Quotes About Censorship

Televisions and radios are locked on government frequencies - it is a serious crime to listen to a foreign broadcast. As a result, North Koreans think that they live in the best country in the world and that, as difficult as their lives may be, everybody else has it much worse.

Quite frankly, I think political correctness is the worst form of censorship. You're not allowed to speak your mind unless you're black, or unless you're a terrorist, or unless you're an Arab or a minority people. Then you can say what you like. But if you are like a lot of us you are not supposed to say certain things.

The worst evil is - and that's the product of censorship - is the self-censorship, because that twists spines, that destroys my character because I have to think something else and say something else, I have to always control myself.

Liberal censors are the worst. I don't remember any trouble with 'Serial Mom' or 'Cecil B. Demented' or any of them. Except 'Cry Baby.'

Prudery is a kind of avarice, the worst of all.

The worst censors are those prohibiting criticism of the theory of evolution in the classroom.

The worst thing you can do is censor yourself as the pencil hits the paper. You must not edit until you get it all on paper. If you can put everything down, stream-of-consciousness, you'll do yourself a service.

A cursory look at coverage of the so-called 'Free Tommy' brigade, centered around the alleged censorship of Tommy Robinson, a notorious anti-Islam campaigner, reveals how liberals shun defending the free-speech rights of the unpalatable.

The only place we were really told to tone it down - where other people would use the word censorship, but I wouldn't - was when we did MTV right after the Beavis and Butt-head thing.

I'm not going to tone down my rhetoric, and I'm not going to censor myself in sharing what I believe to be the truth. People could either love that or hate that, but I'm not really interested in playing games in order to appeal to a broader audience.

The one thing that frustrates me more than anything else is that no studio has ever told me to tone down violence. They only ask you to make it more presentable.

Indian epics are full of violence, and such stories have shaped India. As filmmakers, I don't think anyone in India would tone down violence, keeping in mind the censorship.

Lenny Bruce did clean TV. You have to be able to do that, I think, to succeed because if you want to promote something, you go on 'The Tonight Show' or 'Letterman' or whatever, you can't be dirty.

Tons of people inspire my music, and now when I do an interview, I'm scared to say who they are.

When I first started, you couldn't mention divorce or death. You couldn't show smelly socks. You couldn't show a snake. They took a skunk out of my strip one time.

It's difficult to do a love scene in Indian cinema. The censors are sitting on top of your head.

It's funny because I think a lot of it is simply... We've never considered ourselves satirists, but because we're on Comedy Central and because we're South Park on Comedy Central, we can do any topic we want.

There are no taboos. Every topic is open, however shocking. It is the way that the topics are handled that's important, and that applies whether it is a 15-year-old who is reading your book or someone who is 55.

When I was on Broadway, my most recent Broadway show was 'Spring Awakening,' and every night I did a topless scene.

'A Death in the Gunj' is set in 1979 and we had to mute a joke that referred to Indira Gandhi. The censors also wouldn't allow the tortoise that some of the characters talk about to be called Kalidas because it's the name of a respected poet.

There are so many people that are offended by debate and free speech that sometimes governments cower. It's just way easier to play into the hands of people who are totalitarian.

I wouldn't totally rule out doing Letterman or the Tonight Show if I had a set that I just happened to write that I thought was funny but was still appropriate for network censors. But I'm not going to go out of my way.

While no censorship would be placed on the citizens, every person was responsible if he attacked the government in speech or writing, and such actions would lead to a criminal prosecution in a federal court.

Eventually, in the guise of preventing "hate speech," all manner of communications will be forbidden. Restrictions will undoubtedly find their way into politics, current affairs, jurisprudence, but they could plausibly be expected to stretch into the realms of philosophy, religion, education, economics, civics, and other subjects that build our fundamental character.