FIRE!
By Alan Dersheriwitz
This is a interesting article about a saying we have all heard but really do not know the context. the limit to free speech has always been the analogy you can't shout FIRE! in a crowded theater, but the case that drew this comparison, in actuality was a political handbill given to would be soldiers during the first world war, telling them ways to resist the draft. The Supreme Court using the FIRE example upheld a prison sentence to the activist who distributed the handbill, but Mr Dershowitz shows clearly that this was not a example of trying to cause unneeded panic, but true dissenting speech, extremely unpopular during a time of war, but perhaps just the type of speech that need the power of the courts to protect.
