Noam Chomsky - The youth and the mass media's false reality and history

Interview with Noam Chomsky on May 22, 2012, at M.I.T. Cambridge, MA conducted by Chris Steele (Filmed/Edited by Dan Banta and Trenton Cotten, translated by Christina Castaneda).

[@grimftl]

I think Max Weber, the sociologist, said that revolution does not occur when things are at their worst for the oppressed - it happens when the oppressed have a reasonable belief that they can actually succeed in their rebellion.

[@dire-decadence]

Eloquent elaboration!

[@1squeamishneophyte]

That's right, you make the injustice seem "natural" and you've achieved the greatest coup of propaganda there is.

[@Grappapappa]

I love you!

[@1squeamishneophyte]

@@Grappapappa Je vous aime aussi.

[@aaroncamss4053]

We’re fucked now

[@iconoclast137]

@@aaroncamss4053 Non! rappelez-vous que les français ont inventé la guillotine

[@sexykids6500]

"You can always pay half the poor to kill the other half" -- old Tammany Hall slogan.

[@mikelisteral7863]

force is the first law - hitler. force a man to dig his own grave

[@parrhasius]

Excellent quote !

[@Ziggyziggy1]

This man is clearly highly intelligent.. The problem i have is My phone is on Max volume and I'm not hearing everything...

[@michaelwright8896]

There is a button called "closed captioning".

[@nathanielibrahim3492]

Chomsky is an absolute genius, but he's so boring to listen to. I love the guy, but damn, its just monotone mumbling everytime he gives a lecture.

[@gustavoa3342]

Headphones

[@Saber23]

@@nathanielibrahim3492 well your listening for the intelligence not cause he’s some social media entertainer and also I kind of find his voice soothing

[@tromtroma]

@@nathanielibrahim3492 His ideas are as boring as his speech. Old man mumbling ideas.

[@williamhubel4643]

The most righteously powerful speech delivered by the softest voice

[@carlwhiston8672]

William Hubel This man should be your president

[@EclecticSceptic]

Chomsky wouldn't want to be president, he's an anarchist and rejects the state as an illegitimate institution (though is in favour of reforms which help people in the meantime). Chomsky would say something like 'I don't want to be your leader. You don't need a leader. Be your own leaders, change comes from social movements not "great men"'.

[@AJ_Evo]

@Joshua Jung that's one of the reasons why his work will be remembered for generations to come. And I sure am gonna miss him when he's gone. There just doesn't seem to be many people like him anymore.

[@mck1972]

" The most righteously powerful speech delivered by the softest voice " Actually Chomsky is the world's most intelligent-sounding Monday-Morning-Quarterback, who criticizes others in areas that he has ZERO Real World Experience in himself, and with the great luxury of 20/20 Hindsight! Which in reality, renders his criticisms essentially worthless! smh

[@syourke3]

No specifics at all. As usual.

[@brassen]

The one thing I love about Chomsky is that he always finds a way to bring us here in the periphery to the matter: Latin America, Africa, South-east Asia... you won't find this anywhere else, even among the left.

[@unpopuler]

man i used to think i was crazy until i found this wonderful man

[@Saber23]

@@unpopuler a lot of people do cause that’s exactly what they want people like us to be seen like we’re crazy it makes things easier for them

[@Consciousness_of_Reality]

They arent actually that bad, he was refering to some groups in those countries, not their entire population.

[@Banana_Split_Cream_Buns]

Not much in the Western Left, especially Western Europe, although there are a few exceptions.

[@genealogiacolorada]

who are the peasants in Brazil he's speaking about? I'm Brazilian and didn't get it.

[@TreyaTheKobold]

he's right. it's young people not giving up that change this country.

[@thepsycho-tropicsbyjdmckin9417]

Culture Goblin You Got It. And, I was finally able to sleep more that five hours of sleep a night. The you people of this country ROCK.

[@Jixejo]

and yet its the youth that are the primary target for the establishment, they see youth as their biggest threat and do make strenuous efforts to illegalise youth activity, ruin the youth culture whilst at the same time to hypnotise them to adopt neo-liberal conservative values somehow

[@Johnconno]

Not any more.

[@M0butu]

rofl. that aged like milk. it's the brainwashed youth that's trying to destabilize entire nations now with their woke nonsense. and the old established elites continue to profit, even more so.

