---
title: "There's a humbling insight into the US pretension of occupying the mo… — Noam Chomsky Quote #220 | QuotesBy.net"
description: "There's a humbling insight into the US pretension of occupying the moral high ground in Chomsky's work. Part of what he's saying is true. Objectively… — a quote by Noam Chomsky."
image: "https://quotesby.net/wp-content/themes/quotesby-editorial/assets/og-default.png"
---

> # There's a humbling insight into the US pretension of occupying the moral high ground in Chomsky's work. Part of what he's saying is true. Objectively viewed, the United States isn't the victim but in many contexts, including its response to terrorism, the perpetrator. \[But he's\] so preoccupied with the evils of US imperialism that it completely occupies all the political and moral space, and therefore it's not possible for him to acknowledge that even without intending to do so, some US military interventions may actually have a beneficial effect. --Richard Falk, September 5, 2002 \[201\]

[Noam Chomsky](https://quotesby.net/Noam-Chomsky)\#220

[Politics](https://quotesby.net/Noam-Chomsky/politics/)[Bias](https://quotesby.net/Noam-Chomsky/bias/)[Focus](https://quotesby.net/Noam-Chomsky/focus/)[Imperialism](https://quotesby.net/Noam-Chomsky/imperialism/)[Complexity](https://quotesby.net/topics/complexity/)

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## About this quote

What does it mean?Falk argues that while Chomsky is right about US imperialism, his preoccupation with it prevents him from acknowledging any beneficial US interventions.In plain termsChomsky's focus on US evils blocks him from seeing any positive US actions.What can you take from it?A single focus can blind us to complexity and nuance.

### Where it applies

- foreign policy analysis
- political critique
- ideological debate

### Putting it to work

- seek nuance
- avoid single-focus narratives

### Questions to consider

- What positives can be ignored by focusing on negatives?
- How balanced should political critique be?

### Another view

Focusing on power abuses is necessary and valuable.

## More from Noam Chomsky

1. > ...the problem lies in Chomsky's description of Serb atrocities as 'quite real' and 'often ghastly'. 'Quite real ' is a cop-out for very real. Atrocities 'shar…

[Permalink to quote \#219](https://quotesby.net/Noam-Chomsky/219/ "Permalink to quote 219")
2. > Even a quarter of the evidence he had compiled would have been enough to convince me. I used to wonder why he needed to do so much work. But now I understand t…

[Permalink to quote \#221](https://quotesby.net/Noam-Chomsky/221/ "Permalink to quote 221")
3. > Noam Chomsky, who is an inexhaustible fount of anticommunist caricatures, offers this comment about Leninism: 'Western and also Third World intellectuals were …

[Permalink to quote \#218](https://quotesby.net/Noam-Chomsky/218/ "Permalink to quote 218")

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