“Moral equivalence is a term of propaganda that was invented to try to prevent us from looking at the acts for which we are responsible. …There is no such notion.”

— Noam Chomsky

Interview by Tim Sebastian on BBC NEWS, February 2, 2002 http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20020227.htm. <br class="br">Quotes 2000s, 2002 <br class="br">Context: Moral equivalence is a term of propaganda that was invented to try to prevent us from looking at the acts for which we are responsible.... There is no such notion. There are many different dimensions and criteria. For example, there's no moral equivalence between the bombing of the World Trade Center and the destruction of Nicaragua or of El Salvador, of Guatemala. The latter were far worse, by any criterion. So there's no moral equivalence.

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Noam Chomsky334

american linguist, philosopher and activist 1928

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Context: In the midst of increasing mechanization and technological organization, propaganda is simply the means used to prevent these things from being felt as too oppressive and to persuade man to submit with good grace. When man will be fully adapted to this technological society, when he will end by obeying with enthusiasm, convinced of the excellence of what he is forced to do, the constraint of the organization will no longer be felt by him; the truth is, it will no longer be a constraint, and the police will have nothing to do. The civic and technological good will and the enthusiasm for the right social myths — both created by propaganda — will finally have solved the problem of man.

“Moral equivalence is a term of propaganda that was invented to try to prevent us from looking at the acts for which we are responsible. …There is no such notion.”

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