“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
@@anccert yes according to Socrates. a perfect example of these below. Socrates on DEMOCRATS Which cost him his life. Ad Hominem: see Attack the person Ad Antiquitatem: see Appeal to Tradition Ad Baculum: see Appeal to Fear Ad Hominem: see Attack the person Ad Hominem Tu Quoque: See Personal Inconsistency Ad Ignorantium: see Argument from Ignorance Ad Metum: see Appeal to Fear Ad Misericordiam: see Appeal to Pity Ad Nauseum: see Repetition Ad Novitam: see Appeal to Novelty Ad Numeram: see Appeal to Common Practice Ad Populum: see Appeal to Common Belief or Bandwagon Ad Ridiculum: see Appeal to Ridicule Ad Verecundiam: see Appeal to Authority Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc: see False Cause Dicto Simpliciter: see Accident Ignoratio Elenchi: see Missing the Point In Terrorem: see Appeal to Fear Non Causa Pro Causa: see False Effect Non Sequitur: See Affirming the Consequent, Denying the Antecedent or Missing the Point. Petitio Principii: see Begging the Question Plurium Interrogationum: see Many Questions Post Hoc: X follows Y. Therefore X is caused by Y. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc: see Post Hoc Reductio ad Absurdum: A false X is silly, so X is true. Secundum quid et simpliciter: see In a Certain Respect and Simply
Chomsky is one of the biggest idiots around. He was pushing that anyone who didn't take the poison arm dart should be excluded from society forever. Total moron and lover of totalitarian rule, definitely a fool
@@phlebdouglas All genius is the result of human minds, but all human minds are limited things. Therefore, all genius must be the result of limited things. Unlimited things cannot be the result of limited things; they can only be the result of other unlimited things. Therefore, since no genius is the result of an unlimited thing, all genius must be limited. Although, to be fair, stupidity has a limit too. It's zero. You can't have a negative IQ. A literal sack of rocks is already the stupidest that it could ever possibly be. ...as far as we know... 🤔
@@lukegibson9410 What have you contributed? Chomsky isn't only famous for his politics. He also came up with the theory of universal grammar in modern linguistics. He is literally called the "father of modern linguistics" because of it. That's probably a lot more than what you've contributed to human knowledge. And, of course, he's also a famous political philosopher/activist. So, he's done several things, really.
its nothing to do with voting. it has to do with the fact that stupid people not only allow authority, they legitimate them by defending and accepting that authority. thinking voting changes anything to a substantial amount is naive. voting changes things very mildly, and always under severe threat of control by forces outside the voting public, and thats true for most republics, specially the USA.
@@dfghj241 Sounds pretty stupid to me. And Republicanesque. We narrowly averted, for the time being, becoming a dictatorial oligarchy in 2020. Not to mention the HUGE increase in governmental competence which is saving lives. Thank god we had a record turnout to keep that from happening. So dim bulbs can keep spouting off about how voting doesn’t matter. Jeezus!
I think the most important part of this is that anyone, no matter how smart, can act stupid. It's always important to be introspective, and not become the stupid people we mock.
There is research to back this notion. People with really high I.Q.s tend to get low grades and even under perform at life (at least until they hit their 30s or 40s). The most successful people are those slightly below the really smart people- those who are above average, but still dumb enough to be humble and need to work hard. Essentially boredom and other factors are at play but the main factor is smart people become arrogant. Arrogance breeds stupidity regardless of natural talents. What is scary about this is think about modern American culture since the 1960s. We give people participation trophies. Everyone is encouraged to have high self esteem and arougance. When research seems to show that between intelligence and humility, humility is actually the better tool for success. This is actually the major difference between East Asian culture and Western culture- in Asia humility, hard work and effort is emphasized. In the West we emphasize intelligence, superiority, self esteem etc. which is actually counter productive in most cases.
@@RedSiegfried He has a point but I don't think it's an argument against what Noam Chomsky is stating in this video. Anyone who in anyway is for nuclear weapons and or ignores or denies the damage we as a species are doing to the environment, ie our surroundings, our life source if you like, is, to put it mildly, an idiot
Well I think if you listen to scientists and don't think bible to be a good source of actions for the future , you definitely not the dumbest person on earth .
How is the google profiting from one-liner sock puppets making comments? Plus more offensive ads! Maybe depoliticizing America's legal system would help? So: "A nonpartisan Justice may compel two recusals by junior partisan Justices." How about that idea?
Hey Luka. I guess stupidity is a relative thing. Put me next to Einstein (mentioned a lot here) and I'd be 'stupid'. I think the word stupid is a bit...stupid. Even wilful ignorance is not the same as stupid. Anyways. I liked your comment.
'The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.' Einstein or intelligent people are too full of doubt to consider themselves stupid? I think smart people groan when a stupid person asserts a lie is a fact. Only cruel people would laugh at someone with learning disabilities.
I mix with reasonably well educated and informed people and only about one in ten have ever heard of Chomsky. When I explain to them how highly regarded and important he is in academia, intellectual circles and with anybody concerned in world events, they are incredulous and they ask me "how come I've never heard of him". I explain the reasons and then I make a bet with them that when he dies (which unfortunately is likely to be this decade) the popular media will report his death widely and sing his praises - even though, for obvious reasons, they shun him like the proverbial plague now - typical self serving hypocrisy. The world would be a much better place if people were more like Chomsky, a great intellect and a great human. I'll be sad to see his passing.
You’re 💯 spot on about how the media is going to laud him to high heaven after he passes. Just like the conservative politicians now who talk about and quote MLK, especially on MLK day. They loathed him when he was alive.
Chomsky is one of those public, third-rate "Thinkers" who confirm the prejudices of people - pseudo-intellectuals - like you. Hume and Quine are REAL thing.
Kieran Collins You should care about stupid people because stupid people could end up hurting you. Such as committing a crime against you or becoming a burden on society by not being able to get a job and ending up on welfare. So, it's important to try to help as a society and pushing for better education that doesn't exist to the degree it should and creating more after school programs so that kids become disciplined and don't drop out from school and remain stupid. Also, communities should make sure kids don't get into the wrong crowds that like to smoke weed or play hookie from school. That is why it's important to care about stupid people. If you don't care about them, then they won't give a shit when they become a nuisance to society.
ExclusiveLM So because people lack certain opportunities in life they are stupid? I'd imagine all it takes to be considered clever is to be a self-righteous arsehole that mocks people who are 'stupid', absolute fucking geniuses.
+ExclusiveLM interesting point but it falls down in some way because it is people with an education that are responsible for much of the stupid stuff done in the world
+Kieran Collins arrogant self belief and its accompanying lack of will to understand and learn is what makes people argue. which of course is one of the forms stupidity comes in. I think it more accurate to say that people do stupid things than it is to say that there are stupid people in the world
when the facts do not agree with their model, no problem just change the model to fit the facts. Works every time right Noam. Everyone needs to be questioned even Noam.
Thanks for the ref: Read up on it. Hm. I think there's some variance here. When Chomsky talks about the new crop of "tea party" reps in Congress, he may be partially right: It's a case of stupidity, and Dunning-Kruger may have some applicability. But there's also the case of folks who have extremely rarified skills in limited domains. They're quite competent---in the constrained realms of those limited domains. And they create and wrangle things like "derivatives markets", and do so quite expertly. I know I couldn't do it. Could you? Are we stupid? No, we're not. We just understand that, in the long run, these monetary token games are decoupled from human value. And systems built on such sand are doomed to eventual implosion. D-K may partially apply, but not completely. Some of those folks are quite arguably *very* smart.
Ron Zajac The ones in the driver seat of big dollar scams like the housing and loan scammers from wall street are very smart - the stupid are all the ones that believe Noah and his ark existed and the ones who try and forge policy off of those wives tales. Also you can add trump voters , republican base , and all bigots and racists and AM radio republican propaganda and Fox lies on TV. That's a good start for stupidity.Oh yes those who believe 1% of the people should hold all the money , that those obscenely rich should get some wonderful tax cut , and those who think they have explained life in a fair and honest way including the aforementioned tax cuts, the immigration deliberations of 15 million people , the belief in corporate welfare for those already so rich its obscene , those who readily believe these are fair and honest ways to treat their fellow countrymen -they are disgustingly selfish and greedy and terribly dishonest and indecent. We will call those many character flaws in the face of destroying ones own citizens not only reprehensible but very stupid
f bomb no I change my mind - you are correct. People who scam others and fill their egos with tales of corruption and gross manipulation of others are very stupid indeed
Uncle Noam casually ignores the interviewer's use of the word 'stupid', catches the 'drift' of his query, and responds. Very reasonable behaviour. Awesome.
