[Shasown]

Originally Posted by Sticks

But to use an old quotation, Freedom of speech does not entitle one to shout fire in a crowded theatre (When there is no fire)

Attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, however the intent behind it is easily countered, if there is a fire burning and there is an imminent threat, one is actually obligated to yell fire and warn others. To put the quote in its true context it was actually said that the First Amendment would not protect a person "falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic." So if you intend to use a quote, dont paraphrase it to support your own argument.

The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. George Washington

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker. Frederick Douglass


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