Quotes About Public discourse

As an atheist, I am angry that we live in a society in which the plain truth cannot be spoken without offending 90% of the population.

The best argument against democracy is a five minute talk with the average voter.

A government of, by, and for the people requires that people talk to people, that we can agree to disagree but do so in civility. If we let the politicians and those who report dictate our discourse, then our course will be dictated.

Grace, respect, reserve, and empathetic listening are qualities sorely missing from the public discourse now.

My desire to curtail undue freedom of speech extends only to such public areas as restaurants, airports, streets, hotel lobbies, parks, and department stores. Verbal exchanges between consenting adults in private are as of little interest to me as they probably are to them.

I loved the writing process. I would love to write more. And I'd like to do a roundtable, like 'The View' or 'The Talk' - something related to social issues and things that are current.

There is something deeply wrong with a political culture which only wants to talk about incarceration in the aftermath of a tragedy.

Transgender issues, and LGBT issues generally, have entered the public conversation on a national level, so there's more need to find people to talk about them. Which I think is great! I like to do that, and I think it's important and necessary, but hopefully there will be a day where I don't have to keep talking about it.

Since everyone has a mouth, everyone will have an opinion.

I don't need to be on any micro-blogging site, because people don't think about what they say there. At times, people abuse, and it is too harsh for me to handle.

On the contrary, the characteristic element of the present situation is that economic questions have finally and irrevocably invaded the domain of public life and politics.

here is a new rule: If you are too stupid to spell "disappointed" even approximately correctly, you are not allowed to take part in public discourse at any level. Trawling

If journalism is good, it is controversial, by its nature.

What I always tell people about Trump, or Kellyanne Conway, or Sarah Sanders, is that when you are interviewing these people, it is really more about the interviewer than the interviewee. What I mean by that is that the interviewer has to be ready to interrupt, fact-check, challenge, rebut.

You know, people really want to hear about the issues.

People feel compelled to continue reading and hearing the news. Sometimes, you just want somebody to be yelling at it with you as you're reading it. I think of that as my function.

I find this in all these places I've been travelling - from India to China, to Japan and Europe and to Brazil - there is a frustration with the terms of public discourse, with a kind of absence of discussion of questions of justice and ethics and of values.

Phrases like "hearts and minds" first arose in public discourse in the 1890s. The French called the strategy "peaceful penetration.

Welcome to Abortion Town!

What is one to make of the tirades of those who appear to know little of politics beyond their own invaluable right to publish their stuff and say what they think?

What has gone catastrophically wrong in England and the States is that for 30 years we've lost the ability to talk about the state in positive terms. We've raised a generation or two of young people who don't think to ask, 'What can the state do that is good?'

The power the fossil fuel industry exerts over Congress is polluting American democracy, the propaganda it emits through its front groups is polluting our public discourse, and, of course, its carbon emissions are polluting our atmosphere and oceans - it's a triple whammy and a disgrace.

If the so called 'democratic' individuals out there really believe in their talk about diversity, they should let those with truly different opinions be allowed to talk freely in public, too.

Donald Trump said prior to the debate that he wants to be very civil. He said that instead of referring to all Hispanics as criminals, he'll call them criminal Americans.