Genre Slur Some people say he talks slowly and he does, and it’s easy to get frustrated by that, but it’s SO he can make sure he is always saying exactly what he wants to say
Funny that I perceive your comment as an accolade whereas as others here have interpreted it as a shortcoming. Uncle Noam intuitively KNOWS what is meant and addresses what was meant. And any SMART VIEWER would too.
I would agree that our unquestioning faith in capitalism has become like a religion, in the sense that people believe in it while having read almost nothing about it. That’s not the same thing as capitalism being ineffective however. It’s proven to be incredibly effective all over the world, so much so that the once unimaginable has happened, it’s been adopted by a communist superpower. But people once understood that it had the power to destroy as well as create, and were much more willing to wield it cautiously. Now we just bow done before it and violently resist anything that regulates it in any way.
@@TrueEnglishMan01 But China does consider itself a Communist country, while allowing vast numbers of individuals and groups to practice capitalism. The state interferes, yes, and often in very controlling and corrupt ways, but by and large it is individuals and organizations that are creating material wealth (and destroying their natural wealth).
He has been consistently hypocritical, perhaps. What else is there to say about someone who claims to hold to "elementary moral principles," while he visits and shakes the hand of a man who intentionally orders rocket fire on civilians?
***** Not that it will make any difference (you'll just mitigate it because you support him/them), but because you called me a troll (simply because you didn't like reading what I wrote, and not because you found it to be untrue in any way), I'll answer your question: Nabil Qauq and Hassan Nasrallah. These men ordered their forces to rocket civilian populations, purposely, with the goal of killing as many as possible. If Israel did this, you would call them "Nazis" and "war criminals," and indeed, Chomsky refers to Israeli Prime Ministers as "war criminals" all the time . . . and then he makes a point to go and shake the hands of these war criminals . . . and you want to pretend this is not hypocrisy.
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” Bertrand Russell (whose poster hangs outside Chomsky's office, incidentally)
@@iparagonepersonalvlogs1061 Oh yes. Through my own intense personal research and experience I've grown to call it The DUH Phenomenon. And if it's especially annoying because it's reinforced by a mother-in-law in a codependent relationship I call it The DUHDUY Dependency LOL :)
I read two books from Bertrand Russel, one was an academic boring thing, the other about power was only mediocre stupid. The stupid were we who believed in this dangerous ideologic power freaks.
"Who cares about stupid people?" Those stupid people control every aspect of your life, and will continue to do so as long as you continue "not caring about them."
I’ve read that Rupert Murdoch has a complete lock on the minds of voters, and therefore politicians, in Australia. He’s repeating that success in England and America.
Let's take a critical look at religion and compare it to democracy as a control system. Religare, the root word of religion means to tie or to bind together. So let's look at a monotheistic religion for example, Islam, requires belief in the mythology to bind it to people. Democracy, is a polytheistic religion of disbelief in which we are bound to our secular mythologies.
Mineav Religion is culture, you can't get rid of culture, the biggest problem right now is collectivism. Everyone following the group without thinking, we gotta pull some Jesus and not all the bullshit parts, I mean the part where the son of a carpenter took his whip into the temple and ran out the money lenders, I guess we call them lobbyists these days. We all have to stand against Rome, it is the same story happening again.
My idea: Stupid (and simple-minded) people feel happier than thinking and ever-questioning people. They just find themselves back in populism, follow it blindly, and hence are happy not to have to think by themselves anymore. Problem: They are, because of their stupidness, not longer aware of the consequences such behavior might have.
I remember reading about an ancient Chinese fable that made that very same point. I guess ignorance is indeed bliss, right up until the oncoming train flattens you.
Stupid is relative, so therefor the smarter you are the more you find yourself surrounded by stupid people. A stupid person doesn't know that they're stupid, because stupid is relative. Since stupid is relative they can almost always find someone that is less intelligent then them, which validates their belief about not being stupid. A stupid person posses a body of knowledge, and that body of knowledge to them is all the knowledge in the world. This is because they don't know what they don't know, which makes it seem like they know all there is to know. Therefor anyone can believe that all they know is a lot and significant even if its not, compared to another more intelligent person. Because the stupid person doesn't know all that the more intelligent persons knows and therefor they can't know that the more intelligent person is in fact more intelligent.
Whereas it may be possible to bring about just relations between individuals by moral and rational persuasion, in larger groups this is an impossibility. The relations between large groups, therefore, must be predominantly based on power rather than ethics. Power is as significant as moral persuasion in large groups, and a just society is the result of politics rather than education. Any thought to the contrary is pure sentimentality. ....... Reinhold Niebuhr
Chomsky is right about nuclear weapons because scientists have developed smaller nuclear weapons to reduce collateral damage making it more likely they will be used setting off an horrific chain reaction. Authors such as JRR Tolkien and C.S.Lewis saw this coming decades ago. “The news today about 'Atomic bombs' is so horrifying one is stunned. The utter folly of these lunatic physicists to consent to do such work for war-purposes: calmly plotting the destruction of the world! Such explosives in men's hands, while their moral and intellectual status is declining, is about as useful as giving out firearms to all inmates of a gaol and then saying that you hope 'this will ensure peace.” (J.R. Tolkien 1945). “Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed,” (C.S. Lewis) Lewis’s book The Magicians Nephew was written in 1955 during the Cold War, ten years after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the story Lewis alludes to the (Deplorable Word) a word that has the power to destroy an whole planet. Lewis warns of the power of humanity to destroy all life on Earth and near the end of The Magicians Nephew Lewis has the lion Aslan say to the central characters from the Victorian era: “It is not certain that some wicked one of your race will not find out a secret as evil as the Deplorable Word and use it to destroy all living things. And soon, very soon, before you are an old man and an old woman, great nations of your world will be ruled by tyrants who care no more for joy and justice and mercy than the Empress Jadis. Let your world beware. That is the warning.” (Aslan, The Magicians Nephew 1955).
Another fantastic video, Mr. Waugh, thank you for sharing. I hope you'll take the following in the good spirit in which it is intended. I'm currently reading and much enjoying the short stories of M.R. James, whose tales of the supernatural pretty much always involve the investigations and peregrinations of various academic (Oxford) types, to which your videos make an excellent accompaniment. Thanks again for your work.
This guy is one of the greatest men alive. Also the most underrated . A true sage - if governments just ask him before doing anything they would thrive
@@ivok9846 The Americans have done a very good job of making everyone think that Anarchy is evil. Anarchy is not evil, in fact it is the opposite. It has sometimes been abused, like all other political systems, but it has worked well in many cases (e.g. in Catalonia). I personally think it would no longer be practical to apply anarchy in most regions of the world, but I admire Chomsky for championing it.
@@jimmorrison2657 in catalonia when? did it work during spanish civil war? do you really think people can get it working, on their own, without some sort of punishment for commiting crime? I'm imagining chaos of enormous proportions, and many, many deaths. more than bolsheviks caused.
IvoK Large areas of Catalonia were anarchist. Apparently it worked well. No punishment for murder? This is one of the falsehoods which have been pushed by some Western governments. Of course murder is not allowed. It's just that there is no Central authority. The people decide what the punishments should be.
Noam's point is that religion is only _one_ form of irrational ideology - a belief system not based on any provable facts - and that such mindsets are extremely dangerous. People who subscribe to such ideologies are _not_ "stupid" in a literal sense: they probably make decisions that are just as logical as anyone else's when the matter in question does _not_ impinge on their beliefs. But when the facts conflict with their preconceived ideas, they simply ignore them. Thus, the people themselves may not be stupid, but their actions certainly are. Human beings seem to have propensity to cling to belief systems that have no basis in reality. Whether there is anything we can do about this is a moot point.
Thank you. This is the kind of comment that unites people rather than dividing them. We need to stop the polarization. And we should learn to communicate in a way that is conductive for discussion and progress.
Thank you, in turn, for your reply, but if I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath. The tendency to demonise or vilify people who disagree with you is as old as the human race, as is the need to believe in "systems" - grand overarching schemes that explain _everything_ and thus relieve one of the tiresome task of thinking for oneself.
