Derek Bok Quotes

Let's cultivate an environment, not just in beauty pageants but in society in general, where we argue like we're right but listen like we're wrong.

I can take an opinion, but I don't like when you try and spew hate and contaminate the way other people think. I feel like I'm one of the people that's always made music for the common man. That's why I don't really live my life the way I could. I don't stunt as much as I could stunt, 'cause that's not who my music is for.

I'm in the civil discourse business. I think it takes all kinds. And more power to everybody.

Liberals allow right-wingers on their platforms to have a 'civilized discussion,' but there's no reasoning with racists. I don't want them to have a platform that humanizes them. I want to talk down to them and meet them exactly where they are, with absolutely no respect.

I have and I will always work to promote a civil public discourse.

Civility is not not saying negative or harsh things. It is not the absence of critical analysis. It is the manner in which we are sharing this territorial freedom of political discussion. If our discourse is yelled and screamed and interrupted and patronized, that's uncivil.

Our right to disagree is precious but fragile. The best way to protect and preserve it is to let the other side speak without demonizing them or destroying their right to be heard. Such civil exchanges are the heart beat of democracy - essential to keeping it alive.

The world I want to live in is a world where everybody is a bit more uncertain about their arguments and is a bit more open to other people's arguments. I think that we can engage ideas without ad hominem attacks.

When I read a script, if I feel it's written with the idea of just bashing other people, then I shy away from it. Sometimes it's some guy coming out with his own hatred, and I don't need to be a part of it.

Our civilization is becoming less civil. You don’t have the right to demonize somebody just because they disagree with you.

The crucial part of a citizens' culture is learning to correct others without mistreating them or generating aggression. We need to create a society in which civility rules over cynicism and apathy.

… if freedom of speech means anything, it means a willingness to stand and let people say things with which we disagree, and which do weary us considerably.

Everyone has a right to say what they want, but what they have to say doesn't interest me.

Beautiful speech doesn't need protection, it's ugly speech that needs protection. We have these cultural norms that allow people to say really ugly things. You don't have to invite them to your dinner party, but you should let them say it.

I'm a real believer in counter-speech when it comes to crazy stuff we don't like.

We need to respect free speech, but we need to respect one another's rights to free speech, too.

My hope is to create spaces where people of all stripes can come together and speak at a lower decibel level. We make more sense that way. We sound more like our real selves that way.

I think that we all got to have respect for each other. And we could all be more careful with the things we say.

Together, we must all remember that one of the most effective responses to hate speech is more speech.

Conservatives should defend free speech - but we must not amplify it when it's blatantly grotesque.

Rather than shutting down free speech, we need to broaden it, to make it possible for young people to say even the things we dislike so we can talk them down. And we need politicians to articulate a picture of the future that includes all of us. Not British values but shared human values.

You should live hoping you are going to offend people, because then you're doing something.

Personally, I think people need to get over this 'being offended' thing. Being offended does not give you the right to silence people. I get offended by things all the time - it's just part of life. The right not to be offended is not a human right, especially in a democracy.

One of the hallmarks of higher education and of democracy is the ability to converse with people with whom we disagree.

Differences of opinion are healthy and they're a part of what makes our democracy great. We grow by understanding each other's differences.