Baruch Spinoza Quote

"Laws which prescribe what everyone must believe,
and forbid men to say or write anything
against this or that opinion,
are often passed to gratify, or rather
to appease the anger of those
who cannot abide independent minds."

by:	Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) Dutch philosopher of Sephardi Portuguese origin
Source:	Theological Political Treatise, 1670
Rating:
Categories:	Censorship, Free Thought, Independence, Law, Press, Prohibition, Reason, Religion, Speech
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-- Anonymous, Reston, VA US
How very true!!!  -- Annette, Los Angeles      3
It is much worse.  -- michael paine, yuba city, CA      2
Welcome to America. America's atrocities are going even far beyond Baruch Spinoza's statement. Look at what is happening in Texas today. An entire belief system is being attacked without regard to law, rules of criminal procedure, innocence or guilt. I happen to believe extremely harsh penalties should be met out for some of the crimes described there but, it is an individual to individual related matter. Yesterday it was prescribing a compelled compliance at the regulator's whim, today it is the incarceration and taking away of individuals and whole defined segments of society, tomorrow only gets scarier and uglier.  -- Mike, Norwalk      2
Global warming is a perfect example of what he is talking about. Scientists are having a hard time getting funding or keeping their jobs if they don't to the line. Anyone that has a dissenting opinion is chastised and called names.  -- warren, olathe      2
Al Gore said that denying that people are causing global warming is the same as saying that the holocaust never happened. Heck, doubting this global warming hoax may even be a hate crime if Al gets his way. So shut up and watch that carbon footprint.  -- jim k, austin,tx      4
Such laws are socialist in nature, and socialism is a disease.  -- J Carlton, Calgary      3
Agree!  -- Me Again
So, in this current right-wing capitalist society we have no corporate or political whores, wow, I would never have guessed. Everything is peachy… we have high gas prices, we have the biggest debt ever, we are number 163 on the list of debtors, we have a military budget that is nearing a trillion dollars (and that is what’s reported), we have crime out of control and one in hundred in jail, we have a government and the Fed that bails out it's buddies, we have food prices shooting through the roof, we have peoples homes taken from them because of corporate greed, we have nothing made in the USA now, we have a broken healthcare system that costs twice as much as the any other country, we have fifty five million without health insurance, a million kids are abused each year, we are the number one polluter, our dollar is sinking, we have companies that rip off workers pensions and health benefits, well, and the list goes on. If we spent our hard earned tax dollars on our countries infrastructure, building betters schools and a better educational system, and providing universal healthcare, we would still have enough money left over to make us the biggest military spender. This country has been hijacked by the south who are the real victors in a civil war which continues even today – I dare all on this blog to see a film called Earthlings, then you tell me if we are civilized. Here’s the link http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/video-earthlings.html My opinion as an idependent mind.  -- RobertSRQ      3
Robert...its fascism, its corruption, and its out of control.  -- J Carlton, Calgary
That's democracy for you -- not only do we reserve the right to print up free money for ourselves, but now we have 'free speech zones' behind cages in back alley parking lots. RobertSRQ, I do not think we live in a right-wing capitalist society -- we are much more socialist than capitalist. In fact, today's 'capitalism' is indeed the perfection of socialism under the control of the banks. To me 'capitalism' is the corruption of the free market and the monetary system which the socialists blame for our troubles, while in truth, the socialists are responsible for it. The Constitution says nothing about capitalism. Either we trade freely with a sound money system as per the Constitution or we have a corrupt power system that is used against We The People.  -- E Archer, NYC      3
What we have today is closest to Mussolini's syndicalist corporatism, i.e. Fascism; and Fascism is nationalist socialism as opposed to international socialism (Marxism). Corporations are privately owned, but government directs production and labor relations through regulation, inflation, and "incentives" in tax policy. We have not been a true capitalist society for a long time. It is interesting that socialists are so unhappy with their own system, however. They just don't want to accept responsibility for the terrible system they advocate.  -- Ken, Allyn, WA      2
Yes Ken Fascist, Socialists, and liberals are pretty much the same thing.  -- warren, olathe      1
Every thing Robert knows comes out of a movie he has seen.  -- warren, olathe
-- anonymous
-- Henry, Edinboro, Pennsylvania
Hear, hear - warren, olathe!!!  -- Mary - MI
-- watchman 13, USA
Robert, I do take your stab at the South personally. Knowing my jewish heritage. By way of Israel to Spain, and from Spain to the British Isles. From the Isles to America. From The Smokey Mountains to Alabama. A little town in south Alabama. Where I grew up at the feet of a Teacher of preachers that bear the truth of liberty and freedom in all honesty. I grew up in a denomination and then was separated at age 28 out from organized religion in like pattern as the apostle Paul. He is the pattern to all those that would thereafter believe on Christ. Can you guess who I am ? Some have waited a long time, but do know of this mans line of things. Very few, but this truth is known. By the way, the South was highjacked by the north to suppress this knowledge of liberty and freedom and those that take a stand with Paul rather than Peter. Are you a catholic Robert that does watch to many movies ? You do not met what you hear.  -- watchman 13, USA
Further more, my name is not Jesus Christ, though I do represent him, My Lord and savior The Lord of hosts.  -- watchman 13, USA
-- jim k, Austin
-- Mary, MI

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