"Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody is saying, or else you say something true, and it will sound like it's from Neptune"

Noam Chomsky’s observation highlights the tension between conformity and honesty in public discourse. Within most societies, prevailing ideas and frameworks shape what is recognized as appropriate, respectable, or “normal” to say. These prevailing ideas, what he calls “conventional doctrines”, serve a stabilizing function, keeping conversations predictable and within defined boundaries. When individuals simply echo these doctrines, their views fit comfortably in the mainstream, attracting little attention or controversy. Their words are familiar, easily accepted, and rarely challenged.

However, conveying an uncomfortable or inconvenient truth, especially one that challenges these norms, carries inherent risk. When ideas depart from established assumptions or accepted wisdom, they often seem outlandish, foreign, or absurd to those steeped in the dominant perspective. Chomsky’s use of the expression “from Neptune” encapsulates this reaction: a true statement that disrupts consensus opinion can sound so unfamiliar that listeners might perceive it as originating from a different world entirely.

This dynamic creates a powerful incentive structure. Many people, either consciously or unconsciously, self-censor or adapt their views to fit the social or intellectual environment. Speaking honestly means risking marginalization, ridicule, or dismissal. To those invested in the conventional doctrines, novel or contradictory truths represent not just alternative facts, but threats to the stability of their worldview. The sense that “everybody” agrees functions as a shield against critical scrutiny; dissent, by contrast, is alien.

Chomsky’s observation is particularly resonant in contexts dominated by orthodoxy, whether in politics, media, academia, or everyday conversation. Intellectual courage thus becomes a rare quality, because breaking with conventional thought patterns requires not only insight but the willingness to be misunderstood or even ostracized. The quest for truth is therefore often at odds with the human desire for social acceptance and the intellectual comfort of consensus.