Oliver Wendell Holmes used the “fire in a crowded theater” image to illustrate the limits of the First Amendment. Government, Holmes argued, was free to curtail speech that posed a “clear and present danger” to government interests.
The dangerous speech in question in that case? A socialist opponent of World War I was passing out leaflets encouraging young men to resist the draft. President Woodrow Wilson, of course, prosecuted such dissenters with vigor. Holmes and his court colleagues said Wilson was right to do so, and Congress right to prosecute him.
This is where we end up when free speech is eroded: the powerful use censorship to silence or imprison dissenters.
Growing intolerance of unpopular opinions ought to worry all who love freedom and debate, and all who worry about abuse of power.
It’s said that protecting one’s rights requires exercising them at times. Today, that means all who have unpopular opinions, and who have the ability to express them cogently and publicly, may in fact have the duty to do so.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member