be a true identity inasmuch as an identity can be. (P.S. you seem to come from a postmodern background. I'm analytic, so that may contribute to any different conclusions.)

[@johnvanvliet2076]

The real problem is people that don't care and are to lazy to see and read what really is happening, special younger people have not a clue what is going on for they are being brainwashed and swallow every thing what is presented to them by so called professors who are humanistic and communist thinkers and hate capitalism. many people don't even vote but come on You tube with their opinion. Get involved if not......you will pay a price for freedom if you are not willing to pay that price you will be enslaved by government and big business.... Chomsky just talks he talks from a humanist perspective and lull you into his belief system w that works hand in hand with NWO

[@Ismail0z]

Every social things differs from A society to B society. Although every single of them effects each other. In this video Chomsky certainly talks about American democracy. It’s not the European democracy or other places like Turkiye

[@lifestraight]

The fact that he even asked why more participation and more democracy is the answer for a healthier society is very troubling 4:25

[@arshaddurrani3885]

To be functional, as the professor suggests,democracy ought to be strong/ empowered at the local level and to develop a consensus on how much power they want to surrender to the federation.

[@dontworry9372]

When was this interview?

[@ssssssssss1638]

1989

[@kevinswan3369]

1984

[@shshashiekhar]

Full interview link ?

[@ssssssssss1638]

part 1: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHu4Y5ZtjsuEiqc part 2: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipuuqJeNf9iHoZI

[@brianearner5092]

No tired, no poor, no poem, change the lady in the lake, she was all about that

[@BossSkyfall]

2020 democracy just keeps getting better 🤪🤪🤪🤪

[@MiguelAngel-ir3ck]

The herd must be led

[@fmagalhaesbhz]

when is this from?

[@abrahamlincoln5185]

I think most of the problems in the country would be solved if Americans had top notch voter and consumer education

[@darkoanton5]

You mean telling (young) people who to vote for and what to buy.

[@elyamkhan6299]

Well said Mr Chomsky!

[@kytv9000]

Why is the subtitles in Turkish??

[@rosslogie217]

What's Chomsky is calling for requires a far higher level of engagement by the general public. Most people simply don't want to spend their lives as policy wonks. They'd be better off but a lack of engagement happens in all systems not just capitalism.

[@zulfikarali625]

We have thousands of years of years of recorded history. It is not as if we awoke and learned to live yesterday. It was never this dire until quite recently. So what changed??

[@jonathankr]

Love Noam. Could it not be argued that capitlist competitiveness is also natural human expression (or at least a component of human nature)? We race and compete. The corporation's tendancy to be pathological could (should) be addressed, but is humanity without restraint for others a natural human condition - even though short sighted. This exactly why the environment is being destroyed. Humans are challenged to think beyond themselves, beyond their life span. I think noam would argue that the common denominator self interest is a product of the capitalist culture.

[@raykirkham5357]

What is is what is "natural." "Natural" then is a special condition that applies to human activities. I see no problem with it being "natural" that large portions of a society can coalesce and agree on general policies that benefit the race. Are we to say that if we take a wrong turn due to greed and avarice of a few, we are incapable of coping with "nature." Nature being merely what is and is likely to be has no stock in dictating what is "right"for us to be doing. You can say this and still be a lover of nature.

[@michaelsmith8665]

Obviously, capitalism expresses some part of human nature, but if it expresses the heart of human nature, humanity is doomed. Greed, domination, and deceit are primary values under capitalism; if these values are also the core of human nature then there is no hope for a flourishing of democracy and freedom.

[@mikearchibald744]

Actually, corporations are the biggest leechers at the governments teet. Chomsky has also documented that. "socialize risk, privatize profit" is essentially the mantra of the corporate sector. So those who PREACH competition only want it for OTHERS, not themselves. "All for us, none for anybody else" as Chomsky has said. Competition would have meant the financial collapse wouls have wiped out many businesses, but THEY got bailed out. Coke and pepsi don't even BOTHER competiing with one another, as most of their business now isn't even in their soda.

[@jetlagged3645]

I would argue it is not a base instinct of man, considering the many civilizations that existed based on communal structures i.e. pre-colonial North America. "Human Nature" is a product of the conditions we live in, it is not pre-ordained and unable to be changed, in fact it changes constantly as a result of the conditions we live in.

[@eclecticism1019]

If you got this recommended instead of Justin Bieber or the Kardashians, then you are a legend!

[@NoahBodze]

Even the KZbin algorithm knows you’re a moron.

[@petekdemircioglu]

They need to be able to THINK correctly to do that Noam. The public I mean.