[@JesterWhoHelps]

@@M0butu this guy beat me to the punch was gonna type the same thing

[@abbysmith1148]

I have really been thinking about this sense of indoctrinated hopelessness that I encounter. I was just told by someone today that even though I was in a bad situation, I should just learn to accept it. Later today as well, someone encouraged me to remember the serenity prayer in order to accept things that I cannot change. But in fact, most things can be changed. I realized that the working class has been indoctrinated with a sense of ineffectualness and lack of internal locus of control and a driven in feeling that they cannot change the world around them. I do not accept this. If something sucks, go change it. You do not have to live in situations of torment and abuse. In fact, you should revolt against these situations in a pre-meditated, rational and planned way.

[@somaticspirituality]

there are so many people who can see plainly how awful the systems are and want to change them -- how do these people organize? so many factions, so much atomization... where do i go to join you in your fight when i want to fight alongside you because i share your feelings?

[@abbysmith1148]

@@somaticspirituality I think that the working class is very poorly organized at this point in history, and that atomization is an intentional product of successful propaganda and social control. I think we need to start an organized movement in direct support of labor rights, reform, and human rights. Since the U.S. does not have a party supporting labor, I think forming a Labor Reform party/movement is a good first step.

[@josephsimmons9241]

​@@abbysmith1148i like this idea. It directly confronts the corporate fascists control of this country and more directly improves the situation for us all. Empower the laborer.

[@conkodo]

I came to this same thought on my own and feel the same way, people are made to feel powerless and buy into our lack luster reality but we have the potential for so much more!!

[@robertroecker851]

A lot of this helplessness comes from religion. The notion that we are inherently bad and fated for worse.

[@edreyes894]

Hit the nail on the head ,when you said people feel powerless. Stand strong Americans, be well.

[@magmasunburst9331]

It's amazing the different technologies that have existed which could have empowered people that people have completely ignored. Traffic exchanges, safelists, staking low cost but high interest cryptocurrency coins -- there have always been lots of opportunities but they've been squashed by people not evangelizing them because they're powerless to do so. All major companies started with people trusting each other. But you can't get people to trust each other these days. The lack of studying proverbial wisdom leads to people who are unable to form strong social capital.

[@bryceholland4528]

Stand Strong Earthians

[@albertchavez2693]

@@bryceholland4528 Yes one must include the whole world as ONE

[@Elvisism]

easier said sometimes though, I suppose

[@jamesdrynan]

Remarkable insight. In referencing the 1960s, Prof. Chomsky brings a valid point. The youth movement in mid- sixties started a concentrated uprising of dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War. Actions that were unthinkable in 1960 became prevalent in 1966 with renewed outrage against the established order. Marches, conflicts and rebellion became the norm. And it changed the nation. Unfortunately, the powerful regrouped and continued to delude and mislead the general public. Two steps forward and three back. And so it goes.

[@unpopuler]

This has aged very very very very very well!

[@fabiengerard8142]

👌🏻👌🏾👌 Totally agree.

[@joefran619]

I get labeled negative when I talk of all the corruption.

[@losetheforestinlose6526]

Same here

[@detrockcity3]

And "cynical"

[@ratqueen3809]

or intense lol

[@raw_dah]

Or a loser

[@JugglinJellyTake01]

"The king is only king because the people want him to be king", old Kenyan proverb.

[@guzvier]

When I meet people on the streets an if they happen to respect Noam, then I know we’re on track to becoming good friends ❤

[@edpreston1635]

That's one of the most pitiful things I've ever heard. No wonder your life sucks. But I want you to know we care, and there is hope for you. His name is Thomas Sowell. He's the cure for all your mental and emotional problems.

[@zombiehampster1397]

It's been awhile since I've watched something from Chomsky. I needed that.

[@viktorskarlatov8227]

Recent events couldn't have happened if people had read some of his books.

[@aaroncamss4053]

I’m scared bro

[@suziegreer7975]

I'm the type of person that doesn't give up but when you're faced with an ever ending grinding road the psychology of it seems so engaged.

[@leealexander3507]

I was a dissident in the 60s and 70s. I was correct in my position although it took the mainstream awhile to find that out. I'm still annoying to Congress.

[@xaviervansteen290]

I love these videos of chomsky, every video of his reasoning is a boost for insightfullness and critical thinking. To me it feels like he's guiding the way to a better understanding of lots of bizarre and inhumane issues and diffuculties in this world. His messages are nobel and of immense value to the benifit of humankind. To think, reflect and question surely brings insight and reveals faults in human behaviour, and the lack of people wanting to admit their mistakes and change their behaviour for the better of human wellbeing around the world.

