Appropriate Quote by Noam Chomsky
“One of the questions asked in that study was, How many Vietnamese casualties would you estimate that there were during the Vietnam war? The average response on the part of Americans today is about 100,000. The official figure is about two million. The actual figure is probably three to four million. The people who conducted the study raised an appropriate question: What would we think about German political culture if, when you asked people today how many Jews died in the Holocaust, they estimated about 300,000? What would that tell us about German political culture?”
About This Quote
Source Interview: Media Critique, 1990s
The passage compares underestimation of Vietnam casualties to Holocaust denial, suggesting such ignorance reveals cultural denial and moral blind spots.
In simple terms: People often minimize tragedies, exposing cultural attitudes.
Key Takeaway
Question assumptions about historical facts.
Themes
history
memory
political culture
denial
Mood
critical
concerned
Type
analytical
provocative
When to use this quote
- education
- public discourse
- policy making
Key Concepts
cognitive bias
collective memory
Questions to Reflect On
- What does this say about how societies process trauma?
- How can we improve public understanding of history?
A Different Perspective
Estimates may be influenced by political agendas, not just ignorance.
![“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)
![“[T]he appropriate form of address between man and man ought to be, not monsieur, sir, but fellow sufferer, compagnon de miseres.” quote by Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/be6/arthur-schopenhauer-226_addresses_t-he-appropriate-form-of-address-between_32897.jpg)