It is not obvious at all. As I said above, humans are capable of logic - indeed, almost all thought is logical - but when the facts (or the inescapable conclusions reached by a chain of logic) conflict with ideas in which people have a _vested_ emotional interest, logic is subconsciously jettisoned. As far as we can tell, people have been acting like this since the dawn of (human) time, and thus no optimism would seem to be warranted.
Not a big fan of the words like stupid because everyone has different meaning for it. Anyone can be smart or stupid in given situations. (I'd be more cautious and judge individual actions, rather than the whole person in one go). Further, even the things we perceive in others as stupid, have reasons and motivations that make sense and aren't infact 'stupid'. FYI: When i say they 'make sense', doesn't mean they're necessarily the best course of action from an outsider's perspective. But they're understandable (not excusable, though!) if we explore them. Also, a lot things considered stupid are infact merely things that do not follow societal norms and conventional values and standards. Personally don't feel any value to labeling people or groups of people in broad strokes. No, not even the really bad ones. Making sense of things serve me more. Because it doesn't do good to me and inflates my own ego. Labeling others like this just feels like I'd rather listen to my own fully formed story rather than accept the complexities, nuance and less satisfying answers, that 'reality' offers.
'Well, if you examine my own record since 1960, I've done or said approximately 46.2 pretty stupid things per year. That's a low approximation done by MIT, that's nearly 1 every week, I've never claimed to be infallible. Other people do that for me.' Noam Chomsky. 2019
Not really the point. The point is that people are self-centered and tend to only see things from their own perspective. The slow driver might not even be a problem, it's just how they've been framed by the observer. The "rational/normal" observer might view themselves as such when they compare themselves against someone that is slower or faster than them, but from the faster person's perspective, the "rational" observer is an idiot.
Fine. I understand George Carlin's point but sometimes someone is genuinely a fucking maniac. What if someone's driving 30 over the speed limit on the wrong side of the road? We're just supposed to stop and think "Oh I may be following traffic laws but maybe from this guy's perspective, I'm actually an idiot." Likewise, if someone denies verifiable fact because an ancient book says it isn't true, were just supposed to be like, "oh well maybe they have a point?"
Chomsky is one of the biggest idiots around. He was pushing that anyone who didn't take the poison arm dart should be excluded from society forever. Total moron and lover of totalitarian rule, definitely not a humanitarian
That time on that book turned out to actually have happened, it was about 12.000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. The icecaps on the North American continent melted, possibly by a comet impact which is now being investiated, and created a climate shift. The sea levels rose drastically and there was a partial wipeout of life on earth. Not saying you should take Noahs story literally, but in every culture around the world there are similar stories of a great flood and climate disaster. It actually happened, but we don't know much about life before that time since any kind of civilization that might have existed was mostly wiped off the face of the earth. Although some of it is being rediscovered right now. It could happen again and we would be forgoten for a long-ass time. Maybe 15.000 years now the survived would have re-evolved and discover remains of our civlization and look at it the same way we look at those megalithic sites like "dude who build this shit, and HOW?"
After the last comment "is that any different from 'God promised Noah'" you just hear Jeremy Paxman (the interviewer) say "That's great.". If you know Paxman's reputation, that's quite a compliment.
+Javier Bonilla There is no such thing "free thinker".There is no mechanism in our brain for doing that,all what we think is what we learn in our life.
+Spase Risteski So 1939, two guys, Nazi Germany, one thinks he should kill and plunder just as his Nazi father, the other ponders if he should rule his life only by his birth condition and flees Nazi Germany in Order not to participate in the genocide. the second one is not more a free thinker than the first acording to you. just to understand. Nihilism?
"No double standards," like when he talks about "elementary moral principles" that he supposedly holds to, yet then visits shakes the hand of a man who orders rocket fire on civilians? Is that the kind of double standard you are talking about?
Javier Bonilla yeah Chomskys Achilles heal has always been his economic stupidity. Really an error of methodology. He's busy fighting straw men Econometric-type Keynesian/crony capitalist types
@@sunkintree Oh yes, the guy who blames every problem in the undeveloped world on Western colonialism is such a genius. His knowledge is superficial and small, much like your own pathetic intellect. Enjoy your day, follower.
Good still going. Surprisingly no strange illnesses or accidents, but majority of Americans dont know him as not mainstream media type to point out the stupidity it takes to have 2 options, bad or worse..
For those that only read the title, he’s criticizing people with the power to make decisions who lack the intellect to make meaningful decisions; he’s not telling you to look down on everyday people.
For markets to be efficient, they would need to be rational. For that to occur, people would need to be rational. The history of the Pet Rock tells us that neither people nor markets are rational actors.
I'm having this daydream right now where Noam Chomsky, Carl Sagan, Christopher Hitchens and Vaclav Havel are sitting around over beers discussing how they'd fix the world. Wouldn't that have been something to see?
True believers care about the earth God gave and it’s natural resources. True believers love the earth of God and want to protect it. Those that protect the earth are true believers because they love God and Gods gift of earth!
No, I leave Your tests to all these thousends here who think they are so clever and the others are stupid. I will rather belong to the stupid as to this kind of intelligence.
Chomsky is rather like a diner who wanders into the restaurant kitchen and comments about how the chefs are doing it all wrong without ever having cooked a dish for anyone himself. The chefs just ignore him and produce what they produce ….most gets eaten and some dishes get sent back. It is the way of things.
@@ThreetwoOne-wu7ye you must be extremely delusional yourself if you seriously think "green energy" infrastructure is actually green to build in the first place. and besides, you only have a limited amount of materials to actually build batteries to store electricity. and finally, the biggest advocated for climate change like Bill Gates lives in a large house with ZERO solar panels or wind turbines. if that isn't peak hypocrisy,I don't know what else is. not to mention rich people like him have private jets to travel around the world to preach climate cult dogma. EVs like Tesla still produce CO² into the atmosphere also. the metal has to be melted. the tires of EV cars are still made out of oil/gas plastic ruber. but hey, "look at my fancy vegan leather car seats. very environment friendly, right?"
Mark Wahlberg Fish is. But you idiots killed natives instead of politely asking them for lessons (I mean they already gave you food, seeing how fucked up you were)
Washichu Rehab The first laugh was for responding seriously to the water world quote. I know people take grammar a little to seriously online, but it's like speaking clearly and not mumbling and speaking clearly is important when you wish to convey an idea. "Fish is." - First failure. Starting a sentence with "But..." Your use of brackets, not do define hidden information in your sentence but only to write another sentence completely independent. (You can spell but your past and present tense got mixed up.) Why did I need those brackets? Even the vast swarms of fish in the ocean aren't free. Considering we are only a good 200 years into advanced fishing methods and we are now reducing numbers on a dangerous scale doesn't agree with your concept of a free meal. Our only hope of outlasting stupidity is funding intelligence but, it seems, we must overcome stupidity itself to achieve that most modest ideal.
James Devitt i'm wondering about the misspelled word "to". correct word-"too". . I know people take grammar a little to seriously online, but it's like speaking clearly and not mumbling and speaking clearly is important when you wish to convey an idea. comma usage awkward, sentences clumsily constructed, questionable style; like, just sayin'
I never looked around, never second-guessedThen I read some howard zinn now I'm always depressedAnd now I can't sleep from years of apathyAll because I read a little noam chomsky
Yeah, speaking of ignorance, when I got my PhD in Chemistry, I was sure to make commentary on widely spread public media concerning political science and economics. And listened to my diving coach about how to swim.
I like that analogy 'is the absolute belief in efficient markets any different that climate change denial based on God's promise there'd be no more floods?" Wonderful metaphor!!
+bob joe The opposite must also be true though. Where are these capitalist utopias filled with prosperity for all, where the majority are not left behind? When it comes down to it, it's not about capitalism vs socialism in an absolute solution. When you speak of countries where a democratic socialist party consistently wins elections (e.g. Sweden, Denmark, Germany, etc.), you are speaking of higher levels of socialized programs and benefits (e.g. level of senior care, daycare, paid maternity leave, paid vacation leave and sick days, healthcare, education, social security, labour and environmental regulations, etc.). And no, these countries are not in debt. As percentage of GDP, they have lower national debt than the "capitalist" USA. And no, democratic socialism is not the same as "socialism" as traditionally defined by Marx.
