Posted on 10/02/2023 11:20:53 AM PDT by DallasBiff
Accusing people of “shouting ‘Fire’ in a crowded theater” isn’t sufficient grounds for regulating what they say.
Even people who know about the First Amendment still have trouble believing that someone can make false, irresponsible, even dangerous statements without paying any penalty. For instance, when Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, spoke with National Public Radio to promote COVID vaccinations and boosters just before Thanksgiving, he sharply criticized people who intentionally spread misinformation about the vaccine’s safety. “Isn’t this like yelling fire in a crowded theater?” he asked. “Are you really allowed to do that without some consequences?”
In fact, you usually are allowed to do that without fear of arrest, lawsuits, or other legal consequences. Shouting “Fire” in a crowded theater, a metaphor that dates to a 1919 Supreme Court ruling by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., is widely—and wrongly—held to be a far-reaching exception to the First Amendment, which offers broad protection to free expression in the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
I know this article is from almost two years ago, but Mr./Ms. Kosseff will be defending Jammaal Bowman for his actions.
So, where are the consequences for those who spread the misinformation about the vaxx being "safe and effective" or "two weeks to flatten the curve" or "masking prevents the spread"? They need punishing, right?
Well, technically they are correct, “shouting fire in a crowded theater” is not an exception to the 1st Amendment, no matter how many people mistakenly think that it is.
Interestingly, the case was not about shouting fire in a crowded theater. The case Schenck versus United States involved him distributing handbills opposing the draft. The fire in a crowded theater exception has always been about suppressing political speech.
It’s not an EXCEPTION but it is an actionable offense.
If people are injured or killed based on YOUR perfectly legal free speech, you are liable.
Just like you are liable for libel, slander, perjury, and other things that you have an absolute freedom to say.
“It’s not an EXCEPTION but it is an actionable offense.”
It could be. Not always. If there’s an actual fire, for example, then there’s nothing actionable. In fact, just the opposite, you might be liable if you knew there was a fire and didn’t warn anyone.
um... duh
Actionable or not, no one will ever be charged with the crime of yelling fire in a movie theater.
Incitement, disturbing the peace, civil liability etc.....common crimes and remedies-the act in and of itself is not unlawful or actionable.
It is a false comparison put forth by totalitarian idiots.
except that perjury is a crime, libel/slander are explicitly civil offenses-
yelling fire in a movie theater is neither a crime nor a civil offense itself.
you really are pedantic, aren’t you...
Call it the Alex Jones persecution
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