Quote

The way that things happen in Egypt, the government - or the head of the government - don't get personally involved. They were always goonies and agents and people who do that kind of work for the government either by direct instructions or because they think that they're doing something good or they want to be on the good side of the government.

Bassem Youssef

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Bassem Youssef
Age: 50
Born: 1974
Born: March 22
Cardiac Surgeon
Columnist
Satirist
Surgeon
Television Producer
Cairo
Egypt
People
Kind
Side
Something
Either
Instructions
Way
Head
Egypt
Good
Sides
Instruction
Always
Happen
Agents
Things
Happens
Personally
Think
Government
Direct
Thinking
Work
Involved

More quotes by Bassem Youssef

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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
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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
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I was accused of insulting the president, insulting Islam, insulting - spreading rumors, disturbing the peace.
Bassem Youssef
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Egypt is kind of like the Hollywood of the Middle East. I mean, we had cinema maybe decades before the other Arab countries ever got independence.
Bassem Youssef
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It is very depressing to see that in the 21st century people are still using the same 1950s and '60s style of propaganda.
Bassem Youssef
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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
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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
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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
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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 Youssef
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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
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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
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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
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It is very difficult to imagine that you can actually get rid of a dictatorship that has been there for 60 years only in 18 days.
Bassem Youssef
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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