OT: Reflecting on Freedom of Speech

 

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
 ~ George Washington (1732-1799) First President of the USA. 



What do you think?  



 

Now there was a leader !!!!!

 

The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen. 

~Tommy Smothers

I always liked the Smothers brothers. I wonder if I could find their show on Hulu, or netflix...

Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it. Martyrdom is the test.

 ~ Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) British author.

We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still. 

~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859

 

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. 

~Voltaire

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We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values.  For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. 
 ~John F. Kennedy

I suppose this would be equally valid if we substitute "message board" for "nation", wouldn't it?