Civilization Quote by Noam Chomsky
“On humanitarian intervention in general, I guess my view is not unlike the view that was attributed to Gandhi, accurately or not, when he was supposedly asked what he thought about western civilization. He is supposed to have said that he thought it would be a good idea. Similarly, humanitarian intervention would be a good idea, in principle.”
About This Quote
Source Lecture: MIT, 1995
He likens humanitarian intervention to Gandhi’s ambiguous endorsement of Western civilization, suggesting it sounds good in principle but may be simplistic.
In simple terms: Humanitarian aid sounds good but may be naive.
Key Takeaway
Critically assess interventions before acting.
Themes
ethics
politics
intervention
humanitarianism
Mood
critical
skeptical
Type
philosophical
political
When to use this quote
- foreign aid
- military intervention
- NGO work
- policy making
Key Concepts
realism
idealism
policy
critique
Questions to Reflect On
- When is intervention justified?
- What are the unintended consequences?
A Different Perspective
Idealism may ignore complex local contexts.
![“I wrote an article about the marine landing [in Haiti] right away, but barely mentioned the oil, because my article would come out two months later and I assumed by then, "of course, everybody knows." Nobody knew. There was a news report in the Wall Street Journal, in the petroleum journals, and…” quote by Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/dc5/noam-chomsky-42_articles_i-wrote-an-article-about-the-marine-land_13341.jpg)
