Mastodawn

A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his.
In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2

More about this quote: wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #emerson #ralphwaldoemerson #belief #believeinyourself #confidence #creativity #ego #genius #humility #idea #opinion #originality #pride #selfappreciation #selfapproval #selfbetrayal #selfcensorship #selfconfidence #selfconsciousness #selfcriticism #selfdefeating #selfdeprecating #selfeffacing #selfesteem #selfjudgment #selfquestioning #selfreproach #selfsabotage #selftrust #spontaneity #trustyourself

Emerson, Ralph Waldo - Essay (1841), "Self-Reliance," Essays: First Series, No. 2 | WIST Quotations

WIST Quotations

GANPANTSURA Archive Apr 5

Ukraine: Its Inner Enemy — Beyond the Front and Beyond Peace

The collapse of empires in the 1920s–30s marked for the Poles the construction of their new national state. However, the problem of the new Polish territories and the people living there quickly arose. The southeastern Polish lands — now western Ukraine — were subjected to a policy of forced assimilation. Any political activity based on the idea of Ukrainian identity, and even more so on the pursuit of autonomy, was prohibited.

https://ilyaganpantsura.wordpress.com/2026/04/05/ukraine-its-inner-enemy-beyond-the-front-and-beyond-peace/

綠豆 Green Bean Media Mar 30

#Groundbreaking | Horse-racing, dancing continues, but books look uncertain | Chris Yeung | At Large

📖 Become a paid Patreon member of “Green Bean Media” to receive all full articles by email. You can also read it on our website: IG Story link

▌Extract

Although there is no list of banned books in Hong Kong, fears of breaching the national security and seditious publications laws have worsened self-censorship in the publishing industry and society a...
https://www.instagram.com/p/DWgLZ9xgZfW/

Don Curren 🇨🇦🇺🇦Mar 22

The historian #GarryWills, in an essay on Phillip Knightley’s 1975 book about wartime journalism, “The First Casualty,” wrote, “A #liberaldemocracy submits to #propaganda more readily than a #totalitarian state. #Self‐censorship is always more effective than #bureaucratic #censorship.”

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5zca2ola2zxpkw37w4f3wxtu/post/3mhnsb4snj22b

AI Daily Post Feb 26

China’s home‑grown LLM Qwen suddenly edits its own reply when asked about the nation’s global image. The incident shines a light on AI censorship, political sensitivity, and the ethical tightrope of self‑censoring models. What does this mean for future chatbot development? #AICensorship #Qwen #SelfCensorship #AIethics

🔗 https://aidailypost.com/news/chinese-chatbot-qwen-selfcensors-answer-chinas-international

sayzard Feb 17

Nat Purser (@NatPurser)

작성자는 FCC가 실제로 조치를 취하지 않더라도 조사를 개시하는 것만으로도 기업들이 신중을 기해 자율검열(self-censor)하게 되어 표현의 자유를 위축시킬 수 있다고 경고합니다. 조사 자체가 실효성이 없어도 연쇄 영향(knock-on effects)이 발생하며, 다양한 맥락에서 이 문제가 중요하다고 지적합니다.

https://x.com/NatPurser/status/2023810516117020875

#fcc #policy #freespeech #selfcensorship

Nat Purser (@NatPurser) on X

harold is right. the FCC doesn’t have to actually Do anything to chill free speech. it can just Open an Investigation that’ll go nowhere, and companies will self-censor out of caution. knock-on effects are real in other contexts, they matter here too.

X (formerly Twitter)

Research Network Digi-Oek.ch Feb 14

[en] Reconstructing Free Expression

"The Trump administration is engaged in a full-scale assault on First Amendment rights and values, violating laws and using threats to create a climate of fear and self-censorship. Its attacks—often successful—have exposed significant, longstanding weaknesses in the laws, institutions, and norms that underwrite public discourse."

"This initiative will encompass a series of closed convenings with scholars and advocates to generate ideas for legal, institutional, and other reforms ..."

https://knightcolumbia.org/research/reconstructing-free-expression

#freeexpression #firstamendment #usa #selfcensorship #trumpadministration #knightcolumbia #columbia #cornell #universitychicago

Reconstructing Free Expression

Knight First Amendment Institute

WIST Quotations Feb 9

A quotation from Henry Commager

The point is that when a nation silences criticism and dissent, it deprives itself of the power to correct its errors. The process of silencing need not be as savage as in Nazi Germany or in South Africa today; it is enough that an atmosphere be created where men prefer silence to protest. As has been observed of book-burning, it is not necessary to burn books, it is enough to discourage men from writing them.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1965-12-18), “The Problem of Dissent,” Saturday Review

More about this quote: wist.info/commager-henry-steel…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #henrycommager #selfcorrection #censorship #criticism #dissent #error #oppression #protest #selfcensorship #silencing

Commager, Henry Steele - Essay (1965-12-18), "The Problem of Dissent," Saturday Review | WIST Quotations

WIST Quotations

George Macgregor Feb 8

The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the #US | Winter Olympics 2026
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/07/jd-vance-boos-winter-olympics #JDVance #winterolympics2026 #winterolympics #USA #SelfCensorship #NBC

The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the US

The real risk for American broadcasters is not that dissent will be visible. It is that audiences will start assuming anything they do not show is being hidden

The Guardian

Michael Dowling aka MeckeringBoy Jan 30

News media in Australia (& world) covered, in depth, the return of the last Israeli hostage body, with interviews of family & govt… spokespersons. The return of FIFTEEN Palestinian bodies held hostage by Israel hardly rated a mention. Discuss. #Genocide #SelfCensorship #MediaBias #Apartheid

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ecd7o2kgjtaq2exh2uwa7hhd/post/3mdlsbgsshs2x