Ismail Serageldin Quotes

Heretics have been hated from the beginning of recorded time; they have been ostracized, exiled, tortured, maimed, and butchered; but it has generally proved impossible to smother them; and when it has not, the society that has succeeded has always declined.

The oppression of any people for opinion's sake has rarely had any other effect than to fix those opinions deeper, and render them more important.

It's very worrying at this time in the world that any point of view should be prohibited, that's banned, there are heretics that should be burned at the stake.

I believe that political correctness can be a form of linguistic fascism, and it sends shivers down the spine of my generation who went to war against fascism.

Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.

The punishment for new thought or expressing a different opinion is death

In the same way that Egypt and Libya conspired to 'disappear' my father and silence writers such as Idris Ali, they made me, too, to a far lesser extent, feel punished for speaking out.

And why do we, who say we oppose tyranny and demand freedom of speech, allow people to go to prison and be vilified, and magazines to be closed down on the spot, for suggesting another version of history.

The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.

Be alert that dictators have always played on the natural human tendency to blame others and to oversimplify. And don't regard yourself as a guardian of freedom unless you respect and preserve the rights of people you disagree with to free, public, unhampered Expression

Political correctness is the natural continuum from the party line. What we are seeing once again is a self-appointed group of vigilantes imposing their views on others. It is a heritage of communism, but they don't seem to see this.

We live in oppressive times. We have, as a nation, become our own thought police; but instead of calling the process by which we limit our expression of dissent and wonder “censorship,” we call it “concern for commercial viability.”

Whenever one tries to suppress doubt, there is tyranny.

We cannot have a society in which some dictator somewhere can impose censorship here in the United States.

I have no problem with free speech, but free speech and then silencing your opposition - boy, I have a problem with that.

Those that preach tolerance have become absolutely prescriptive in what's allowed to be thought.

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.

Unfortunately, our history has abundant examples of patriotism being used to hurt those who express views in disagreement with that of the majority.

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.

We should silence anyone who opposes the right to freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech and thought matters, especially when it is speech and thought with which we disagree. The moment the majority decides to destroy people for engaging in thought it dislikes, thought crime becomes a reality.

Censorship always defeats it own purpose, for it creates in the end the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.

Political correctness has become a straightjacket.

Persecution is the first law of society because it is always easier to suppress criticism than to meet it.

Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.