+bob joe where does he say he doesn't believe in private property? What he clearly doesn't believe in is huge concentrations of private power, and the source of that is the huge concentration of private wealth.
Chomsky helped me understand a why, when dealing with a highly narcisistic person, and had no one to discuss it with. That plus internet connection pulled me thru some control freak shat that was dragging me down. So though he has flaws, and who don't, I favor the guy .
The fact that the discussion is "stupid" people seems be more than pretentious enough to put people down. And to all the people that say we need to simply stop electing them into office: it's not nearly that simple. Politics is more of an acting skill than anything. You never see a person's true personality through a campaign, the problem is much deeper than that.
the problem is really quite simple: an apathetic public incapable of critical thought produces worse politicians than an informed literate population. the solution is more difficult though, since america has a contemporary culture that accepts and even celebrates dumb. oh and i'm american.
It's voter fraud in the US. Ever since the "hanging chad", all voting is electronic and corruptible. Just look at the voting results in Ohio in the 2012 election. There is no vote from the people anymore. -and yes, it is acting too. I always said that if I was going to run for office, I would promise to "end death, no one will ever die again!" If you are going to lie, you need to do it big. Then turn-around and kill 30 million or so and say "I inherited it from the last guy..."
Don't sell yourself short.... Only cause he is an academic doesn't mean 100% of what he says is the truth or even correct. A lot of what he says is just an opinion based on his own bias and preconceptions, etc. that's the problem, he is studied in 1 area but then we think everything that comes out of his mouth is sacred truth. He said nothing right now
Lmao, I love you guys. It's because maybe you don't know all the subjects he talks about. The thing with Noam is he'll talk about an idea and then show you an example but then talk about a related topic. He covers a bunch of subjects and its hard to keep up. I have a couple of books of his, three in all and some topics are always being brought up. Noam is some guy living in the future telling us truths, he's fucking crazy. Beware for the Masters of the Universe are watching.
What's also fascinating are the people he's speaking of all have a degree from one of the many diploma mills in America. Higher education is truly a shame. At least when it comes to the law & business schools.
There is something far more terrifying , than encountering stupidity , for I myself can be quite stupid at times, and that is ignorance. An ignorant person even when they try to do good or their best , is dangerous.
for a sec i thought he was gonna say `` one threat is nuclear war and the other threat is stupid people `` LOL
that was what he said in essence
hahaha same here ...
Not in that ORDER
Stupid people are far more dangerous than both combined, a single stupid in power is enough to fulfill both disasters at the same time
ha, me too
what do u care about stupid people?
-"they are in power and taking actions that affect us"
NAILED THAT ONE
It was ironically a stupid fucking question
I exactly know the person that would ask the same question. So it's good that we have an answer on the record.
And thats the dilemma
Noan Chomsky music:
open.spotify.com/track/1bpSdLd5av8NC9ZCocRJoN?si=tpxOy3NlSMSCz1GBy9goaw
@@chewcab8008 insert michael jordan's "stop it. get some help" meme
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
I agree.
Isaac Asimov said this, in case anyone is wondering.
excellent quote
Should Chomsky’s ignorance be construed as knowledge?
@@anccert yes
according to Socrates.
a perfect example of these below.
Socrates on DEMOCRATS
Which cost him his life.
Ad Hominem: see Attack the person
Ad Antiquitatem: see Appeal to Tradition
Ad Baculum: see Appeal to Fear
Ad Hominem: see Attack the person
Ad Hominem Tu Quoque: See Personal Inconsistency
Ad Ignorantium: see Argument from Ignorance
Ad Metum: see Appeal to Fear
Ad Misericordiam: see Appeal to Pity
Ad Nauseum: see Repetition
Ad Novitam: see Appeal to Novelty
Ad Numeram: see Appeal to Common Practice
Ad Populum: see Appeal to Common Belief or Bandwagon
Ad Ridiculum: see Appeal to Ridicule
Ad Verecundiam: see Appeal to Authority
Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc: see False Cause
Dicto Simpliciter: see Accident
Ignoratio Elenchi: see Missing the Point
In Terrorem: see Appeal to Fear
Non Causa Pro Causa: see False Effect
Non Sequitur: See Affirming the Consequent, Denying the Antecedent or Missing the Point.
Petitio Principii: see Begging the Question
Plurium Interrogationum: see Many Questions
Post Hoc: X follows Y. Therefore X is caused by Y.
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc: see Post Hoc
Reductio ad Absurdum: A false X is silly, so X is true.
Secundum quid et simpliciter: see In a Certain Respect and Simply
Correct a fool and he will hate you, correct a wise man and he will thank you- Somebody
That is The Word of God...Proverbs 9:8
Religion is poison
Abortion is a right
Neoliberalism is killing us
@@hombre1049 God didn't write that.
Chomsky is one of the biggest idiots around. He was pushing that anyone who didn't take the poison arm dart should be excluded from society forever. Total moron and lover of totalitarian rule, definitely a fool
correct a wise man and he will thank you. (eventually) :D
Einstein said, "The difference between stupidity and genius, is that genius has it's limits".
you clearly don't get it.
@@phlebdouglas Einstein was thinking of people just like you lol
You have to love these elites intellectuals like Chomsky who contribute nothing to society but pretense and virtue signaling about the worlds ills.
@@phlebdouglas All genius is the result of human minds, but all human minds are limited things. Therefore, all genius must be the result of limited things.
Unlimited things cannot be the result of limited things; they can only be the result of other unlimited things. Therefore, since no genius is the result of an unlimited thing, all genius must be limited.
Although, to be fair, stupidity has a limit too. It's zero. You can't have a negative IQ. A literal sack of rocks is already the stupidest that it could ever possibly be. ...as far as we know... 🤔
@@lukegibson9410 What have you contributed?
Chomsky isn't only famous for his politics. He also came up with the theory of universal grammar in modern linguistics. He is literally called the "father of modern linguistics" because of it. That's probably a lot more than what you've contributed to human knowledge.
And, of course, he's also a famous political philosopher/activist. So, he's done several things, really.
""Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups"" George Carlin, they can vote .
As we saw in 2016. I KNOW I WAS ONE OF THEM. ME I am responsible. ? Is WHY.
its nothing to do with voting. it has to do with the fact that stupid people not only allow authority, they legitimate them by defending and accepting that authority. thinking voting changes anything to a substantial amount is naive. voting changes things very mildly, and always under severe threat of control by forces outside the voting public, and thats true for most republics, specially the USA.
@@dfghj241 ki
Another great quote. So true.
@@dfghj241 Sounds pretty stupid to me. And Republicanesque. We narrowly averted, for the time being, becoming a dictatorial oligarchy in 2020. Not to mention the HUGE increase in governmental competence which is saving lives. Thank god we had a record turnout to keep that from happening. So dim bulbs can keep spouting off about how voting doesn’t matter. Jeezus!
The only rule of Dunning/Kruger club is you don’t know you’re in the Dunning/Kruger club.
First rule of Dunning-Krueger Club is, Never talk about Dunning-Krueger club.
Everyone is in the Dunning-Kruger club. Even very very smart articulate people
there is no such club it's in use to gazlight people
You for example.
@@kennethtarr4498 huh?
Einstein, 1942: “Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe.”
I think the most important part of this is that anyone, no matter how smart, can act stupid. It's always important to be introspective, and not become the stupid people we mock.
agreed
There is research to back this notion. People with really high I.Q.s tend to get low grades and even under perform at life (at least until they hit their 30s or 40s). The most successful people are those slightly below the really smart people- those who are above average, but still dumb enough to be humble and need to work hard. Essentially boredom and other factors are at play but the main factor is smart people become arrogant. Arrogance breeds stupidity regardless of natural talents. What is scary about this is think about modern American culture since the 1960s. We give people participation trophies. Everyone is encouraged to have high self esteem and arougance. When research seems to show that between intelligence and humility, humility is actually the better tool for success. This is actually the major difference between East Asian culture and Western culture- in Asia humility, hard work and effort is emphasized. In the West we emphasize intelligence, superiority, self esteem etc. which is actually counter productive in most cases.
@@raymondkidwell7135 this was insightful, would you mind me asking where you found this research? I'd like to read more about this!
Noam Chomsky could learn a thing or two from you. You are correct.
