Fearful people are more dependent, more easily manipulated and controlled, more susceptible to deceptively simple, strong, tough measures and hard-line postures. They may accept and even welcome repression if it promises to relieve their insecurities. - George Gerbner, former dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania

"People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution; they don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible." Jamie Raskin, American University constitutional law professor

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.
Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. Mahatma Gandhi

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. Thomas Jefferson

“If a man merits the confidence of his neighbors in Virginia – let him worship one God, twenty Gods or no God – be he Jew, Turk, Pagan, or Infidel, he is eligible to any office in the state.” Colonial-era Baptist minister John Leland

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people. - V

"Secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy ... [sic] censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, 'This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,' the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything —you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him." - John Lyle in Revolt in 2100 by Robert A. Heinlein

"Be afraid, folks...be very afraid- but be vigilant, and read every page created by these organizations- dig deep. They are wolves in sheeps' clothing. Their rabid desire to save potential souls from Satan's clutches eclipses any true compassion for the woman who happens to be bearing it. If that isn't totally twisted, I don't know what is. Compassion should never have any strings attached. If it does, it ceases to be genuine compassion, and is instead bald manipulation and coercion of emotionally vulnerable people. What would Christ, who preached compassion for all regardless of their transgression, say about that, I wonder..." - Sunfell, 10 August 2003

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag, carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis (1935)

Page last modified on November 28, 2006, at 08:29 AM