[@slapyomomma8727]

Its really not that deep

[@leekelly1718]

More stated facts than reasoning. Also more historical knowledge than insight or revelation.

[@RyanWattersRyanWatters]

@@leekelly1718 I’m not sure they’re mutually exclusive.

[@edpreston1635]

I feel bad for you. Suggest you reach a higher and pick the sweeter fruit. Listen to Thomas Sowell if you want real intellectual power and brilliance, combined with impeccable scholarship. Compared to Sowell, Chomski is an ignorant old fool who blathers on like a billy goat.

[@BuGGyBoBerl]

look at the fridays for future movement. as soon as the young kids stood up for something they get scolded and told "go to school first and learn, comeback later". its exactly what he described. put people in their role and make them agree with that.

[@worldshaper1723]

I take it by my self to do everything I can to change the world.

[@JosueLopez-kk9us]

how did that went?

[@dwoolwichpoly9086]

The fact that he has that mentality to begin with is a thousands step ahead of you. You start changing yourself for the better snd you will notice most things change around you for the better as well. @world shaper keep up the great work my friend.

[@dadiarfs8261]

Change yoursel and you´ll watch how the world changes. It´s the only and most powerful thing we are able to do.

[@savishra]

not just by yourself mate, through solidarity :)

[@kathyelliott4051]

