Roland Barthes Quotes

You know, you're living in a society where if you say something that you might think may be OK, when it's more sensitive to that particular culture. You have to be very, very careful.

Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

I think that having a job in journalism, despite all of the changes, is still a fantastic way to be - make a living observing your society and having a chance to use your voice.

I don't think it makes any sense to try to get anyone to not talk.

I think one of the nicest things that we created as a generation was just the fact that we could say, 'Hey, I don't like white people.'

Comedians have a huge carte blanche and the ability to get away with saying a lot of things.

In 2003, I wrote a New York Times best-seller called 'Shut Up & Sing,' in which I criticized celebrities like the Dixie Chicks & Barbra Streisand who were trashing then-President George W. Bush. I have used a variation of that title for more than 15 years to respond to performers who sound off on politics.

I guess I understand a public intellectual to be somebody who moves public discourse forward: someone who either says something new or says something that everybody knows to be true but is afraid to express.

I think, because of the lack of guaranteed contracts in the league, there's hesitancy to speaking your minds at times. But I feel like there could be a movement beginning where guys are feeling a little more comfortable talking about things that are important to them.

We all have the right to comment about each other.

I think we have gone too far into the PC culture, but there's a limit to how far we can take that.

Good grief, we're getting offended by everything these days! People can't say anything without offending somebody.

When a lot of people are distrusting the news they watch, comedians are stepping up talking about things that most people are too afraid to talk about, shining light on problems nobody else will admit, whether it's Samantha Bee or John Oliver or Trevor Noah.

I think it is important for me to speak out on social issues. Sometimes people will agree with me. Sometimes people will disagree with me. I don't take that personally.

Journalism is a way of voicing opinion, of participating in the political, social, or cultural debate.

Only in America can the first-generation Indian American Muslim kid get on the stage and make fun of the president.

If you want to initiate a broader debate about racism, is it really healthy to create an atmosphere in which it is not only statues that are being toppled but a range of cultural artefacts, TV series, celebrities, columnists and controversial broadcasters?

Trigger warnings are an instantiation of the West's zeitgeist of perpetual offense and victimhood that defines much of public discourse.

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

I don't pick and choose what LeBron should talk about any more than any talking heads who try to pick and choose.

'Black Skinhead' almost got deaded because it was too much like a soccer song.

One of my favorite things on YouTube is the famous 1965 debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley at Cambridge University.

There's been such a pushback against political correctness, and I think that's due to the discomfort people feel talking about other people's issues that they don't fully understand.

Radio affords you the opportunity to pontificate and elaborate extensively.

It's easy to give your opinion in front of the television without any responsibility.