#minorities

If large numbers of people believe in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech, even if the law forbids it. But if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them." [Freedom of the Park, Tribune, 7 December 1945] ↗

— George Orwell

#freedom #freedom-of-speech #liberty #minorities #persecution

[Lighting a cigarette] Well, I'm not here to impinge on anybody else's lifestyle. If I'm in a place where I know I'm going to harm somebody's health or somebody asks me to please not smoke, I just go outside and smoke. But I do resent the way the nonsmoking mentality has been imposed on the smoking minority. Because, first of all, in a democracy, minorities do have rights. And, second, the whole pitch about smoking has gone from being a health issue to a moral issue, and when they reduce something to a moral issue, it has no place in any kind of legislation, as far as I'm concerned. ↗

— Frank Zappa

#morality #rights #smoking #democracy

George W. Bush brought a lot of minorities into his administration, which was a positive thing, and they had some issues that they wanted to press, but 9/11 really gave them direction. It gave them a purpose. ↗

— Josh Brolin

#brought #bush #direction #gave #george

Canadians tend to be a bit more religious than most Europeans - though not more than the Poles or Ukrainians. Most important, their attitude to immigration and ethnic minorities is more positive than that of most Europeans. ↗

— Timothy Garton Ash

#bit #canadians #ethnic #europeans #immigration

One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights. ↗

— James K. Polk

#great #just #majorities #minorities #object

The Left is doing to America what it has done to almost everything it has deeply influenced - the arts, the university, religion, culture, minorities, Europe: ruining it. ↗

— Dennis Prager

#america #arts #culture #deeply #doing

Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual). ↗

— Ayn Rand

#earth #function #individual #individual rights #majorities

I'm actually part of a number of minorities. I grew up being a horribly awkward kid. A terrible student. And now I find myself as a filmmaker, and you feel kind of alone in the world because you're separate from everyone else. ↗

— Bryan Singer

#alone #awkward #because #being #else

The whole of that part of Southern Africa which is controlled by racial minorities is experiencing either consistent and regular guerilla activity or is faced with advanced preparation for its commencement. ↗

— Joe Slovo

#advanced #africa #commencement #consistent #controlled

We have a president who stole the presidency through family ties, arrogance and intimidation, employing Republican operatives to exercise the tactics of voter fraud by disenfranchising thousands of blacks, elderly Jews and other minorities. ↗

— Barbra Streisand

#blacks #elderly #employing #exercise #family