Because he is so quotable, here are Chomsky's words transcribed [with a couple of bracketed comments challenging a couple of his secondary assumptions/claims] Hopefully this will prove useful to young scholars and activists alike : To the question posed by Chomsky’s interviewer, “What are some techniques for young people and the population to wake up from the mass media’s false reality and false history?” he replies, “Kids are ready for it, they just have to pay attention. Most people just don’t pay attention. Either because they think everything’s hopeless - it’s kind of driven into your head that … there’s nothing you can do, the powers are too great, you know - and in fact the sense of hopelessness in the country is astonishing. . . . If you look at polls, um, over half the population thinks that Congess ought to be totally thrown out. And replaced by your neighbors, you know. They’ll do a better job. Approval of Congress is in single digits. Nobody thinks I can do anything about it. I mean it’s like these peasants in Brazil, how can somebody like me do anything about it. “I mean take a look at… say, the 9/11 movement. It’s kind of interesting, not the content, but thee phenomenon:.. .. ‘Bush blew up the World Trade Center.’ It appeals… it has a sympathy at least, of… I think about a third of the population. That means a large part of the population is willing to accept the possibility that we’re run by a bunch of homicidal maniacs who are trying to murder us all, but they don’t think they can do anything about it. [Here Chomsky is mistaken; there wouldn’t be a so-called “9/11 movement” if “they didn’t think they can do anything about it;” they are marshalling facts and analyses by relevant experts to demonstrate that in fact our government did do an effective cover-up job, with complicity of the MSM, and with the complicity even of brilliant and progressive intellectuals like Chomsky who prefer to keep their seats at the table than step across the line of admitting a cabal of “deep state” insiders does indeed dominate our political economy with a ruthlessness and conspiratorial secrecy beyond what 99% of us are capable of effecting anywhere in our far more vulnerable and tentative private (or public) lives… Read Don DeLillo novels; read the Mintz and Cohen book America, Inc., read the Mueller Report, read G. William Domhoff,and on and on... Of course, the 9/11 activists think they CAN do something, and they ARE doing it, they are trying to inform the public and get a critically intelligent public hearing in the mainstream media and among politicians who can pass laws to make such conspiracy less likely in the future (by reigning in the executive branch, which Congress has abdicated its authority to far more passively or complicitly than most would admit -- see Steven Hill's book-- but to date remain, thanks in part to Chomsky’s preference for job security, a marginalized and mocked “lunatic fringe”. Nonetheless, Chomsky is worth listening to in most of what he says about “the powers that be” among which Israel Lobby and arms industry are key….] “Don’t lift a finger to do anything. So, okay, we’ll hide in the corner and wait til it happens. [The irony here of Chomsky’s arbitrary dismissal of "the 9/11 movement" is that this “hide in the corner and wait” mentality is something his dismissal, and not 9/11 activism, encourages.] [Here is the MEAT of Chomsky's history-based reply to the video documentarians:] “But when… Some of the most effective kinds of propaganda are those that allow you to see what’s going on, so you see, yeah, 99%/1%, but you feel ‘I can’t do anything about it; I’m isolated, you know, alone, I don’t talk to anybody, people like me can’t do anything, we just have to suffer, to bear.’ That’s really effective propaganda. That’s the way, that’s how, slavery could last forever without many slave rebellions. It’s how women were oppressed. Like, say, take my granmother’s generation: If my grandmother had been asked if she’s oppressed, she wouldn’t have even known what you’re talking about; that’s life - women are doormats, that’s life. You get to my mother’s generation, there’s still plenty of oppression, and she was bitter about it but didn’t think you could do anything about it. "By the time you get to today, of course, it’s very much like the peasants in Brazil [e.g. the MST movement of landless peasants] or the indigenous people in Bolivia [who run their government now], or the Blacks in the South after the early days of the Civil Rights movement [esp. the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's actions, Freedom Rides, boycotts, etc] - we CAN do something about it, even if it’s brutal and harsh and we might get killed, I mean, that transition, when you get back to your question, for a lot of young people, it’s called apathy. I suspect it’s more hopelessness, powerlessness, and you can learn you’re NOT powerless, just take a look at what’s been done, what other people have done under, you know, much harsher conditions than you’ll ever face [Chomsky believes this still], and what’s been done right here in your own country. "The Sixties really did civilize the country. I mean, it’s a very different country from what it was in 1960. And it’s mainly young people that didn’t give up, didn’t feel, ‘Okay, we can’t do anything.’ Actually, sometimes it’s kind of dramatic. Like, for years what’s called McCarthyism, which did intimidate people, tremendously, I remember, I lived through it, I mean people were just scared out of their wits, couldn’t do anything, the House Un-American Activities Committee, people were called, just trembled in fear, I mean what could you do? But in the 1960s, people like Abbie Hoffman started just making fun of them, and they collapsed, you know. It’s a very thin structure of power. I mean, as soon as you submit it to ridicule, or you dismiss it, it can collapse. [I feel Chomsky fails his questioner by failing to note that power is NOT a "very thin structure." If it were so thin, then the COINTELPRO under FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, a massively corrupt and dishonest character given carte blanche by both parties to destroy the Black Power movement, from SNCC, which pushed MLKJr to be much more honest and more bravely committed to the poor than he initially had been, to the Black Panthers, which still are not given credit in the history books for liberalizing our communities and social safety net for famiiles and children of all races; a privileged white intellectual who admittedly worked for/with the Pentagon elite, Chomsky has an insider track on so much power, it's appalling he calls it a "very thin structure"...] "And this has been understood for centuries. . . . David Hume, one of the great founders of classical liberalism, … wrote a book…The Foundations of the Theory of Government, or something like that. In it, he poses a kind of a paradox. He says in every society, whether it’s a feudal dictatorship, a military dictatorship, a semi-parliamentary system, like in England, whatever it is, he says “power is always in the hands of the governed,” those who are being ruled, power is always in their hands. "So how come they don’t just overthrow the rulers, and take things for themselves? He says, well, the secret, always, is control of opinion and attitude. If you can convince people, if the powerful can convince people “You have to stay in your slot, that’s where you belong, that’s your role in life, nothing can be changed,” then the rulers can control them. . . . Take a look at the history of revolutions, significant changes, its’ when people broke out of that. So, not long before Hume, and he may have had this in mind, in England a century before, there was a major conflict between Parliament and the King - and parliament was the bourgeoisie, landowners and so on, it wasn’t the general population [of what Ellen Meiksins Wood rightly calls "the producers," the people whose work produces all the means of actual living and material comfort, cleanliness, good healthy basic environmental CARING & safety] - the question was, 'Is the King above the law?' King Charles insisted he was above the law. Parliament, led by jurists and others, said no, Magna Carta determined that, uh, the king is subject to the law, to the - at that time the - nobles, the parliament, it was a real major conflict, in fact it later led to soon led to a brutal civil war. Parliament stuck it out, and compelled the kind to sign . . that he was not above the law. At that time the king was regarded as a representative of God, and you didn’t fiddle around with God, serious business, uh, so it was essentially standing up against a kind of divine authority (not our society), that meant something then. To break through that was very difficult, but they did. That led to constitutional parliament - you know - to a parliamentary monarchy, which is different from [the absolutism of] feudal monarchy.” Transcribed ... from youtube video, entitled “Noam Chomsky - The youth and the mass media's false reality and history,” when it had 80,784 views on 19 March 2019; RegisUniLibrary Published on Feb 20, 2013 Interview with Noam Chomsky on May 22, 2012, at M.I.T. Cambridge, MA conducted by Chris Steele (Filmed/Edited by Dan Banta and Trenton Cotten, translated by Christina Castaneda). : https: //www. youtube. com/watch?v=gUCYoJ8KSF8

[@F0rtysxity]

Wow. Thank you!

