General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI wish we had a better example for regulating free speech than "yelling FIRE in a crowded theater"
The provenance is unfortunate.
The phrase comes from Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.'s decision in Schenck v. US, where Holmes compared US Socialist party secretary Schenck's anti-WWI flyers to yelling fire in a crowded theater. It established the "clear and present danger" standard (something that is a clear and present danger can be subject to prior restraint), though this has been largely made irrelevant by later decisions.
Anyways, just a bit of history, and a wish to find an example for regulating free speech that wasn't used to quash anti-war protests.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Mark Twain remarked on the phenomenon in his story War Prayer.
GeorgeGist
(25,323 posts)surrealAmerican
(11,364 posts)I thought it was older than that.
Comrade_McKenzie
(2,526 posts)RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Speech at official gov meetings, usually well regulated to 3 minutes.
You have a right to speak which can be infringed or total freedom allowed.
I guess you could say there is a time and a place for certain things that the government can control for the welfare of all.