George Orwell
Unpublished Preface to Animal Farm

Government  Censorship

Voluntary Censorship
1.  Contrary to vested interests

• censoring that which is contrary to own interests
  - the flip side of this is overt propaganda - promoting own interests - which is not objectionable
      - every thinking person knows this for what it is
• censoring that which is contrary to the interests of effective pressure groups

2.  Orthodoxy

• a body of ideas which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question.
• not outright forbidden but it is 'not done'
• challengers are silenced
• unfashionable opinions are not given a fair hearing

Principles of Free Speech

If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear

Every opinion, however unpopular, however foolish, is entitled to a hearing

• Rosa Luxembourg - freedom is 'freedom for the other fellow'
• Voltaire: 'I detest what you say; I will defend to the death your right to say it'

Everyone should have the right to say and to print what he believes to be the truth, provided only that it does not harm the rest of the community in some quite unmistakable way.

• intellectual freedom is a deep-rooted tradition
• tolerance and decency are deeply rooted but they have to be kept alive by conscious effort

You cannot defend democracy by destroying all independence of thought

• if you encourage totalitarian methods, the time may come when they will be used against you instead of for you