It doesn’t matter if the truth is right there out in front of your eyes. You will find a way, a mechanism, in order to keep your own system of denial. So as I always say it, denial is a river that runs in the – in Egypt. So we became very good in that.
BASSEM YOUSSEFI always tell people that a revolution is not an event, it’s a process. It is a struggle. And it doesn’t usually go smoothly.
More Bassem Youssef Quotes
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I always tell people that a revolution is not an event, it’s a process. It is a struggle. And it doesn’t usually go smoothly.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
The worst thing ever that you have to explain your joke because I was very disappointed trying to explain why the joke is funny for the interrogator.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
Everybody grows up with comedy. I mean, Egyptian comedy has a very, very old tradition. Our theater and our movies are just, like, amazing.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
I was accused of insulting the president, insulting Islam, insulting – spreading rumors, disturbing the peace.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
Donald Trump is not stupid. He knows exactly what he’s saying. And he’s just saying out there – I mean, forget about Muslims. He said I could go down on Fifth Avenue in New York and shoot someone in the face and people – and the voters will have no problem with it.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
People would believe propagate, spread rumors or conspiracy theories in order to protect their own system of denial.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
I think that the religious and the military right wings are just two sides of the same coin if somebody uses God and religion and somebody uses country and security.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
I think by the time I left Egypt, there was about like 400 accusations against me in the drawer of the public persecutor office. It’s a way for them to exhaust you, to push you, to put you under pressure, to distract you.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
The only the way that you can live and function without seeing the facts in front of you is to put yourself in a constant state of denial.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
Make me a CIA agent to use sarcasm to bring down the government and bring down the country because this was all, of course, part of a worldwide conspiracy against the country.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
We have Internet now and people are not stupid. But it seems that some people are trying to push the same agenda of the Cold War of conspiracy theories and amazing achievements that are very easily traced and validated.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
There are people who believe in Egypt that I – I’m actually – I’m getting paid by external powers and external intelligence entities in order to use satire to bring down the government.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
Satire has its limits. It is really up to the people to make the change. The satirist’s role ends at the screen.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
I’m sure even in America, where you have, like, free speech people self-censor themself. And it’s not – it happens because of different reasons. Because maybe it’s politically incorrect, it doesn’t have to really to be put in jail.
BASSEM YOUSSEF -
People say, ‘Are you afraid? Are you scared for your life?’ and I tell them: If I choose today to tone it down, if I choose today to shut up, tomorrow me, you, and all of us will be forced to.
BASSEM YOUSSEF