@@RedSiegfried He has a point but I don't think it's an argument against what Noam Chomsky is stating in this video. Anyone who in anyway is for nuclear weapons and or ignores or denies the damage we as a species are doing to the environment, ie our surroundings, our life source if you like, is, to put it mildly, an idiot
Noam "take a look at the" Chomsky
Christopher Kelly u came from ifl tv
Noan Chomsky music:
open.spotify.com/track/1bpSdLd5av8NC9ZCocRJoN?si=tpxOy3NlSMSCz1GBy9goaw
I died at this LOL
It's funny how everyone laughs at stupid people but noone ever considers themselves stupid.
I consider myself stupid and I laugh at myself everyday
Well I think if you listen to scientists and don't think bible to be a good source of actions for the future , you definitely not the dumbest person on earth .
How is the google profiting from one-liner sock puppets making comments? Plus more offensive ads!
Maybe depoliticizing America's legal system would help?
So: "A nonpartisan Justice may compel two recusals by junior partisan Justices."
How about that idea?
Hey Luka. I guess stupidity is a relative thing. Put me next to Einstein (mentioned a lot here) and I'd be 'stupid'. I think the word stupid is a bit...stupid. Even wilful ignorance is not the same as stupid. Anyways. I liked your comment.
'The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.' Einstein or intelligent people are too full of doubt to consider themselves stupid? I think smart people groan when a stupid person asserts a lie is a fact. Only cruel people would laugh at someone with learning disabilities.
I mix with reasonably well educated and informed people and only about one in ten have ever heard of Chomsky. When I explain to them how highly regarded and important he is in academia, intellectual circles and with anybody concerned in world events, they are incredulous and they ask me "how come I've never heard of him". I explain the reasons and then I make a bet with them that when he dies (which unfortunately is likely to be this decade) the popular media will report his death widely and sing his praises - even though, for obvious reasons, they shun him like the proverbial plague now - typical self serving hypocrisy. The world would be a much better place if people were more like Chomsky, a great intellect and a great human. I'll be sad to see his passing.
You’re 💯 spot on about how the media is going to laud him to high heaven after he passes. Just like the conservative politicians now who talk about and quote MLK, especially on MLK day. They loathed him when he was alive.
Agreed 💯
Chomsky is one of those public, third-rate "Thinkers" who confirm the prejudices of people - pseudo-intellectuals - like you. Hume and Quine are REAL thing.
Well said
Duirt mhaith fosta
"but why do you care about stupid people?" - what kind of a question is that?
Kieran Collins You should care about stupid people because stupid people could end up hurting you. Such as committing a crime against you or becoming a burden on society by not being able to get a job and ending up on welfare. So, it's important to try to help as a society and pushing for better education that doesn't exist to the degree it should and creating more after school programs so that kids become disciplined and don't drop out from school and remain stupid. Also, communities should make sure kids don't get into the wrong crowds that like to smoke weed or play hookie from school. That is why it's important to care about stupid people. If you don't care about them, then they won't give a shit when they become a nuisance to society.
ExclusiveLM So because people lack certain opportunities in life they are stupid? I'd imagine all it takes to be considered clever is to be a self-righteous arsehole that mocks people who are 'stupid', absolute fucking geniuses.
***** That's why we argue on RUclips :)
+ExclusiveLM interesting point but it falls down in some way because it is people with an education that are responsible for much of the stupid stuff done in the world
+Kieran Collins arrogant self belief and its accompanying lack of will to understand and learn is what makes people argue. which of course is one of the forms stupidity comes in. I think it more accurate to say that people do stupid things than it is to say that there are stupid people in the world
the problem with power is that it attracts exactly the wrong people
I recently tried to debbate a person that could not distinguish facts and beliefs. He ended up saying facts are subjective. I'm....I..... I need a hug
when the facts do not agree with their model, no problem just change the model to fit the facts. Works every time right Noam. Everyone needs to be questioned even Noam.
We're in a situation where we need to loudly proclaim 2+2 will never equal 5.
Lol and I bet, ironically, he thought that was a really intelligent thing to say....
"There are no facts, only interpretations"
@@TheFaithfulRedeemer Objectivity has a problem with your interpretation that there is no such thing as fact, being it makes no sense.
There is a urdu language poetic verse translated as
"No shortage of stupid people
You look for one, but find thousands"
Rite it in roman yar
@@X11CHASE
Ahmaqoon kee kami naheen Ghalib!
Aik dhondo! hazaar miltay hain
May be true for people who speak urdu. Idk
@@duaneelsbree3460 lol stfu
@@duaneelsbree3460 😊
Being stupid is not a problem, not recognizing the own stupidity is.
+eXtremeDR There a great paradoxical theory to explain this! Google Dunning-Kruger effect ;)
Thanks for the ref: Read up on it.
Hm. I think there's some variance here.
When Chomsky talks about the new crop of "tea party" reps in Congress, he may be partially right: It's a case of stupidity, and Dunning-Kruger may have some applicability.
But there's also the case of folks who have extremely rarified skills in limited domains. They're quite competent---in the constrained realms of those limited domains. And they create and wrangle things like "derivatives markets", and do so quite expertly. I know I couldn't do it. Could you? Are we stupid? No, we're not. We just understand that, in the long run, these monetary token games are decoupled from human value. And systems built on such sand are doomed to eventual implosion. D-K may partially apply, but not completely. Some of those folks are quite arguably *very* smart.
Ron Zajac The ones in the driver seat of big dollar scams like the housing and loan scammers from wall street are very smart - the stupid are all the ones that believe Noah and his ark existed and the ones who try and forge policy off of those wives tales. Also you can add trump voters , republican base , and all bigots and racists and AM radio republican propaganda and Fox lies on TV. That's a good start for stupidity.Oh yes those who believe 1% of the people should hold all the money , that those obscenely rich should get some wonderful tax cut , and those who think they have explained life in a fair and honest way including the aforementioned tax cuts, the immigration deliberations of 15 million people , the belief in corporate welfare for those already so rich its obscene , those who readily believe these are fair and honest ways to treat their fellow countrymen -they are disgustingly selfish and greedy and terribly dishonest and indecent. We will call those many character flaws in the face of destroying ones own citizens not only reprehensible but very stupid
f bomb no I change my mind - you are correct. People who scam others and fill their egos with tales of corruption and gross manipulation of others are very stupid indeed
Very very true.
Uncle Noam casually ignores the interviewer's use of the word 'stupid', catches the 'drift' of his query, and responds. Very reasonable behaviour. Awesome.
Genre Slur
He didn't ignore it, he repeated the word.
Genre Slur
Some people say he talks slowly and he does, and it’s easy to get frustrated by that, but it’s SO he can make sure he is always saying exactly what he wants to say
@@MrShanester117 I think the monotony is worse than the speed.
Funny that I perceive your comment as an accolade whereas as others here have interpreted it as a shortcoming. Uncle Noam intuitively KNOWS what is meant and addresses what was meant. And any SMART VIEWER would too.
Uncle Chomsky s message is stupid people blocking the intelligence of information which is hired and seek.
“Efficient markets, is that an different from God promising Noah?”, Noam Chomsky at his best.
I would agree that our unquestioning faith in capitalism has become like a religion, in the sense that people believe in it while having read almost nothing about it. That’s not the same thing as capitalism being ineffective however. It’s proven to be incredibly effective all over the world, so much so that the once unimaginable has happened, it’s been adopted by a communist superpower. But people once understood that it had the power to destroy as well as create, and were much more willing to wield it cautiously. Now we just bow done before it and violently resist anything that regulates it in any way.
@@aliannarodriguez1581 State capitalism (PRC, USSR etc) ≠ communism
@@TrueEnglishMan01 But China does consider itself a Communist country, while allowing vast numbers of individuals and groups to practice capitalism. The state interferes, yes, and often in very controlling and corrupt ways, but by and large it is individuals and organizations that are creating material wealth (and destroying their natural wealth).
@@TrueEnglishMan01 better than capitalism owning the state like the US
Never underestimate a man who overestimates his own ability.
Doesn't apply to chomsky tho
@Max The Cat why ice cream?
Or overestimate a man who underestimates his betters
How about we just estimate him then
The beauty of Chomsky is that he's been consistent throughout his career.
He has been consistently hypocritical, perhaps. What else is there to say about someone who claims to hold to "elementary moral principles," while he visits and shakes the hand of a man who intentionally orders rocket fire on civilians?
You give off a troll alarm, but just curious: whose hand do you claim that he shook?
