Quotes About Controversy

Subliminal Perception: The Nature of a Controversy (1971), authored by Norman F. Dixon

With the publication of this book, Velikovsky's reputation thereafter and until his death found itself in deep, very deep, dodo, the kindest expression of which was that he "kindled a worldwide debate," which was conducted not only with enormous fervor, but also with serious dollops of malice, vengeful mouth-frothing by energetic intellectuals, etc. The central reason for the debate

Free schools were an invention of the Devil or the Yankees, which amounted to practically the same thing.

The famous and rich, even the learned and wise, Singly or in pairs went to her dwelling To press their civilized lips to her thighs Or learn at first hand her buttocks' swelling "Old nicoise whore

The type of religion which rejoices in the pious sound of traditional phrases, regardless of their meanings, or shrinks from "controversial" matters, will never stand amid the shocks of life. In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt to be the things that are least worth holding; the really important things are the things about which men will fight.

In trying to remove from Christianity everything that could possibly be objected to in the name of science, in trying to bribe off the enemy by those concessions which the enemy most desires, the apologist has really abandoned what he started out to defend.

J. Gresham Machen

The type of religion which rejoices in the pious sound of traditional phrases, regardless of their meanings, or shrinks from "controversial" matters, will never stand amid the shocks of life.

A good story should provoke discussion, debate, argument...and the occasional bar fight.

There is obviously something wrong with our educational system. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that there might even be something wrong with at least some of our schoolteachers. But heaven help anyone daring to express such heretical views.

When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.

Most of these centers had the same basic floor plan; but I was absolutely, one hundred percent unprepared to encounter a freaking swastika!

The fact that the Constitution is sufficiently open-ended to infuriate all Americans almost equally is part of its enduring genius.

If you attempt an actual argument with a paper of the opposite politics, says Chesterton, "you will have no answer except slanging or silence.

There is no "universal moral urge" and not all ethical systems agree. Polygamy, human sacrifice, infanticide, cannibalism (Eucharist), wife beating, self-mutilation, foot binding, preemptive war, torture of prisoners, circumcision, female genital mutilation, racism, sexism, punitive amputation, castration and incest are perfectly "moral" in certain cultures. Is god confused?

There are two kinds of people in the world, Notre Dame lovers and Notre Dame haters. And, quite frankly, they're both a pain in the ass.

My dad was vehemently opposed to electric guitars. He did not look on that kind of music as legitimate in any way.

Alan Shepard was the first and only interplanetary golfer," Coke told his sister. "He was also the first and only interplanetary litterbug," Moe said. "What he did was disgraceful.

One man's blasphemy doesn't override other people's free-speech rights, their freedom to publish, freedom of thought.

For me, my discomfort with gay weddings was articulated by a close friend, who observed that gay people getting married is like retarded people getting together to give each other PhDs. It doesn't make them smarter, and it doesn't make us married.

A curious aspect of the Lamanite curse is that no matter how wicked the Nephites become, even if they exceed the wickedness of the Lamanites, their skin remains white. To many of Smith's pre-Darwinian contemporaries, racism blunted the discomfort people felt when they were confronted with human diversity and what they considered to be a challenge to the Adam and Eve story.

People can get upset at the fact that someone resigned. I'm much more focused on the fact that people are harming themselves and, sometimes, taking their own lives, because of bigotry and prejudice. (in response to criticism for his views on ex-Essendon FC CEO Andrew Thorburn's links to a controversial church, saying the issues are "much much bigger" than a footy club)

The subject matter is very tricky. It's about the Munich massacre and what Mossad did afterwards with the assassination squads. I think it's a turning point in history, especially for the Palestinians.

Seventy years of public controversy about "the decision to drop the bomb" have been almost entirely misdirected. It has proceeded on the false supposition that there was or had to be any such decision. There was no new decision to be made in the spring of 1945 about burning a city's worth of humans.