Quotes About Censorship

Don't join the book burners. Don't think you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book...

Don't join the book burners. Do not think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed.

Don't join the book burners. Don't think you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book...

What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books.

People say, 'Are you afraid? Are you scared for your life?' and I tell them: If I choose today to tone it down, if I choose today to shut up, tomorrow me, you, and all of us will be forced to.

That's my advice to all homosexuals, whether they're in the Boy Scouts, or in the Army or in high school: Shut up, don't tell anybody what you do, your life will be a lot easier.

If you care for the quality of life in our American democracy, then you have to be for censorship.

Early Menstruation renders the Uteri Hard & dry; so that they ought not to prompt the early appearance by obscene books, and frequent touchings.

When pages that promote female pleasure are hidden, we understand that our pleasure is invalid,

When drawings of vaginas are removed, we learn that we should be ashamed of our bodies. When female nipples are censored but male nipples are not, we know that we must police our own bodies to ensure we do not arouse men … The bodies, sexualities and desires that are allowed online, translates itself into the bodies, sexualities and desires that are accepted in society.

Algorithms of Oppression

The problem, of course, lies in companies viewing governments and citizens as equals, while in fact governments are, by and large, using their power to implement policies where passing laws is impossible without also changing the national constitution. By remaining neutral, corporations are acting as conduits of the state. They are today's censors, not unlike the religious institutions and governments that came before them.

This is just as true in the United States as it has been in Egypt, Tunisia, and dozens of other locales around the world, and despite mainstream media's heavy focus over the past few years on the alleged censorship of right-wing populists, it is and has always been marginalized communities most affected by these new forms of censorship.

They should be transparent about what they censor, provide users with ample notification, and ensure that every user has the right to appeal removals.

Censorship is, as I hope this book makes clear, inherently political, and the more complex the rules, the more difficult they are to apply at scale. On top of that, as the past few months have demonstrated, the individual right to free expression is inherently in tension with public health and freedom from harm. These are not easy problems, and we must be wary of anyone who claims to have easy solutions.

As a member of the Global Network Initiative, Microsoft had committed to "protect and advance user rights to freedom of expression and privacy, including when faced with government demands for censorship." Specifically, member companies were supposed to work to "avoid or minimize the impact of government restrictions on freedom of expression.

Freedom of speech does not protect you from the consequences of saying stupid shit. [ Blog post, March 12, 2012 ]

Such censorship has not been limited to Japan. Timothy A. Mousseau, a professor of biological sciences at the University of South Carolina, attempted to research Fukushima radiation but said he was hampered by the Japanese government and three of his associates in the testing dropped out over concerns their future job prospects might be jeopardized.

When people are intimidated about having their own opinions, oppression is at hand.

What can we put into the hands of people under oppressive regimes to help them? For me, a big part of it is information, knowledge - the ability to defeat propaganda by understanding it.

A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone.

Those golden minutes before you are completely awake, when your mind is just drifting, you have no censorship you are ready to develop any kind of idea. That's when I come up with the best and worst ideas. That is the privilege of being a writer - that you can stay in bed for an hour in the morning and it's work time.

Is 'vagina' suitable for use in a sonnet? I don't suppose so. A famous poet told me, 'Vagina's ugly.' Meaning, of course, the sound of it. In poems. Meanwhile he inserts his penis frequently into his verse, calling it seriously, 'My Penis'. It is short, I know, and dignified. I mean of course the sound of it. In poems.

The greatest sin, after the initial sin, is its publication.