Dialogues, by Jerry Brown: on Government Reform

New Testament: Those in Bible who serve power, were seen as false prophets

CHOMSKY: Take the Bible, for example--and we'll find that those who have served power have always been rewarded with respectability. The prophets of the Bible came in 2 types. The people who served power, were the ones who were later considered false prophets. There were the people, however, who, in their own time, were respected, honored and protected. There was another group of people who exposed the corruptions of power. They're the ones who were reviled, imprisoned, driven into the desert, and so on. It was only much later that they were recognized as the true prophets.

That pattern just perpetuates through history, and for perfectly good reasons. If you serve power, authority and privilege, you'll end up, by & large, with respectability. And if you undermine them, whether it's by political analysis, moral critique, or anything else, they're not going to applaud you for it.

Noam Chomsky: People who serve power are later considered false prophets

CHOMSKY: Take the Bible, for example--and we'll find that those who have served power have always been rewarded with respectability. The prophets of the Bible came in 2 types. The people who served power, were the ones who were later considered false prophets. There were the people, however, who, in their own time, were respected, honored and protected. There was another group of people who exposed the corruptions of power. They're the ones who were reviled, imprisoned, driven into the desert, and so on. It was only much later that they were recognized as the true prophets.

That pattern just perpetuates through history, and for perfectly good reasons. If you serve power, authority and privilege, you'll end up, by & large, with respectability. And if you undermine them, whether it's by political analysis, moral critique, or anything else, they're not going to applaud you for it.