I don't say you're self-censoring - I'm sure you believe everything you're saying; but what I'm saying is, if you believed something different, you wouldn't be sitting where you're sitting.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Your position in society often depends on beliefs that align with powerful interests.
- In plain terms
- Your job depends on believing what power wants you to believe.
- What can you take from it?
- Success often requires accepting ideas that serve those in power.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What beliefs keep you in your current role?
- Who benefits from your current views?
Another view
People sometimes succeed while challenging power through hard work or luck.
More from Noam Chomsky
[The 'liberal media'] love to be denounced from the right, and the right loves to denounce them, because that makes them look like courageous defenders of free…
Permalink to quote #55 Reform is a word you always ought to watch out for. Like, when Mao started the Cultural Revolution it wasn't called a reform; reform is a change that you're su…
Permalink to quote #57 I never criticized United States planners for mistakes in Vietnam. True, they made some mistakes, but my criticism was always aimed at what they aimed to do an…
Permalink to quote #54
Related quotes
But Hitler didn't strive for the annihilation of the Jews - he stressed that fact in public life and in the newspapers. Hitler merely said at the beginning tha…
Franz von PapenFranz von Papen quote #1 If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in thei…
Howard ZinnHoward Zinn quote #1 'Most people today still believe, perhaps unconsciously, in the heliocentric universe ... every newspaper in the land has a section on astrology, yet few have …
Hannes AlfvenHannes Alfven quote #1