For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Interpretation
This quote critiques the concept of freedom of speech, suggesting that it often leads to conformity rather than genuine expression.
Gore Vidal's statement reflects a cynical view of freedom of speech, implying that many people use it not to express original thoughts or ideas, but rather to echo the opinions and sentiments that are widely accepted in society. This observation serves as a commentary on the societal pressures that can stifle individuality and critical thinking, suggesting that true freedom of expression is rare and often overshadowed by the desire to fit in.
In practice
This quote can be used in a debate about censorship and the value of independent thought.
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
Envy is the central fact of American life.
A Witch is born out of the true hungers of her time,β she said. βI was born out of New York. The things that are most wrong here summoned me. ("Drink Entire: Against The Madness Of Crowds")
There's no point of having faith if you have evidence.
So different are the colors of life, as we look forward to the future, or backward to the past; and so different the opinions and sentiments which this contrariety of appearance naturally produces, that the conversation of the old and young ends generally with contempt or pity on either side.
The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.
A man is never the same for long. He is continually changing. He seldom remains the same even for half an hour.
Once you step inside, history has to be rewritten to include you. A fiction develops a story that weaves you into the social fabric, giving you roots and a local identity. You are assimilated, and in erasing your differences and making you one of their own, the community can maintain belief in its wholeness and purity. After two or three generations, nobody remembers the story is fiction. It has become fact. And this is how history is made.
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