Results tagged “oliverwendellholmes”

In the wake of recent shootings, Mayor Menino called a meeting of top public safety folks to figure out what could be done (short of spending more money, of course). Despite numerous suggestions and resulting proposals, the Herald homed in on Menino's absurd plan to confiscate "Stop Snitchin'" t-shirts from stores. While Bostonist would like to take the Globe's more measured approach and talk about everything that came out of the meeting, we know our place, and that place is snarky criticism. Unfortunately, our blogging brethren (and, really, the Herald article itself) have stolen our thunder by pointing out that Menino's anti-anti-snitching campaign is dumb. So let Bostonist focus on just one thing: In the Herald article, the Mass. Civil Liberties Union reminds the mayor of that theory first propounded by Oliver Wendell Holmes, that the answer to bad speech is not censorship, but more speech. The Globe article suggests that Menino actually has this in mind, because he's hoping to solicit pro bono work from PR firms to counter the "Stop Snitchin'" message. So what Bostonist wants to know is, what pro-snitchin' message should the city adopt? One possibility is shown above (though Bostonist might be reluctant to wear such a shirt). Others that come to mind are, "Snitchin': It's What's For Dinner" and "Loose Lips Actually Aren't So Bad For Ships." Dear readers, we would very much like to hear your suggestions.

On Bostonist's daily commute history is often hard to dodge, from inadvertently following along the red brick line of the Freedom Trail to a simple feat like riding on “Americas First Subway.” Other bits of history show up in the most unusual places. The “hub” marker lies underneath crates of oranges at the fruit stand outside of Filenes in Downtown Crossing. Oliver Wendell Holmes first referred to the old State House (so really the State Street station, and not Downtown Crossing) as the “Hub of the Solar System,” which developed into Boston's well-known nickname.

In the 1919 case of Abrams v. U.S., the Supreme Court upheld the convictions of five people for printing leaflets that contained "disloyal, scurrilous and abusive language about the form of government of the United States." History remembers the case, however, for the dissenting opinion, written by (Boston native) Oliver Wendell Holmes and joined by (Louisville native but Boston transplant) Louis Brandeis. That dissent famously presented the theory of a "marketplace of ideas," which argued that the best remedy for offensive speech was good speech, not censorship. The wisdom of that concept was on entertaining display yesterday, as various demonstrators and counter-demonstrators traded barbs at the Holocaust Memorial downtown.