TT #11: 13 Quotes About Censorship

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How censorship, and the attempt to censor thoughts of others out of fear of corrupting them, makes for a society of cowards.

1. Fear of corrupting the mind of the younger generation is the loftiest form of cowardice.

George Holbrook Jackson:   British journalist and publisher (1874-1948)

2. Censorship is the commonest social blasphemy because it is mostly concealed, built into us by indolence, self-interest, and cowardice.   

John Osborne: British dramatist/satirist (1929-1994)

 

3.  I look upon those who would deny others the right to urge and argue their position, however irksome and pernicious they may seem, as intellectual and moral cowards.   

William E. Borah:  attorney and Idaho Senator (1865-1940)

How censorship endangers intellectual development and a free society....

4.   Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.

Harry S. Truman: 33rd President, 1945-1953  (1884-1972)

6.  We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas,
alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

-- John F. Kennedy:   35th President, 1961-63   (1917-1963)

7.  We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still. 

John Stuart Mill,  British philosopher, economist, and moral and political theorist:  (1806-1873)

8. The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it.  If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth:  if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. 

John Stuart Mill,  British philosopher, economist, and moral and political theorist:  (1806-1873)

9.  Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself.  It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. 

Potter Stewart,  Associate Justice, United StatesSupreme Court from 1958-81 (1915-1985)

10.  Restriction on free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us. 

William O. Douglas , Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court from 1939-75 (1898-1980)

...and it doesn't work anyway.

11.   Pontius Pilate was the first great censor and Jesus Christ the first great victim of censorship.

Ben Lindsey, Colorado juvenile law judge and reformer (1869-1943)

12.  "You have not converted a man because you have silenced him."

John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn:  British politician and statesman, writer, and newspaper editor (1838-1923)

Besides:

13.   Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?    [Who will watch the watchers?]

Juvenal:  Roman satiric poet   (60 AD-140 AD)

Related BN-Politics' Posts:

* A Challenge: Putting a Value on Being Informed

* Inspector General Blocked Investigations & Censored Reports?

* Fox Not-news Scrubbed Wikipedia

* What liberal media?

* What liberal media? Part II

 

* Today: House Hearing on Bill to Protect Journalists

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33. State of Confusion
34. Notes in the Key of Life
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44. The Chronicles of a SAHM
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56. Adrian Drake
57. Here Comes a Storm
58. Crazy Working Mom
59. Tinkerbell
60. Live Your Life and Smile
61. Raven's Roads
    

Comments

[Gail Martin]

Great list. You have the ability to get a person thinking.

Happy TT!

[J. Lynne]

What great quotes! It's true that censorship only leads to more mistrust and paranoia and thus more censorship. It's incredibly self-destructive. Remember, that three people can keep a secret but only if 2 of them are dead.

[erin]

Great compilation of quotes. Happy TT!

[Angela Klocke]

I enjoyed the list - nice in the middle of a fluff day.

[Merrie]

This is quite a thought-provoking site! I always feel like I need to do my homework when I start reading these posts!

Great job!
:)
Merrie

[Mark Caldwell]

Robert A Heinlein's politics don't always come close to matching my politics but he wrote a lot of good stuff on censorship and secrecy. My favourite is from it goes on and is too long to reproduce but heres a snappier one...

"Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny."

[Moondancer Drake]

I love these quotes. Thanks for going though all the trouble of putting this together. I think #2 is my fav.

http://moondancerdrake.livejournal.com/

[Dawn]

Those are great quotes. Censorship is truly a roadblock to truth. Number 12 was as true of the days when people thought the earth was round to the things that are thought and thought to be true now. Good TT. Thanks for visiting my TT.

[Luka]

I love latin quotes! :-) Great list! mine are up now too! :-) better late than never! :-)

[Adrian Drake]

Amazing list! Bravo!

[Starrlight]

Oh my #12 is so appropriate for the times we live in.

[Crazy Working Mom]

Wow, what a great list! :)
Thanks so much for stopping by this week.

[Tink]

Great quotes! Still so true too...
Thanks for visiting my Mabon TT!

[Jill]

I really like # 9 and # 12!!
But I'm sad... Where are we, your fellow Canadians?? Not a mention about our political figures!!
Sorry for being so late!!

[Linda R. Moore]

Truly excellent, as always.

Do you visit all the TTs? I see you posting a lot--how do you do it?