Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media

Noam Chomsky:
Suppose I get on "Nightline". I'm given two minutes and I say Quaddifi is a terrorist or Khomeini is a murderer. Everyone just nods. On the other hand, suppose you say something that isn't just regurgitating conventional pieties. Suppose you say

Noam Chomsky:
"The best political leaders are the ones that are lazy and corrupt", "Education is a system of imposed ignorance", "Fundamentally, there is no more morality in world affairs today then there was at the time of Genghis Khan"

Noam Chomsky:
People will want to know what you mean. Why did you say that? You'd better have a lot of evidence. But you can't give evidence if you're stuck with the concision of "Nightline". You end up sounding like you're from Neptune.

Noam Chomsky:
Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you're really in favor of free speech, then you're in favor of freedom of speech for precisely for views you despise. Otherwise, you're not in favor of free speech.

Noam Chomsky:
If I'm analyzing capitalism and I point out that General Motors tries to maximize profit, that's not a conspiracy theory. That's analysis.

Noam Chomsky:
First of all, I haven't been saying, haven't said one word about my being kept out of the limelight. The way it works here is quite different. Now I don't think you heard what I was saying, but the way it works here that there is a system of shaping, control and so on which gives a certain perception of the world. I gave one example, I'll give you sources where you can find thousands of others. That has nothing to do with me, it has to do with marginalizing the public and ensuring that they don't get in the way of elites who are supposed to run things without interference.