EP71: You Can Shout Fire In A Theater - Gracearchy with Jim Babka

It's time to demolish the myth that you cannot shout fire in a theater.

It's not insightful. It's not graceful. It's not applicable. Instead, it's such a flawed concept that anyone who invokes it is worse than wrong.

This canard is rolled out every single time someone wants to suppress expression they dislike. You'll turn on your TV, and some interviewer will say, "But the First Amendment says they have a right to free speech," to which the Authoritarian of the Hour will respond, "Well, there are exceptions to the First Amendment, I mean we already know that...

"You cannot shout Fire! in a theater."

Except...

1. You absolutely CAN shout fire in a theater.
2. It might be morally wrong to do so, but your action will have nothing to do with the First Amendment activities.

Timeline
0:00 Intro
1:00 Historical context of Shout Fire
2:45 The case of Eugene Debs
6:35 Why does everyone use Shout Fire?
7:46 The precise words of Oliver Wendell Holmes
11:52 You agree that Debs deserved prison?
13:08 Gracepoint, Stop using Shout Fire
13:49 The logistics of shouting fire
16:12 Unlikely to be arrested
20:55 Close examination of the First Amendment
24:03 Twitter Files and Biden v Missouri
27:00 The freedom of the press prohibits censorship
30:13 Can you print Fire in a theater?
33:44 Why the Founders saw Press as a separate right
38:29 The point when these rights matter most
38:52 Politicians should not be in the social engineering business
41:02 Grace to people who invoke shout fire
42:47 Practice Human Respect instead
43:15 Don't shut down epistemological journeys

Show Notes

The Brandenburg Test (or Line): https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/brandenburg_test

War Truth episode: https://youtu.be/_p_svwh4mKw
Trump and the Rancid Truth About Campaign Finance Laws episode: https://youtu.be/NNQDvm3pFns
Censorship episode: https://youtu.be/Rx1Km_AxNsk

Bill Protzmann is your moderator.

ZERO AGGRESSION PROJECT - https://zeroaggressionproject.org/ - is our sponsor. The views expressed are exclusively those of the participants, and not necessarily those of the board, staff, or supporters of the Zero Aggression Project.

Thank you to Randy Garbin for our amazing thumbnails: http://randygarbin.com/

We are grateful to Sergio at https://www.youtube.com/@KeysofMoonMusic for our intro theme.
► https://www.patreon.com/user?u=10500501
or
you can purchase his music on BandCamp:
► https://keysofmoon.bandcamp.com/
► If you have any questions please feel free to write to Sergio at: [email protected]

Be grace-full to each other.