Youre your podcast is titled clear and present danger. That comes from oliver wendel holmes famous a passage there about a, youow, shoutings, shouting fire in a crowded theatre. Solitz were three days away from the anniversary of he january sixth, a insurrection. Trump, as rumors have it, trump's going to give a big speech on the anniversary, and he's going to double down. They stole the election, and these were patriots going in to protect their election, their democracy, their country, their rights and so on. You know, they're, but for trump, would it have happened?
Hailed as the “first freedom,” free speech is the bedrock of democracy, and it is subject to erosion in times of upheaval. Today, in democracies and authoritarian states around the world, it is on the retreat.
In this episode, based on the book Free Speech, Michael Shermer and Jacob Mchangama discuss the riveting legal, political, and cultural history of the principle, how much we have gained from it, and how much we stand to lose without it. Mchangama reveals how the free exchange of ideas underlies all intellectual achievement and has enabled the advancement of both freedom and equality worldwide. Yet the desire to restrict speech, too, is a constant.