Who?
Who?
***** Not that it will make any difference (you'll just mitigate it because you support him/them), but because you called me a troll (simply because you didn't like reading what I wrote, and not because you found it to be untrue in any way), I'll answer your question: Nabil Qauq and Hassan Nasrallah.
These men ordered their forces to rocket civilian populations, purposely, with the goal of killing as many as possible.
If Israel did this, you would call them "Nazis" and "war criminals," and indeed, Chomsky refers to Israeli Prime Ministers as "war criminals" all the time . . . and then he makes a point to go and shake the hands of these war criminals . . . and you want to pretend this is not hypocrisy.
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” Bertrand Russell (whose poster hangs outside Chomsky's office, incidentally)
Stupid people sure are cocks lol
I'm going to be 60 this year and can say there's a lot of truth to that statement.
Psychologists even have a name for this - the Dunning-Kruger effect
@@iparagonepersonalvlogs1061 Oh yes. Through my own intense personal research and experience I've grown to call it The DUH Phenomenon. And if it's especially annoying because it's reinforced by a mother-in-law in a codependent relationship I call it The DUHDUY Dependency LOL :)
I read two books from Bertrand Russel, one was an academic boring thing, the other about power was only mediocre stupid. The stupid were we who believed in this dangerous ideologic power freaks.
"Who cares about stupid people?" Those stupid people control every aspect of your life, and will continue to do so as long as you continue "not caring about them."
So true. In Australia our Prime Minister will not address environmental problems....our children’s and grandkids future is in jeopardy
the poor environment - always getting the shaft. We need more rallies!
I’ve read that Rupert Murdoch has a complete lock on the minds of voters, and therefore politicians, in Australia. He’s repeating that success in England and America.
No its not
Similar to Huxley,s vision for the future, it's the blind leading the blinded.
I love Chomsky's response to the stupid people comment.
Simon Keel Yeah but they got immense power ( you stupid interviewer )
Jeremy Paxman ( the interviewer) is far from stupid ! ... just playing devils advocate .
This moron; Noam; should be arrested for mumbling in public. He is far too stupid to know what stupid is.
No, but his mouth absolutely loves the big ones!
bert wesler Which comment makes you all the moron.
When is the last time you saw a headline that read " Happy words from Naom Chomsky" ? This guy has been predicting disaster for decades!
I'm glad he said "stupid people", for a second I thought he was going to be more diplomatic in describing them.
do they even teach ethics in school anymore, or is it now just greed class.
What do you mean? The people in power are not in school. Most left school years ago. Nothing to do with schools.
Let's take a critical look at religion and compare it to democracy as a control system. Religare, the root word of religion means to tie or to bind together. So let's look at a monotheistic religion for example, Islam, requires belief in the mythology to bind it to people. Democracy, is a polytheistic religion of disbelief in which we are bound to our secular mythologies.
Islam believes in the same God as christians just without christ.
That is a parents responsibility in my book
Mineav Religion is culture, you can't get rid of culture, the biggest problem right now is collectivism. Everyone following the group without thinking, we gotta pull some Jesus and not all the bullshit parts, I mean the part where the son of a carpenter took his whip into the temple and ran out the money lenders, I guess we call them lobbyists these days. We all have to stand against Rome, it is the same story happening again.
My idea: Stupid (and simple-minded) people feel happier than thinking and ever-questioning people. They just find themselves back in populism, follow it blindly, and hence are happy not to have to think by themselves anymore. Problem: They are, because of their stupidness, not longer aware of the consequences such behavior might have.
I remember reading about an ancient Chinese fable that made that very same point. I guess ignorance is indeed bliss, right up until the oncoming train flattens you.
I love that this comment section is precisely proving his point.
Who else is here after the Epstein situation?
"Is that very different from 'got promised noah'" lol
Stupid is relative, so therefor the smarter you are the more you find yourself surrounded by stupid people.
A stupid person doesn't know that they're stupid, because stupid is relative. Since stupid is relative they can almost always find someone that is less intelligent then them, which validates their belief about not being stupid.
A stupid person posses a body of knowledge, and that body of knowledge to them is all the knowledge in the world. This is because they don't know what they don't know, which makes it seem like they know all there is to know. Therefor anyone can believe that all they know is a lot and significant even if its not, compared to another more intelligent person. Because the stupid person doesn't know all that the more intelligent persons knows and therefor they can't know that the more intelligent person is in fact more intelligent.
"Never underestimate the power of stupid people, especially in large groups."
George Carlin
Whereas it may be possible to bring about just relations between individuals by moral and rational persuasion, in larger groups this is an impossibility. The relations between large groups, therefore, must be predominantly based on power rather than ethics. Power is as significant as moral persuasion in large groups, and a just society is the result of politics rather than education. Any thought to the contrary is pure sentimentality. ....... Reinhold Niebuhr
Chomsky is right about nuclear weapons because scientists have developed smaller nuclear weapons to reduce collateral damage making it more likely they will be used setting off an horrific chain reaction. Authors such as JRR Tolkien and C.S.Lewis saw this coming decades ago.
“The news today about 'Atomic bombs' is so horrifying one is stunned. The utter folly of these lunatic physicists to consent to do such work for war-purposes: calmly plotting the destruction of the world! Such explosives in men's hands, while their moral and intellectual status is declining, is about as useful as giving out firearms to all inmates of a gaol and then saying that you hope 'this will ensure peace.”
(J.R. Tolkien 1945).
“Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed,” (C.S. Lewis)
Lewis’s book The Magicians Nephew was written in 1955 during the Cold War, ten years after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the story Lewis alludes to the (Deplorable Word) a word that has the power to destroy an whole planet. Lewis warns of the power of humanity to destroy all life on Earth and near the end of The Magicians Nephew Lewis has the lion Aslan say to the central characters from the Victorian era:
“It is not certain that some wicked one of your race will not find out a secret as evil as the Deplorable Word and use it to destroy all living things. And soon, very soon, before you are an old man and an old woman, great nations of your world will be ruled by tyrants who care no more for joy and justice and mercy than the Empress Jadis. Let your world beware. That is the warning.” (Aslan, The Magicians Nephew 1955).
Remember when he said "they are coming for your retirement money"? It is happening.
Right, the most people in this country are democrats.
Another fantastic video, Mr. Waugh, thank you for sharing. I hope you'll take the following in the good spirit in which it is intended. I'm currently reading and much enjoying the short stories of M.R. James, whose tales of the supernatural pretty much always involve the investigations and peregrinations of various academic (Oxford) types, to which your videos make an excellent accompaniment. Thanks again for your work.
This guy is one of the greatest men alive. Also the most underrated . A true sage - if governments just ask him before doing anything they would thrive
what do you mean, he's self proclaimed anarchist. the kind of which inspired some Russians to expell/kill some jews.
Whoa....you can relax, he’s not gonna read this
@@ivok9846 The Americans have done a very good job of making everyone think that Anarchy is evil. Anarchy is not evil, in fact it is the opposite. It has sometimes been abused, like all other political systems, but it has worked well in many cases (e.g. in Catalonia). I personally think it would no longer be practical to apply anarchy in most regions of the world, but I admire Chomsky for championing it.
@@jimmorrison2657 in catalonia when?
did it work during spanish civil war?
do you really think people can get it working, on their own, without some sort of punishment for commiting crime?
I'm imagining chaos of enormous proportions, and many, many deaths. more than bolsheviks caused.
IvoK Large areas of Catalonia were anarchist. Apparently it worked well. No punishment for murder? This is one of the falsehoods which have been pushed by some Western governments. Of course murder is not allowed. It's just that there is no Central authority. The people decide what the punishments should be.
Just shows what a great intellectual Chomsky is for Paxman not to interrupt him like he often does and say 'great' at the end of the interview.
Thank you for uploading a short and important video
A willingness to open the mind is the first step to understanding what matters.
Noam's point is that religion is only _one_ form of irrational ideology - a belief system not based on any provable facts - and that such mindsets are extremely dangerous. People who subscribe to such ideologies are _not_ "stupid" in a literal sense: they probably make decisions that are just as logical as anyone else's when the matter in question does _not_ impinge on their beliefs. But when the facts conflict with their preconceived ideas, they simply ignore them. Thus, the people themselves may not be stupid, but their actions certainly are. Human beings seem to have propensity to cling to belief systems that have no basis in reality. Whether there is anything we can do about this is a moot point.