[@great567]

It's really easy to fight the power that be. If a large group of people didn't purchase products for even a day, the rich would bend to our will

[@37Dionysos]

Yes, and even more power rests exactly in the value of your daily labor---most of which is not to pull your weight but to feed the boss's profits. Recapture/take hold of the value of your labor and you cannot lose. A global strike would stagger The Machine and show this clearly.

[@beingsshepherd]

Easy??? They'd rather die rioting.

[@granolabean1]

If its so easy then just do it.

[@jprp999]

No they would send uniforms to beat you with sticks and if that fails shoot you. Only when they are in fear of their mortality will they consider some compromise.

[@cheeck6230]

Spot on the entire machine would come to a jarring holt and those "in power" would do anything demanded by the populous, relieve college debts, increase mininum wages, tax the rich, put a cap on income you name it.

[@thelondoners-lifeisart]

We are not powerless - it’s just a method of simplifying and reorganizing attention. We have to begin with loving ourself and parenting ourselves trusting our intuition as compass and intelligence. Everything we need is at our fingertips.

[@DDCrp]

This hits the nail on the head. The newest generations, with all of our technological advancement, only have PhD's in Distracting oneself.

[@jonathaneffemey4892]

Thanks for posting.

[@attakhan9456]

Thanks for sharing video...very powerful intellectual.....

[@omg62377]

"Just take a look at what other people have done under much harsher conditions that you'll ever face."

[@blackbird5634]

'It is hard work, and great art, to make life not so serious." -The Hotel New Hampshire.

[@kathyelliott4051]

There's a marvelous book entitled "Fools Are Everywhere," about the importance of court jesters in history, Western and Chinese and Arabic/Persian and ....

[@kathyelliott4051]

Why else would The Daily Show and other late night comedy shows mocking the daily news have become such huge successes in the 21st c?

[@s7robin105]

More accurate now than ever before

[@jacobzaranyika9334]

Thank you 🙏 for your support. Honoured. A very important message - I watched it twice over. Heaps of relevancy. It even answers Kanye West’s - why did the salves not do something question about their situation question that got him in trouble.

[@ChristopherSisk]

The problem is time scale. Even if people foster hope and build movements, the recipients of the effects of those movements are generations removed. It's meaningful work, but still fruitless for those struggling and suffering in the moment. It's the age-old problem. People are suffering now but real solutions take time. Each generation is suffering to make the next better and that cycle will continue and continue as long as we allow the very, very few to amass immense wealth, power, and influence which perpetuates the suffering in the now. We're always passing the buck of a better life off onto those whom we'll never know get to appreciate it.

[@37Dionysos]

THANKS. Hope lots of people listen to this! Play the game, and you end up playing games.

[@alsaulso1332]

Yes, We are the change we want!!!!

[@amanpapabear]

If when can develop a collective, I am willing to be the tip of the spear ! Massive change !

[@jacobzaranyika9334]

Thank you 🙏 Regis University Library

[@khana.713]

A lot of people in power forget history. The masses always end up taking back what's owed to them, even if it takes decades, hundreds of years.

[@jacobzaranyika9334]

Thank you 🙏 again. That helps explain things.

[@wrathchick]

"Power is always in the hands of the people ".

[@GPCster]

He says that those in power convince the general populace that their roles in life are fixed, and there's nothing anyone can do to change that. This makes sense at last of why the Jesuits fought so very hard in the 1600s to maintain certain ideas about life on earth reflecting the perfect order of heaven. The Jesuits even got into a mathematical ideological struggle about classical Euclidean geometry versus the new ideas of "infinitesimals" - because Euclidean geometry is neat and rational and is top-down (starting with axiomatic truths and working logically from them), like Catholic theological doctrine, whereas the infinitesimal techniques of geometry are based on intuitively-held ideas, and can lead to irreducible paradoxes.

[@Xendrius]

They are doing it now in Syria too.

[@voidremoved]

they don't need to. every refugee I have sponsored, the women are vibrant, smiling, powerful... the men are sad, quiet, resigned... just like America.

[@ohnree4110]

@@voidremoved Powerful comment. it is not what the "equality" groups say is the case, however I have heard many anecdotes like yours which seem to reflect what you see on the streets, a great deal more. Because it is spoken out of sad observation rather than political agenda

[@Toocrash]

Love the mom perspective, hate the legitimate claim that a live long scollar can't change the structure of government..

