--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Self-censorship, the most important and…" description: "\"Self-censorship, the most important and most successful form of censorship, is rampant. Debate is identified with dissent, which is in turn identified ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/425/susan-sontag-332_able_self-censorship-the-most-important-and-m_671851.jpg" --- # Self-censorship, the most important and most successful… ![“Self-censorship, the most important and most successful form of censorship, is rampant. Debate is identified with dissent, which is in turn identified with disloyalty. There is a widespread feeling that, in this new, open-ended emergency, we may not be able to 'afford' our traditional freedoms.” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/425/susan-sontag-332_able_self-censorship-the-most-important-and-m_671851.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/425/susan-sontag-332_able_self-censorship-the-most-important-and-m_671851.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/425/susan-sontag-332_able_self-censorship-the-most-important-and-m_671851.jpg) > “Self-censorship, the most important and most successful form of censorship, is rampant. Debate is identified with dissent, which is in turn identified with disloyalty. There is a widespread feeling that, in this new, open-ended emergency, we may not be able to 'afford' our traditional freedoms.” [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Self‑censorship is pervasive, equating dissent with disloyalty, threatening freedoms under the guise of emergency. **In simple terms:** Self‑censorship silences dissent and erodes liberty. Key Takeaway Guard against internal censorship to protect free expression. Themes freedom censorship dissent Mood cautious defiant Type critical political When to use this quote - academic debate - online speech - authoritarian policies Key Concepts social control psychology of conformity Questions to Reflect On - When have you censored yourself for safety? - What mechanisms can preserve openness while ensuring security? A Different Perspective Some self‑censorship can be protective in hostile environments. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Censorship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/censorship/) [Debate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/debate/) [Disloyalty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disloyalty/) [Dissent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dissent/) [Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feelings/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Freedoms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedoms/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Self censorship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-censorship/) [Successful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/successful/) ## Related quotes > [Is it really beyond our wits to devise some form of censorship which would trap only the crudely sadistic?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/storm-jameson/is-it-really-beyond-our-wits-to-devise-some-form-of-censorship-which/) [Storm Jameson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/storm-jameson/) > [Quite frankly, I think political correctness is the worst form of censorship. You're not allowed to speak your mind unless you're black, or unless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilbur-smith/quite-frankly-i-think-political-correctness-is-the-worst-form-of/) [Wilbur Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilbur-smith/) > [I've always fought any form of censorship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yasmine-hamdan/i-ve-always-fought-any-form-of-censorship/) [Yasmine Hamdan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yasmine-hamdan/) > [“The ultimate form of censorship is assassination. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-ultimate-form-of-censorship-is-assassination/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Stopping leaks is a new form of censorship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-assange/stopping-leaks-is-a-new-form-of-censorship/) [Julian Assange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-assange/) > [Even a very brief tape-delay introduces a form of censorship into the broadcast - not direct governmental control, but it means that a network…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-pierson/even-a-very-brief-tape-delay-introduces-a-form-of-censorship-into-the/) [Frank Pierson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-pierson/) > [Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/assassination-is-the-extreme-form-of-censorship/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/self-censorship-is-insulting-to-the-self-timidity-is-a-hopeless-way/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [SeLF censorsHIP? Not my strong suit...I dont want to be a total d o u c h e b a g , but a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/misha-collins/self-censorship-not-my-strong-suit-i-dont-want-to-be-a-total-d-o-u-c/) [Misha Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/misha-collins/) > [Self-censorship happens not only in China, or Iran or ex-Soviet places. It can happen anywhere. If an artist penetrates a certain taboo or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/xiaolu-guo/self-censorship-happens-not-only-in-china-or-iran-or-ex-soviet-places/) [Xiaolu Guo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/xiaolu-guo/) > [As a writer, I think the greatest danger would be self-censorship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-kitamura/as-a-writer-i-think-the-greatest-danger-would-be-self-censorship/) [Katie Kitamura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-kitamura/) > [I think the enemy is self-censorship. In a free society the biggest danger is that you're afraid to the point where you censor yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-robbins/i-think-the-enemy-is-self-censorship-in-a-free-society-the-biggest/) [Tim Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-robbins/) > [Society develops a type of self-censorship, with the knowledge that surveillance exists - a self-censorship that is even expressed when people communicate with each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-assange/society-develops-a-type-of-self-censorship-with-the-knowledge-that/) [Julian Assange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-assange/) > [On Broadway, there is no censoring, just self-censorship and doing what makes sense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lopez/on-broadway-there-is-no-censoring-just-self-censorship-and-doing-what/) [Robert Lopez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lopez/) > [Self-censorship is a lie to yourself; if you are going to be trying to seriously create art, to create literary art, and you decide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/self-censorship-is-a-lie-to-yourself-if-you-are-going-to-be-trying-to/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) ## More by Susan Sontag > [the appetite for thinking must be regulated, as all sensible people know, for it may stifle one's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-appetite-for-thinking-must-be-regulated-as-all-sensible-people/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [We are ruled by quotations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/we-are-ruled-by-quotations/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Unfortunately, moral beauty in art - like physical beauty in a person - is extremely perishable. It is nowhere so durable as artistic or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/unfortunately-moral-beauty-in-art-like-physical-beauty-in-a-person-is/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/like-the-collector-the-photographer-is-animated-by-a-passion-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“Why not eliminate schooling between age 12-16? 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The very working of this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/one-set-of-messages-of-the-society-we-live-in-is-consume-grow-do-what/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Currently intellectuals in Western Europe and North America are extremely demoralized and shaken by the rise of a virulent conservative tendency (which some have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/currently-intellectuals-in-western-europe-and-north-america-are/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [With the modern diseases (once TB, now cancer) the romantic idea that the disease expresses the character is invariably extended to assert that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/with-the-modern-diseases-once-tb-now-cancer-the-romantic-idea-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [As objects of contemplation, images of the atrocious can answer to several different needs. To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/as-objects-of-contemplation-images-of-the-atrocious-can-answer-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The creative phase of an idea coincides with the period during which it insists, cantankerously, on its boundaries, on what makes it different; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-creative-phase-of-an-idea-coincides-with-the-period-during-which/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event-or-a-person-into-something/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I'm not interested in giving aid and comfort to the neo­-Conservatives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-m-not-interested-in-giving-aid-and-comfort-to-the-neo-conservatives/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The feminist movement has been important to me because it's made me feel less odd and also because it has made me understand some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-feminist-movement-has-been-important-to-me-because-it-s-made-me/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) [Explore all 644 Susan Sontag quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## More Able quotes > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. 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I'm still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/i-think-i-ve-had-the-longest-career-of-strength-focus-and-still-being/) [Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/) > [I have that need in me, I want everyone to love me, but I'm embarrassed by that need, so I wanted to cover it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-jeselnik/i-have-that-need-in-me-i-want-everyone-to-love-me-but-i-m-embarrassed/) [Anthony Jeselnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-jeselnik/) > [Thinking about the things that happened, I don't know any other ball player would could have done what he (Jackie Robinson) did. 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