What We Say Goes Quotes

“Just war theory has been converted into a form of apologetics for whatever atrocities your favored state is carrying out.”
― Noam Chomsky, What We Say Goes: Conversations on U.S. Power in a Changing World

“People are called intellectuals because they're privileged. It's not because they're smart or they know a lot. There are plenty of people who know more and are smarter but aren't intellectuals because they don't have the privilege. The people called intellectuals are privileged. They have resources and opportunities, and enough freedom has been won so that they state does not have an unrestrained capacity to repress”
― Noam Chomsky, What We Say Goes: Conversations on U.S. Power in a Changing World

“When you conquer somebody and suppress them, you have to have a reason for it. You can't just say 'I'm a son of a bitch' and I wanted to rob them. So you have to say it's for their good or they deserve it or they actually benefit from it and we're helping them and so on.”
― Noam Chomsky, What We Say Goes: Conversations on U.S. Power in a Changing World

“The gospels are radical pacifist material. When the emperor Constantine adopted Christianity he shifted it. He shifted Christianity from a radical pacifist religion to the religion of the Roman empire. So the cross, which was symbol of the suffering of the poor was put on the shield of roman soldiers. Since that time the church has been pretty much the church of the rich and the powerful.”
― Noam Chomsky, What We Say Goes: Conversations on U.S. Power in a Changing World