[@suziegreer7975]

It's hard to understand a country if your not there and before I started to watch people's like you I thought we were all the same.

[@tennesseefairfield3963]

young people have a real "devil may care" attitude, probably because they've been told they don't have a chance and they're screwed already, so they realyly don't care about anything. I believe this is a good attitude and will help us all, in the future

[@natanbridge]

Is it possible to have moral commitments without supporting beliefs? In other words, is "freedom" truly good; is the assertion "freedom is good" true in some sense? Or is it merely a subjective preference? And if we say that it is true that freedom is good, then do we need supporting evidence or sound arguments in order to justify that belief? (btw, "freedom is good" is only an example; it could be "it's wrong to torture babies for the fun of it.") It seems to me that Professor Chomsky is just side-stepping a critical issue here.

[@Vashthestampede967]

How is he still quite at 100 volume?

[@timharper4246]

I love this man, but I'm constantly waiting for him to fall asleep mid-sentence

[@terryhill4732]

A lot of working people are aware of their hopelessness and and ineffectiveness in not being able to change anyting what they lack in is having the knowledge on how to set it up and relate it to authorities and also one of the other things is others who are fearful of losing their job if they Rock the boat

[@mattheww9772]

Why is the volume so low?

[@Ammah786]

Everyone especially young people need to watch this

[@rueporter2253]

frassut was just about to type that 😇

[@Jefflon_Zuckergates]

Young people just can’t be bothered with paying attention to any of this . I’m 23 and constantly trying to find ways to speak to other people around my age in hopes that they may take interest. I have honestly tried plenty different approaches but most my age don’t even want to hear it . Our generation has been beat into insane levels of passivity and indifference

[@BodybuildingSteve]

@@Jefflon_Zuckergates video games + social media don't help

[@thinginground5179]

@@Jefflon_Zuckergates as a 16 year old it's even worse. I would've thought that my peers would've been the most open minded.. -but nope. They're all brainwashed.

[@benstevinson764]

❤️ Noam Chomsky highly intelligent and intellectual Individual!!!

[@WhyGodby]

Aside from his justification of the genocide in Serbia he has some incredible political analysis. But he's still a genocide supporting cunt. Love his work

[@jacklondon4292]

That coffee must've gotten really cold by the end

[@mikebennett8066]

Coffee?? Scotch!!!

[@SH-cu9rc]

The recipe seems to be Mark Fisher's 'Capitalist Realism' and Chomsky's 'Manufacturing Consent'.

[@Frisbieinstein]

"a third" the number is 43% last I looked.

[@nezorox6328]

US needs unions, its basically non existent, that will fix the problem of hopelessness

[@dandruff54]

Nezorox I think Unions are great with the exception that they become greedy as well.

[@antediluvianatheist5262]

@@dandruff54 Only when they lose their working class roots.

[@roberthoffenheim7861]

It's the American way, busting unions on the one hand and paying for super pacs on the other

[@InfiniteUniverse88]

@@roberthoffenheim7861 and outsourcing to subvert unions.

[@peterpretzington9669]

You can't unionize a globalized labor/distribution system

[@kitscheugy7739]

Noam is so cool. I already thought American propaganda messed up by pretending that it was about something righteous and good when it could never possibly add up to that for anybody who looked even halfway. The system messed up by saying it was inherently good if it hadn't pretended that maybe I wouldn't be crying foul now. I had never put my finger on the idea that the propaganda encoded hopelessness. That idea of hopelessness plus the idea that financially I'm about to turn the corner but realistically without income I'm always two to four weeks from homelessness. Those two ideas are some of the biggest realizations for me in this crazy year of Our Lord 2020. I really thought those things and it's not my fault the indoctrination was pretty heavy, but thinking our way out of it one step at a time. Thanks noam.

[@rueporter2253]

I love Mr. Chomsky. I think he is one of the greatest of human minds. I fear the days when he is no longer here to lighten us all....

[@waindayoungthain2147]

My sacrifice Father . How’s my life senes in your , it’s me, the fool who lives in your souls 😢. I’ll try or I cannot 🙏🏼.

[@smujismuj]

"We can do something about it." Suggestions?

[@charlesmcgrath8951]

cro4591 he talks a lot about mass demonstrations like those during civil rights and Vietnam era as well as of course more voting

[@MaximC]

@@charlesmcgrath8951 Yes and no. It is fundamental also that there's a constant discussion, display if you will, of this point of view, among ourselves and people with whom we meet/talk/etc. "Just" mass demonstration, actually can be useless, or even dangerously calming, without the element of bringing up this/these topics outside the setting of mass demonstrations themselves. In other words, it's crucial that there's consciousness behind them, otherwise it is just another protest, quite neutral.

