: Political banter..

[Bill Vermillion]

On Thu, May 20, 2004 at 02:45:48AM -0400, Fairlight thus spoke:
> Yo, homey, in case you don' be listenin', Bill Vermillion done said:
> > 
> > 	'The most stringent protection of free speech would not
> > 	protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre, and
> > 	causing panic.  It does not even protect a man from an
> > 	injunction against uttering words that may have all the
> > 	effects of force'.

> > IOW certain speech can be classified as dangerous, and the comment
> > Holmes made did have the qualifier of 'causing panic'.   It's not
> > the words, but what effect that words have that may make their use
> > illegal.

> Good. Can I please sue Jewish Hospital and a few others that
> keep running scare-tactic ad campaigns trying to get you into
> their ER's when you have certain symptoms?

Prove that many people died in the ensuing panic trying to get to
the hospital and you might have a case.  

There is speech that is called 'dangerous' and anything that might
cause a crowd to panic, rush the exits, and kill people by
trampling them to death would fit that.

Panic and rushing to exits has been caused many deaths in the
past. Thankfully safety has improved to the point where the
entertainment establishment fires are fewer and death tolls
[while are still too high] are not in the 500 person range.

Justice Holmes comment was made while the Iroquois Theatre fire, in
which 675 people died, was still current in many people's memory.
In virtually all fires of that type a great many lives were lost in
the ensuing panic with people being trampled to death. A false cry
of fire could also cause a great many deaths.

> So since they're causing harm by crying foul over things that
> are probably not even accurate 90%+ of the time, how is this
> any different than yelling, "Fire!" in a crowded theatre?

As above - hundreds don't die being trampled to death in a rush to
th exits.


> And in related news...

> Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia stock dropped 4.4% today. :)
> It appears her brand of safety matches ignite on contact when
> dropped. K-Mart apparently found this out firsthand in two
> separate incidents and has pulled the product.

Main reason for the stock drop was the announcement that her TV
show will stop production until at least 2005 and not resume until
here current legal problems are solved.

> Gotta wonder if protecting that $50-60k was really worth it to her.

You shouldn't have to wonder about that.  It brings to mind the
very old saying of 'penny wise pound foolish'.   It fits along with
'unintended consequences'.


-- 
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com