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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (60714)	10/2/2002 3:54:01 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Shouting fire in a crowded theater is disallowed because the situation, not the words themselves, create a clear and present danger. You are welcome to shout fire in other circumstances. And indeed, if there should be a fire in a crowded theater, it would be your duty to shout it. Similarly with fighting words. When said in a context where one can reasonably expect to draw an immediate physical response, the words in that situation are prohibited. But the words themselves are not prohibited. It may be a fighting words situation of you stand in the middle of a JDL march and shout "Hitler was right." But to print it, or put it on a poster, is not fighting words. It is this that makes most college speech codes so objectionable. Not that they prohibit words in contexts that make them fighting words or create an immediate and sibstantive danger. But that they prohibit certain words in any context whatsoever. In short, you do not outlaw the words themselves, you prohibit their use in very limited situations where their use could reasonably be expected to cause an immediate greater harm.