Thank you. This is the kind of comment that unites people rather than dividing them. We need to stop the polarization. And we should learn to communicate in a way that is conductive for discussion and progress.
Thank you, in turn, for your reply, but if I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath. The tendency to demonise or vilify people who disagree with you is as old as the human race, as is the need to believe in "systems" - grand overarching schemes that explain _everything_ and thus relieve one of the tiresome task of thinking for oneself.
I don't disagree.
If humans are also capable of logic, then there obviously is something we can do about this.
It is not obvious at all. As I said above, humans are capable of logic - indeed, almost all thought is logical - but when the facts (or the inescapable conclusions reached by a chain of logic) conflict with ideas in which people have a _vested_ emotional interest, logic is subconsciously jettisoned. As far as we can tell, people have been acting like this since the dawn of (human) time, and thus no optimism would seem to be warranted.
Noam Chomsky... would be a good name for the Cookie Monster
nom nom nom
There you go, ALARM here's one of the stupid people
Thank you for your wise words, Mr. President.
haha now that's funny.
Dwight.. why didn't you nuke S4 when you had the chance? FOR FUCKSAKE!!
Not a big fan of the words like stupid because everyone has different meaning for it. Anyone can be smart or stupid in given situations. (I'd be more cautious and judge individual actions, rather than the whole person in one go). Further, even the things we perceive in others as stupid, have reasons and motivations that make sense and aren't infact 'stupid'.
FYI: When i say they 'make sense', doesn't mean they're necessarily the best course of action from an outsider's perspective. But they're understandable (not excusable, though!) if we explore them.
Also, a lot things considered stupid are infact merely things that do not follow societal norms and conventional values and standards.
Personally don't feel any value to labeling people or groups of people in broad strokes. No, not even the really bad ones. Making sense of things serve me more. Because it doesn't do good to me and inflates my own ego. Labeling others like this just feels like I'd rather listen to my own fully formed story rather than accept the complexities, nuance and less satisfying answers, that 'reality' offers.
'Well, if you examine my own record since 1960, I've done or said approximately 46.2 pretty stupid things per year.
That's a low approximation done by MIT, that's nearly 1 every week, I've never claimed to be infallible.
Other people do that for me.'
Noam Chomsky. 2019
Anyone driving faster than you is a maniac, anyone slower an idiot----George Carlin
This principle extends to intellectual life as well...
Shetu Nandy The problem is when the slow driver is a maniac, and drives a giant truck while risking the lives of fellow drivers without realizing it.
Not really the point. The point is that people are self-centered and tend to only see things from their own perspective. The slow driver might not even be a problem, it's just how they've been framed by the observer. The "rational/normal" observer might view themselves as such when they compare themselves against someone that is slower or faster than them, but from the faster person's perspective, the "rational" observer is an idiot.
Thank you for this gem. This comments section confirms this statement unfortunately. I miss that man greatly.
Shetu Nandy Well said!
Fine. I understand George Carlin's point but sometimes someone is genuinely a fucking maniac. What if someone's driving 30 over the speed limit on the wrong side of the road? We're just supposed to stop and think "Oh I may be following traffic laws but maybe from this guy's perspective, I'm actually an idiot." Likewise, if someone denies verifiable fact because an ancient book says it isn't true, were just supposed to be like, "oh well maybe they have a point?"
Chompy does not suffer fools lightly.
Especially the ones who cannot spell or cannot check what they type.
10 years AGO?! This video is still up to date...
"They buy my books and listen to my word salads"
Noam Chomsky is a great humanitarian of our age. Thank you for uploading.
If I had a chance thirty years ago...
Chomsky is one of the biggest idiots around. He was pushing that anyone who didn't take the poison arm dart should be excluded from society forever. Total moron and lover of totalitarian rule, definitely not a humanitarian
in what way? flapping his big useless mouth?
I'm glad floods never happened on the world again since that time on that book.
Lucas Lemos I think he meant a flood of that catastrophic size.
Lucas Lemos gahaha what book Archies Comic Book ?
That time on that book turned out to actually have happened, it was about 12.000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. The icecaps on the North American continent melted, possibly by a comet impact which is now being investiated, and created a climate shift. The sea levels rose drastically and there was a partial wipeout of life on earth. Not saying you should take Noahs story literally, but in every culture around the world there are similar stories of a great flood and climate disaster. It actually happened, but we don't know much about life before that time since any kind of civilization that might have existed was mostly wiped off the face of the earth. Although some of it is being rediscovered right now. It could happen again and we would be forgoten for a long-ass time. Maybe 15.000 years now the survived would have re-evolved and discover remains of our civlization and look at it the same way we look at those megalithic sites like "dude who build this shit, and HOW?"
I think the story goes that He said He would not again wipe out mankind via a flood.
Finally! A Noam Chomsky video that is directed at me personally.
I wonder if this fellow Chomsky has ever considered the possibility that HE also might be stupid in some ways...?!
We all heard his ignorant opinion on the unvaxxed .
Can confirm ; Chomsky is a fool 👍🏼
Neom Chomsky humbles us all...👍
Yes, he probably knows how to spell your name too.
Not me I just try to listen UNDERSTAND ALITTLE than THINK. Its really hard for ME. To form my own opinion.
AWESOME mic drop at the end.
After the last comment "is that any different from 'God promised Noah'" you just hear Jeremy Paxman (the interviewer) say "That's great.". If you know Paxman's reputation, that's quite a compliment.
Im afraid of what we’ll lose when we lose Noam one day.
We'll lose absolutely nothing, mate.
We'll lose a Marxist, Don't be afraid.
This was 4 yrs ago! and yet we see exactly what he's saying play out before our eyes
Chomsky the truly free thinker. No "thinking only what gives me a good opinion about myself"; no double standards. A life worth living.
+Javier Bonilla There is no such thing "free thinker".There is no mechanism in our brain for doing that,all what we think is what we learn in our life.
+Spase Risteski So 1939, two guys, Nazi Germany, one thinks he should kill and plunder just as his Nazi father, the other ponders if he should rule his life only by his birth condition and flees Nazi Germany in Order not to participate in the genocide. the second one is not more a free thinker than the first acording to you. just to understand. Nihilism?
"No double standards," like when he talks about "elementary moral principles" that he supposedly holds to, yet then visits shakes the hand of a man who orders rocket fire on civilians? Is that the kind of double standard you are talking about?
Javier Bonilla yeah Chomskys Achilles heal has always been his economic stupidity. Really an error of methodology. He's busy fighting straw men Econometric-type Keynesian/crony capitalist types
What about his hypocrisy though? The guy's been making bank for decades.
I am actually frightened by the number of completely oblivious souls who do not know into what category they put themselves in.
This was 10 years ago, things are much better now lol
I could listen to this guy all day
Yeah, listening to the incoherent babbling of an old fool is a pretty good sleep aid.
@@stevensimpson9024 thats what i like about your comment so much. helps me sleep
@@sunkintree Oh yes, the guy who blames every problem in the undeveloped world on Western colonialism is such a genius. His knowledge is superficial and small, much like your own pathetic intellect. Enjoy your day, follower.
I wish this guy could live forever, he is so wise and a beacon for humanity
Me too. I also wish George Carlin could've been included in that wish too.
What a loss that will be, we're lucky he's been able to live this long.
Good still going. Surprisingly no strange illnesses or accidents, but majority of Americans dont know him as not mainstream media type to point out the stupidity it takes to have 2 options, bad or worse..
I wish he could live forever to enjoy the GULAG FOR ETERNITY. Because that is his ideology. 😄
@@12325814 You must be one of those he voiced concerns about.
For those that only read the title, he’s criticizing people with the power to make decisions who lack the intellect to make meaningful decisions; he’s not telling you to look down on everyday people.
A delightful old chap. Full of hope and enthusiasm!
Yea, being all jolly and happy and pretending everything's a-okay has worked out well...
You just can't outlaw stupidity though.
@@SimonFaur94 Brilliant!!!!
For markets to be efficient, they would need to be rational. For that to occur, people would need to be rational.
The history of the Pet Rock tells us that neither people nor markets are rational actors.
Cant remember who said "the best argument against democracy is a 5-minute conversation with the average voter."
We don’t live in free democracies or markets
Turn on your TV and count the seconds until you see a pharmaceutical or insurance company commercial.