[@charlesmcgrath8951]

Maxim C. I agree, I think mass demonstrations of today have often been a bit vapid and sometimes seem to be demonstrations for demonstrating’s sake. We need more of a consistent approach and goal and need to demonstrate raise consciousness while also working in practical ways to move the conversation forward, my comment was a bit simplistic, way to further it!

[@noor5x9]

Bit of a late reaction, but he talks about that later in the interview. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6DEfZKDeaqJeas

[@KarolynaABCMultiserviciosB]

Now where we are .god help us all

[@bennyrodriguez8788]

can some one tell me the name of the book he mention? form david ...

[@tonywords6713]

David Hume maybe

[@thepsycho-tropicsby-jdmits7704]

I feel like a sheep. I try to bring together despariging groups and find solid ground. Mostly, I fail. At least I believe those things I said.

[@mohamedalhusni6255]

i hope the videographer/director in this video has improved over the years.

[@Toocrash]

Brutal and harsh, what happened to the voice of reason, Mr. Chomski?

[@realnaveen]

Very accurately said!

[@joralemonvirgincreche]

Too bad the volume is so low.

[@davefischer2344]

Amazing

[@mirzaardi3274]

Thank you, Chomsky!

[@user-fq5kg6gk1g]

It’s better to have No Hope than False Hope

[@quite1enough]

I wonder if this can be applied to other countries as well. Russia for example.

[@RODERICKMOLASAR]

Disable the smart phones and watch what happens.

[@boutchie06]

I still have a flip phone just to protest the overkill.

[@hemidas]

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!

[@insaneben4103]

could not like this more the once sad :p

[@voidremoved]

best idea ever, so many humans would kill themselves

[@RoyalKnightVIII]

This hopelessness was around before the Advent of smartphones, see 90s disinterest as a response to 80s materialism

[@Mad_S]

I think congress should be a minimum wage job and we should hire them purely on location, so there will be one member of congress for every 20 square miles In the u.s. that way if congress suddenly decides to steal social security we can just go to the persons house and start kicking in doors.

[@censored_dream]

Thats what they tell us happened during the french revolution

[@DeepFriedHallelujah]

While I get the spirit of this that’s a terrible idea lol. Minimum wage for a high pressure job where even one doing the work honestly will piss off half their neighbors. So no matter how noble they’re intentions the door is getting kicked in. Think this one through. As I said, the impulse behind this may be quite right, but there are revolutions in history that have made things worse not better.

[@DoctorXander]

Making elected positions low paying only means that rich people can afford to hold them and they're going to be much more susceptible to accepting bribes.

[@Mad_S]

@@DoctorXander this was never more than half baked. But, the point of them needing to be localized was so that they were held accountable by their neighbours. You won't be getting a perfect plan out of me. I don't mind taking shots in the dark about what could get things on a better track though.

[@Knaeben]

There is a sense of hopelessness. This is missed by those political commentators that like to tout how wonderful everything is. Either that, or they are trying to convince people that it doesn't exist.

[@AriBenDavid]

Divine right: "The Kink can Duke no Wronk."

[@scotthullinger9955]

And the Libturds can do no right.

[@ursulafriedrich4273]

A live without our CREATOR leads to nothing, leads to dooming gloom - does even rational, critical thinking brings a turn for the better? What do we need? We need new ❤ Can we give ourself a new ❤? No!!! We need our CREATOR, to do it!

[@MrDanielespinosa]

turn up the volume, wow...

[@cojaysea]

It’s a very thin structure of power !

[@ibrahimissaiaawad2888]

They can do something about it, really,,and have you watched "The Eye of the Mask" by professor Judith Doyle?

[@tomgreene6579]

Hopelessness...where can we get hope?

[@bigcatproductions2789]

Spoken 10 years ago , More true Today !

[@ahammer7000]

Half truths are better than none. That is why Nom is popular.

[@billfish8843]

I liked this but I'd have liked it more if those books fell down.

[@genealogiacolorada]

who are the peasants in Brazil he's speaking about? I'm Brazilian and didn't get it. the peasants in Brazil have an organized movement called Rural Labours Without Land (MST). They invade unproductive land and demand agrarian reform from the government. They are usually violently expelled by the police or farmers. I don't understand what he's talking about.

