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   From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net   
      
   What are the key beliefs of Noam Chomsky? His 10 most important ideas   
      
   by Paul Brian July 12, 2021, 1:44 am   
      
   Noam Chomsky is an influential American author, linguist and political   
   commentator.   
      
   He rose to fame through his criticism of Western imperialism and   
   economic exploitation.   
      
   Chomsky argues that political and economic elites cynically manipulate   
   populations through skillful use of thought-limiting language and   
   social control mechanisms.   
      
   In particular, many know of Chomsky’s iconic 1988 book Manufacturing   
   Consent which is about how the media serves corporate interests at the   
   expense of working people.   
      
   However, there is a lot more to Chomsky’s ideology than just these   
   basics.   
      
   Here are his top 10 ideas.   
      
   The 10 key ideas of Noam Chomsky   
      
   1) Chomsky believes we’re born understanding the idea of language   
      
   According to Chomsky, all human beings are genetically endowed with a   
   concept of what linguistic, verbal communication is and how it can   
   function.   
      
   Even though we have to learn languages, he believes that the capacity   
   to do so isn’t developed, it’s innate.   
      
       “But is there an inherited ability underlying our individual   
   languages — a structural framework that enables us to grasp, retain,   
   and develop language so easily? In 1957, linguist Noam Chomsky   
   published a groundbreaking book called Syntactic Structures.   
      
       “It proposed a novel idea: All human beings may be born with an   
   innate understanding of how language works.”   
      
   This theory is part of biolinguistics and set Chomsky in opposition to   
   many other language scholars and philosophers who believe our ability   
   to speak and write begins with a blank slate.   
      
   Still, many others agree with Chomksy and his theory of a “language   
   acquisition device” or part of our brain that is designed and set up   
   from birth to communicate verbally.   
      
   2) Anarchosyndicalism   
      
   One of Chomsky’s most crucial ideas is anarchosyndicalism, which is   
   basically a libertarian version of socialism.   
      
   As a rationalist, Chomsky believes that the most logical system for   
   human flourishing is a left-wing form of libertarianism.   
      
   Although libertarianism is often linked to the political right in the   
   United States, due to its support for “small government,” Chomsky’s   
   anarchosyndicalist beliefs propose fusing individual freedom with a   
   fairer economic and social system.   
      
   Anarchosyndicalism believes in a series of smaller community   
   cooperatives with maximum freedom and direct democracy.   
      
   As a strong opponent of the kind of authoritarian socialism practiced   
   by figures like Joseph Stalin, Chomsky instead wants a system where   
   the public shares resources and decision-making.   
      
   As influential anarchist socialist Mikhail Bakunin put it:   
      
       “Liberty without socialism is privilege and injustice; socialism   
   without liberty is slavery and brutality.”   
      
   Essentially, Chomsky’s belief claims to be a way to avoid the horrors   
   of the USSR and repressive communist regimes while still providing   
   more support and decision-making to members of society.   
      
   Similar ideologies are also advanced by other thinkers such as Peter   
   Kropotkin.   
      
   3) Chomsky believes that capitalism can’t work   
      
   Chomsky is well known for pointing out many of the injustices and   
   excesses of capitalist societies.   
      
   But it’s not just how it has played out that he’s opposed to, it’s the   
   concept itself that he disagrees with.   
      
   As Matt Davis notes for Big Think:   
      
       “Chomsky and others in his school of thinking argue that   
   capitalism is inherently exploitative and dangerous: a worker rents   
   their labor to somebody higher up in the hierarchy — a business owner,   
   say — who, in order to maximize their profit, is incentivized to   
   ignore the impact of their business on the society around them.   
      
       “Instead, Chomsky argues, workers and neighbors should organize   
   into unions and communities (or syndicates), each of which makes   
   collective decisions in a form of direct democracy.”   
      
   Growing up schooled in the working-class socialism of his Jewish   
   neighborhood in Philadelphia, Chomsky began reading anarchist works   
   and eventually developed his political ideology as I discussed in   
   point 3.   
      
   His critique of capitalism has been consistent throughout his entire   
   life and has been enormously influential.   
      
   Capitalism breeds inequality and ultimately fascism, according to   
   Chomsky. He also says that democracies that claim to be capitalist are   
   really just a veneer of democracy over corporate-run states.   
      
   4) He wants the Western education system reformed   
      
   Chomsky’s father William was a school principal who believed strongly   
   in a progressive educational model.   
      
   Education reform and opposition to the mainstream educational system   
   has been a mainstay of Chomsky’s philosophy for his whole life.   
      
   In fact, Chomsky first entered into the limelight more than 50 years   
   ago because of his essay The Responsibility of Intellectuals. In that   
   piece, Chomsky said academic institutions had been overrun by   
   corporate-run curriculums and propaganda-style teaching which didn’t   
   help students to think critically and independently.   
      
   Growing up, Chomsky was a child prodigy and enormously intelligent.   
   But he doesn’t just credit himself for his progress.   
      
   He attended a school up until high school that was highly progressive   
   and didn’t rank or grade students.   
      
   As Chomsky stated in a 1983 interview:, his school placed “a   
   tremendous premium on personal creativity, not in the sense of   
   slapping paints on paper, but doing the kind of work and thinking that   
   you were interested in.”   
      
   Upon going to high school, however, Chomsky noticed that it was highly   
   competitive and everything was about who was “better” and “smarter.”   
      
       “That’s what schooling generally is, I suppose. It’s a period of   
   regimentation and control, part of which involves direct   
   indoctrination, providing a system of false beliefs,” he’s recalled,   
   calling his time in high school a “dark spot.”   
      
   What does Chomsky want instead?   
      
       “I think schools could be run quite differently. That would be   
   very important, but I really don’t think that any society based on   
   authoritarian hierarchic institutions would tolerate such a school   
   system for long,” he says.   
      
       “There are roles that the public schools play in society that can   
   be very destructive.”   
      
   5) Chomsky believes might doesn’t make right   
      
   Chomsky has consistently maintained his views throughout the years.   
      
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