4 ms·

You are legally allowed to yell "FIRE" in a movie theater. The idea you're not is a myth from a early 1900s supreme court ruling. https://scholarship.law.wm.ed

• chrshawkes 7y ago
  Especially if there is a fire, what're you supposed to yell?
  • thrwayxyz 7y ago
    Endless war is a mistake. Which is what people were arrested for in that case.
• deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
• cjensen 7y ago
  Not quite correct. You are not allowed to yell fire in a movie theater if there is no fire and the yell is likely to cause imminent harm. It's a "myth" only in the sense that this simple rule (can't use speech to cause physical harm) is use in an attempt to justify things that are not imminent. For example, in the infamous Supreme Court ruling, it was used to justify banning Jehovah's Witnesses from distributing pamphlets encouraging people to lobby the government against the draft. That was an incorrect and stupid use of "shouting fire" because the speech does not cause imminent harm, nor does it cause physical harm except through legally changing public opinion. So it's a "myth" only in the sense that it is a sure marker of a dishonest argument: if someone uses it in speech, they are almost certainly using it to try to justify something which is not the same thing at all.