WEBVTT NOTE 10. The Person Who Yells "Fire!" in a Crowded Theatre 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000 Chapter 10. The Person Who Yells Fire in a Crowded Theatre 2 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:12.000 In a case against free speech, the fire screamer is Exhibit A. 3 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:17.000 Even those who argue in defense of civil liberties and the right of free speech 4 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:23.000 stipulate that these rights do not include the right to yell fire in a crowded theater. 5 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:27.000 This is the one case where all parties seem to agree 6 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:40.000 It is not necessary that the right to free speech is not as important as other rights, but to override the right of free speech for any reason is a dangerous precedent and never necessary. 7 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:45.000 Certainly it is not necessary in the case of the person who yells fire. 8 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:52.000 The rights of theater patrons can be protected without legally prohibiting free speech. 9 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:58.280 For example, theater owners could contract with their customers not to yell fire, unless 10 00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:01.760 of course there is a fire in the theater. 11 00:01:01.760 --> 00:01:07.680 The contract might take the form of an agreement in small print on the back of a theater ticket, 12 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:13.720 or a large message on wall posters placed throughout the theater, prohibiting any disturbance 13 00:01:13.720 --> 00:01:18.520 of the entertainment or singling out the shouting of the word fire. 14 00:01:18.520 --> 00:01:24.840 But, however the prohibition appeared, the contract would effectively put an end to the 15 00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:30.480 supposed conflict between the right of free speech and other rights. 16 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:36.380 For the person who yelled fire would then simply be violating a contract and could be 17 00:01:36.380 --> 00:01:38.720 dealt with accordingly. 18 00:01:38.720 --> 00:01:44.440 The situation would be entirely analogous to that of someone under contract to sing 19 00:01:44.440 --> 00:01:50.920 at a concert but who refuses to sing and instead lectures on economics. 20 00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:56.540 What is involved in both cases is not the right of free speech but the obligation to 21 00:01:56.540 --> 00:01:58.960 honor a contract. 22 00:01:58.960 --> 00:02:02.040 Why look at the prohibition in this way? 23 00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:04.560 There are several important reasons. 24 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:10.520 First, the market would be much more effective in removing threats to the public health and 25 00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:16.920 and Safety such as the one posed by the fire screamer than an all-encompassing governmental 26 00:02:16.920 --> 00:02:17.920 prohibition. 27 00:02:17.920 --> 00:02:24.880 A market contract system would work more efficiently because theatre entrepreneurs would be in 28 00:02:24.880 --> 00:02:30.960 competition with each other with regard to the efficiency with which they prevented outbursts 29 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:33.040 disruptive to the audience. 30 00:02:33.040 --> 00:02:40.440 Thus, they would have a great incentive to diminish the number and severity of such outbursts. 31 00:02:40.440 --> 00:02:44.440 The government, on the other hand, offers no incentive. 32 00:02:44.440 --> 00:02:51.640 No one automatically loses money when the government fails to maintain order in a theater. 33 00:02:51.640 --> 00:02:57.000 A second reason we can expect greater success from the market than from the government is 34 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:01.480 that the market is, by its very nature, more flexible. 35 00:03:01.480 --> 00:03:09.180 The government can only make one all-embracing rule, with, at best, one or two exceptions. 36 00:03:09.180 --> 00:03:15.580 The market does not have such restrictions. The flexibility and complexity of the market 37 00:03:15.580 --> 00:03:21.740 are limited only by the inventiveness of the actors in it. 38 00:03:21.740 --> 00:03:27.820 The government's system of protection against yelling fire, outright prohibition, violates 39 00:03:27.820 --> 00:03:34.940 the rights of perhaps one of the most oppressed minorities, the sadists and the masochists. 40 00:03:34.940 --> 00:03:40.380 What of the rights of the sadists who enjoy yelling fire in a crowded theater and then 41 00:03:40.380 --> 00:03:46.900 watching the crowd tear itself to pieces in the resultant mad rush for the exits? 42 00:03:46.900 --> 00:03:52.220 What of the masochists who relish the thought of having fire yelled at them while in the 43 00:03:52.220 --> 00:03:59.100 confines of a crowded theater with the same mad but exhilarating crush at the door? 44 00:03:59.100 --> 00:04:04.720 Under the government system of outright prohibition, these people are denied what may be their 45 00:04:04.720 --> 00:04:10.620 their most fervent wish, their chance to go out in a blaze of glory. 46 00:04:10.620 --> 00:04:15.800 In the flexible market system, however, where there is a demand for a service, a supply 47 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:18.100 will soon arise. 48 00:04:18.100 --> 00:04:24.900 Where there is an unfulfilled demand for sadomasochists screaming fire and then watching the frantic 49 00:04:24.900 --> 00:04:32.180 crushes, entrepreneurs will rise to the occasion and provide the requisite service. 50 00:04:32.180 --> 00:04:38.060 Such musings will undoubtedly strike the straights on the sadomasochistic question as just so 51 00:04:38.060 --> 00:04:42.380 much idle talk, but that is only to be expected. 52 00:04:42.380 --> 00:04:48.100 No ruling class ever viewed the plight of their downtrodden with anything but contempt 53 00:04:48.100 --> 00:04:50.100 and scorn. 54 00:04:50.100 --> 00:04:55.660 Non-aggressing adult sadomasochists have just as much right to their mutually agreeable 55 00:04:55.660 --> 00:04:58.400 practices as anyone else. 56 00:04:58.400 --> 00:05:04.400 To dismiss the rights of sadomasochists as not being worthy of consideration provides 57 00:05:04.400 --> 00:05:11.720 evidence of the fascistic habits of thought to which most straits have succumbed. 58 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:16.080 Sadomasochists should be free to indulge in their non-aggressive practices. 59 00:05:16.080 --> 00:05:22.360 The public, after all, need not attend any theater which clearly advertises that unplanned 60 00:05:22.360 --> 00:05:25.040 disruptions will be permitted. 61 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:33.040 Sado masochists, for their part, would still have to curb their enthusiasm when patronizing straight theaters. 62 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:41.040 Finally, unless the prohibition against yelling fire in a crowded theater stems from a private contract, 63 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:47.040 the right of free speech will be in conflict with what is held in very high esteem, 64 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:54.040 namely the rights of people not to have their show interrupted and themselves crushed at the exits. 65 00:05:54.040 --> 00:06:11.040 Freedom of speech is at best a weak read. It is always in danger of being suppressed. Our hold on it is sometimes very tenuous indeed. Therefore, anything which tends to weaken it even further must be opposed. 66 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:25.040 There is hardly a scare tactic better designed to destroy freedom of speech than the creation of a false conflict between the right to speak freely and other rights held in vastly higher esteem. 67 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:31.040 Yet this is precisely what the usual interpretation of yelling fire accomplishes. 68 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:39.040 If exceptions to the right of free speech are granted, our tenuous hold on the right of free speech is weakened. 69 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:46.220 Second. There are no legitimate exceptions to the right of free speech. There are no 70 00:06:46.220 --> 00:06:53.240 cases in which the right of free speech is in conflict with any other right we hold dear. 71 00:06:53.240 --> 00:07:00.440 Therefore, the person who yells fire in a crowded theater can be considered a hero. 72 00:07:00.440 --> 00:07:06.800 He forces a consideration of what is involved and what needs to be done to protect a precious 73 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:08.640 It's Right That Is Endangered.