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Quote by Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Science needs the light of free expression to flourish. It depends on the fearless questioning of authority, and the open exchange of ideas.”

Quote by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Book:Cosmos
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Cosmos

Cosmos is a book that delves into the vastness of the universe, offering insights into the origins of the cosmos, the nature of stars, galaxies, and black holes, and the impact of space exploration on human understanding. more

Author

Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, science communicator, and television personality. Born on October 5, 1958, he is renowned for his deep understanding of the cosmos and his ability to popularize scientific knowledge. Tyson grew up in New York City and earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from Columbia University. He served as the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History and has been a member of various scientific committees. more

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“Ye cannot make us now lesse capable, lesse knowing, lesse eagarly pursuing of the Truth, unlesse ye first make yourselves that made us so, lesse the lovers, lesse the founders of our true Liberty. We can grow ignorant again, brutish, formall, and slavish as ye found us, but you then must first become that which ye cannot be, oppressive, arbitrary, and tyrannous as they were from whom ye have free'd us.”

CensorshipFree SpeechFree ExpressionAreopagiticaCensorhip Of Books
Book:Areopagitica
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“...know, that so far to distrust' the judgement and the honesty of one who hath but a common repute in Learning and never yet offended, as not to count him fit to print his mind without a tutor and examiner lest he should drop a schism or something of corruption, is the greatest displeasure and indignity to a free and knowing spirit that can be put upon him.”

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“Blasphemy is just the fanatic's name for criticism. Charb writes wisely: 'A believer can blaspheme only to the extent that the idea of blasphemy holds any meaning to him. A non-believer, no matter how hard he tries, 'cannot' blaspheme. God is sacred only to those who believe in him. If you wish to insult or offend God, you have to be sure that he exists. The strategy used by minority group activists masquerading as anti-racists is to pass off blasphemy as Islamophobia and Islamophobia as racism.' The crucial distinction we must defend is between acts of imagination and acts of violence....Faith is not the enemy. Fanaticism is the enemy. It always is. But only a fool would deny that faith has been the seedbed of fanaticism in mankind's long and sorry struggle for the light. As much as at times we need to seek "solidarity" among unlike groups, we also need to "desolidarize," to "unsolidarize"—to put the people we know before the abstract categories we imagine. Come to think of it, making people, with all their flaws, fully visible while leaving generalized types alone is exactly what the caricaturist has always done for us. It's his special form of bravery.”

Free SpeechBlasphemyFree ExpressionCartoonsCharlie HebdoCaricatureOpen Society
Book:Open Letter: On Blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the True Enemies of Free Expression
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“Public opinion! I don't know how sociologists define it, but it seems obvious to me that it can only consist of interacting individual opinions, freely expressed and independent of government or party opinion. So long as there is no independent public opinion in our country, there is no guarantee that the extermination of millions and millions for no good reason will not happen again, that it will not begin any night—perhaps this very night.”

Public OpinionSoviet RussiaFree Expression1977KatorgaWhy Did We Stand For It
Book:The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, Books V-VII
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