Clement Attlee (1883–1967) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Speech in Glasgow (10 April 1949), quoted in The Times (11 April 1949), p. 4
Prime Minister
Address to the United States Congress (13 November 1945), quoted in The Times (14 November 1945), p. 4. Aneurin Bevan said to Attlee afterwards: "That was a noble speech. I felt very proud", quoted in John Campbell, Nye Bevan and the Mirage of British Socialism (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988), p. 187.
1940s
Clement Attlee (1883–1967) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Speech in Glasgow (10 April 1949), quoted in The Times (11 April 1949), p. 4
Prime Minister
Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) Polish Marxist theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary
Reported in Paul Froelich, Die Russische Revolution (1940)
Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) Polish Marxist theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary
Die russische Revolution. Eine kritische Würdigung (1920) p. 109 <!-- and in Rosa Luxemburg - Gesammelte Werke Vol. 4, p. 359, Footnote 3, Dietz Verlag Berlin (Ost), 1983 -->
This contains probably her most famous statement: Freiheit ist immer Freiheit der Andersdenkenden, translated as "Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters."
Variant: Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.
Context: Freedom only for the members of the government, only for the members of the Party — though they are quite numerous — is no freedom at all. Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters. The essence of political freedom depends not on the fanatics of 'justice', but rather on all the invigorating, beneficial, and detergent effects of dissenters. If 'freedom' becomes 'privilege', the workings of political freedom are broken.
“Some people will say, ‘Freedom of speech, Freedom of speech’. These are foolish people.”
Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America
Google's Eric Schmidt calls for 'spell-checkers for hate and harassment' https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/dec/08/googles-eric-schmidt-spell-checkers-hate-harassment-terrorism, 8 December 2015, by Alex Hern. <br class="br">2010s, 2015 <br class="br">Context: We are losing a lot of people to the Internet. We have to do something. We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what’s happening. We have to talk to them [about], maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way. Some people will say, ‘Freedom of speech, Freedom of speech’. These are foolish people.
“Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.”
Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) Polish Marxist theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary
Source: The Russian Revolution (1918), Chapter Six, "The Problem of Dictatorship"
Context: Freedom only for the supporters of the government, only for the members of one party – however numerous they may be – is no freedom at all. Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently. Not because of any fanatical concept of “justice” but because all that is instructive, wholesome and purifying in political freedom depends on this essential characteristic, and its effectiveness vanishes when “freedom” becomes a special privilege.
Fred Phelps (1929–2014) American pastor and activist
2000s, God Hates Canada (2008)
Context: Canada is a filthy country run by fags, which has Draconian laws making it a crime to preach the Gospel there. All of these cowardly kissy-poo preachers who telecast their milquetoast sermons into Canada have to edit out every single word critical of fags -- snip, snip, snip -- or the fag officials of Canada will arrest and criminally prosecute the Canadian affiliates, and shut down their stations! There's no freedom of speech in Canada. There's no freedom of religion in Canada. It is against the law to read the Bible in Canada.
Sam Harris (1967) American author, philosopher and neuroscientist
Sam Harris, "After Charlie Hebdo and Other Thoughts" (21 January 2015) http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/after-charlie-hebdo-and-other-thoughts <br class="br">2010s
Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism
Source: The Living Thoughts Of Kierkegaard