If we try to keep a sense of balance, the exposures of the past several months are analogous to the discovery that the directors of Murder, Inc. were also cheating on their income tax. Reprehensible, to be sure, but hardly the main point.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Chomsky compares minor political scandals to finding criminal executives cheating on taxes, suggesting they are trivial compared to larger systemic abuses.
- In plain terms
- Small political scandals are like bad people cheating on taxes; they are bad but not the main problem.
- What can you take from it?
- Focus on systemic issues rather than minor infractions to see the real problem.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What distracts us from bigger issues?
- How do we judge proportionality in politics?
Another view
This framing might downplay the moral impact of any corruption.
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