[@user-vs1uj4os4o]

2018年，看这个，还是感到我宁肯做回铁屋子里面的人。

[@suziegreer7975]

We are humans we are not perfect but we can try

[@JasonGafar]

Chomsky is the kind of person who's read so many books, he just piles them on his desk, and then you have highly unintelligent people trying to look intelligent by sitting behind bookshelves and acting as if they've read them.

[@robertkinyua6193]

Great man

[@stijndelie1458]

it would be nice to have subtitles under hes talks

[@limabeats2389]

Isn’t this the guy that owns the comedy cellar?

[@andrewthegeek6522]

that was quit yall know its possible to amplify volume right

[@garyinmarz8938]

But do you want to lead knowing the consequences of being targeted by officials and their followers.

[@atomicstyle7344]

Many people would say they would not a few years ago but not now. Many people are willing to stand for what they believe. I just wish people would get together vs letting the oligarchs rule us like now. Bezos, the world’s richest person, is receiving a $10 BILLION DOLLAR BAILOUT but 23 red states cut/blocked federal COVID aid paid by the federal government starting any day now. We are still in a pandemic. Our country wasn’t prepared for a pandemic and MANY smaller, poorer countries did WAY better protecting their people. Why do we pay taxes? Do you feel represented by your elected officials? Socialism for the wealthiest Americans and brutal end stage capitalism for the masses. Wage stagnation Lower life expectancy than our parents Houses are spec investments vs homes for people considering they are unattainable for many. Shelter is no longer attainable even if you work a 40 hour week. Labor shortage they whisper. If people make more on unemployment than working WAGES MUST INCREASE. Wages haven’t increased since the late 70s. They haven’t kept pace. Everything goes up but whatever raises you get don’t keep up.

[@johnbock1896]

Smartest man alive!

[@magmasunburst9331]

2:25 without depression how are you going to sell all those pills? Or, how are you going to pay all those high price therapists? It's not enough to have a few therapists, we need hundreds of thousands. We need markets for these things.

[@donjohnson9114]

why so many books in the back? is that for effect, i thought this was more up to date, yawn

[@glennsimonsen8421]

The 1st stat he throws about regarding US approval for Congress is off by quite a bit. I point that out to note that so many commenters seem to feel he's god.

[@hornyconvict]

God bless this man.

[@r.b.l.5841]

We taught a whole generation a lie - we taught them "you can be anything you want, work hard and get an education and you will be successful" - but we were dead wrong. We didn't mean to do it, we really thought Gen x & y could "be anything". So here they are - borrowed 120K for an education and at thirty they still live in parents' home and struggle with two or three part time low paying jobs with no security at all and trying to pay off that student loan from 10 years earlier. now we have the baby boomers retiring with debt (often for kids education or for medical bills) and there is the unfunded liability on Government for Old Age security payments. The millenials can't provide the tax support for this, they struggle to make car payments, student debt payments, they are not buying homes (they are hoping to inherit their parents' home, but will not be able to pay the upkeep and property tax on it) with close to 50% of the population insecure in their standard of living, YES they are feeling 'powerless' - how many films have they watched during their childhood years that illustrate that they can not affect government, that government is OWNED by big corps, and elites, this is driven into their minds from a young age. They need a leader, they need a flash point (a spark to set off a major change) Maybe AOC , maybe Bernie, Maybe some trigger we have not yet seen. You can be sure it will not be Trump. Maybe the spark will be Mueller.

[@aoeu256]

What causes the rising housing costs? How is it that cars and computers have become so cheap while housing has become so expensive?

[@r.b.l.5841]

@@aoeu256 After the housing bubble crashed - look at how many of those homes were purchased and removed from the market by big corporations that will not resell them, only rent or lease. The game on restate is an old one, limit supply to keep prices up.

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

R. B.L. - In all progressive, civilized societies, ‘public’ education - at all levels - is free; and students are told the truth: getting an education has nothing whatsoever to do with earning a living.

[@r.b.l.5841]

@@dorianphilotheates3769 Really: try to earn a living without an education.

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

R. B.L. - Lots of people do just that; education is not vocational training.

[@bencordell1965]

Year of the dragon 1985

[@briangateley4909]

WE THE PEOPLE.

[@uttaradit2]

the wealthy land/slave owning 1% of the people ...

[@moodist1er]

Building 7 falling perfectly into it's own footprint because of a furniture fire at the top of the building means I believe the govment is trying to kill me, lol.

[@leealexander3507]

My great grandmother was a serious scandal. She put on pants and rode astride her horse. Shocking.