The concept of free speech has a long history, sure. Just as long is the history of that concept being totally divorced from the types of things you can actuall

The concept of free speech has a long history, sure. Just as long is the history of that concept being totally divorced from the types of things you can actually get away with saying in any given situation. You can basically think of the freedom of speech as guaranteed by the first amendment as an approximate upper bound on pragmatic free speech. It is not (at least in the minds of most people) an optimum that we should be striving for in all contexts. It's just the level where we don't think anyone should be locked up or fined for exercising.