I'm having this daydream right now where Noam Chomsky, Carl Sagan, Christopher Hitchens and Vaclav Havel are sitting around over beers discussing how they'd fix the world. Wouldn't that have been something to see?
I would add Churchill and Lincoln.
@@danthompson5797 Beats religion
@@ge2623 are you implying they would agree with anything the other 4 have to say?
@@nickwilson3499 Oh heck no. Just like to hear Churchill and LIncoln's wit at the table.
"... Is that very different from God promise Noah?" Woah, that hit hard!
There is a larger problem of well-spoken people who think they are omniscient.
True believers care about the earth God gave and it’s natural resources. True believers love the earth of God and want to protect it. Those that protect the earth are true believers because they love God and Gods gift of earth!
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." -Albert Einstein
The others are the stupid, we are the intelligent. Congratulation to this wisdom !
No, I leave Your tests to all these thousends here who think they are so clever and the others are stupid. I will rather belong to the stupid as to this kind of intelligence.
Imagine adults who can't discern feelings from facts. Millions. And they vote.
I hope this gets recomended to people again.
" I only know that I know nothing "
(phrase said by Socrates).
Greetings,
Thank you Sir ♡
I’m here because when Noam Chomsky talks about us I want to pay attention to what he will say.
As Carl Sagan said decades ago before US Congress: "Not on MY term of office."
Thank You! So Much! Wisdom words from Honor Man!
Chomsky is rather like a diner who wanders into the restaurant kitchen and comments about how the chefs are doing it all wrong without ever having cooked a dish for anyone himself. The chefs just ignore him and produce what they produce ….most gets eaten and some dishes get sent back. It is the way of things.
@@ThreetwoOne-wu7ye you must be extremely delusional yourself if you seriously think "green energy" infrastructure is actually green to build in the first place.
and besides, you only have a limited amount of materials to actually build batteries to store electricity.
and finally, the biggest advocated for climate change like Bill Gates lives in a large house with ZERO solar panels or wind turbines.
if that isn't peak hypocrisy,I don't know what else is.
not to mention rich people like him have private jets to travel around the world to preach climate cult dogma.
EVs like Tesla still produce CO² into the atmosphere also.
the metal has to be melted. the tires of EV cars are still made out of oil/gas plastic ruber.
but hey, "look at my fancy vegan leather car seats. very environment friendly, right?"
Nothing's free in water world.
Mark Wahlberg Fish is. But you idiots killed natives instead of politely asking them for lessons (I mean they already gave you food, seeing how fucked up you were)
Washichu Rehab Dry land's a myth; I've never seen it.
Washichu Rehab The first laugh was for responding seriously to the water world quote. I know people take grammar a little to seriously online, but it's like speaking clearly and not mumbling and speaking clearly is important when you wish to convey an idea.
"Fish is." - First failure. Starting a sentence with "But..." Your use of brackets, not do define hidden information in your sentence but only to write another sentence completely independent. (You can spell but your past and present tense got mixed up.) Why did I need those brackets?
Even the vast swarms of fish in the ocean aren't free. Considering we are only a good 200 years into advanced fishing methods and we are now reducing numbers on a dangerous scale doesn't agree with your concept of a free meal. Our only hope of outlasting stupidity is funding intelligence but, it seems, we must overcome stupidity itself to achieve that most modest ideal.
James Devitt i'm wondering about the misspelled word "to". correct word-"too". . I know people take grammar a little to seriously online, but it's like
speaking clearly and not mumbling and speaking clearly is important
when you wish to convey an idea.
comma usage awkward, sentences clumsily constructed, questionable style; like, just sayin'
Good spotting.
stupid ppl has always been a top 10 threat, thru history.
This aged very well...
I never looked around, never second-guessedThen I read some howard zinn now I'm always depressedAnd now I can't sleep from years of apathyAll because I read a little noam chomsky
"These people have power and they are carrying out actions."
and they are carrying guns in public
one way or another, the most powerful people always gain all the power, become more powerful yourself.
Yeah, speaking of ignorance, when I got my PhD in Chemistry, I was sure to make commentary on widely spread public media concerning political science and economics. And listened to my diving coach about how to swim.
HE SAYS IT LIKE IT IS!
"Why do you care about stupid people?" It be a hilarious question and interview if it wasn't so serious for humanity.
because they vote
Thank god the RUclips algorithm has finally started giving me videos of this Noam Chomsky guy that Dr. Peterson keeps talking about.
Well you could have searched for them yourself......🤔
Carlo M. Cipola wrote a paper on this subject around 50 years ago. And its very accurate, and has become a sleeper hit.
"Noam Chomsky on Epstein Island"
I like that analogy 'is the absolute belief in efficient markets any different that climate change denial based on God's promise there'd be no more floods?" Wonderful metaphor!!
+bob joe The opposite must also be true though. Where are these capitalist utopias filled with prosperity for all, where the majority are not left behind? When it comes down to it, it's not about capitalism vs socialism in an absolute solution. When you speak of countries where a democratic socialist party consistently wins elections (e.g. Sweden, Denmark, Germany, etc.), you are speaking of higher levels of socialized programs and benefits (e.g. level of senior care, daycare, paid maternity leave, paid vacation leave and sick days, healthcare, education, social security, labour and environmental regulations, etc.). And no, these countries are not in debt. As percentage of GDP, they have lower national debt than the "capitalist" USA. And no, democratic socialism is not the same as "socialism" as traditionally defined by Marx.
Point being?
+bob joe where does he say he doesn't believe in private property? What he clearly doesn't believe in is huge concentrations of private power, and the source of that is the huge concentration of private wealth.
+Kasnar Burns It is, and I love how the video ends with the interviewer going "........that's great." (or at least I think that's what he's saying)
+bob joe >Where are these efficient socialist utopias you speak of?
In Scandinavia
Chomsky helped me understand a why, when dealing with a highly narcisistic person, and had no one to discuss it with.
That plus internet connection pulled me thru some control freak shat that was dragging me down.
So though he has flaws, and who don't, I favor the guy .
? Try making complete sentences
This dude went to epstein island too.
The fact that the discussion is "stupid" people seems be more than pretentious enough to put people down. And to all the people that say we need to simply stop electing them into office: it's not nearly that simple. Politics is more of an acting skill than anything. You never see a person's true personality through a campaign, the problem is much deeper than that.
the problem is really quite simple: an apathetic public incapable of critical thought produces worse politicians than an informed literate population. the solution is more difficult though, since america has a contemporary culture that accepts and even celebrates dumb. oh and i'm american.
Jeff S So...that's why Obama is in the White House !
Michael White that's right. and if mccain/palin got elected it would prove my point even more.
It's voter fraud in the US. Ever since the "hanging chad", all voting is electronic and corruptible. Just look at the voting results in Ohio in the 2012 election. There is no vote from the people anymore.
-and yes, it is acting too. I always said that if I was going to run for office, I would promise to "end death, no one will ever die again!" If you are going to lie, you need to do it big. Then turn-around and kill 30 million or so and say "I inherited it from the last guy..."
yeah, but none of the stupid people think he's talking abut them.
I'm legitimately too stupid to retain anything this guy says.
beauzxcvb Lol fr Ii feel the same my brain catch the main message but.. well you know really hard to understand geniuses
He is hard to listen to for very long
I love his thinking but the way he delivers it really puts you to sleep.
Don't sell yourself short.... Only cause he is an academic doesn't mean 100% of what he says is the truth or even correct. A lot of what he says is just an opinion based on his own bias and preconceptions, etc. that's the problem, he is studied in 1 area but then we think everything that comes out of his mouth is sacred truth. He said nothing right now
Lmao, I love you guys. It's because maybe you don't know all the subjects he talks about. The thing with Noam is he'll talk about an idea and then show you an example but then talk about a related topic. He covers a bunch of subjects and its hard to keep up. I have a couple of books of his, three in all and some topics are always being brought up. Noam is some guy living in the future telling us truths, he's fucking crazy. Beware for the Masters of the Universe are watching.
Your not ALONE .
What's also fascinating are the people he's speaking of all have a degree from one of the many diploma mills in America. Higher education is truly a shame. At least when it comes to the law & business schools.
There is something far more terrifying , than encountering stupidity , for I myself can be quite stupid at times, and that is ignorance.
An ignorant person even when they try to do good or their best , is dangerous.
Even all these years later what he said still speaks volumes of truth.