&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Love it or hate it, the freedom to say obnoxious and subversive things is the quintessence of what makes America America. But our say-almost-anything approach to free speech is actually relatively recent, and you can trace it back to one guy: a Supreme Court justice named Oliver Wendell Holmes. Even weirder, you can trace it back to one seemingly ordinary 8-month period in Holmes’s life when he seems to have done a logical U-turn on what should be say-able.  Why he changed his mind during those 8 months is one of the greatest mysteries in the history of the Supreme Court.  (Spoiler: the answer involves anarchists, a house of truth, and a cry for help from a dear friend.)  Join us as we investigate why he changed his mind, how that made the country change its mind, and whether it’s now time to change our minds again.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This episode was reported by Latif Nasser and was produced by Sarah Qari.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Special thanks to Jenny Lawton, Soren Shade, Kelsey Padgett, and &lt;span&gt;Soroush Vosughi.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at&lt;span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://pledge3.wnyc.org/donate/radiolab-it/onestep/?utm_source=wnyc&amp;amp;utm_medium=radiolab-redirect&amp;amp;utm_campaign=pledge&amp;amp;utm_content=show-notes" target="_blank" title="Pledge"&gt;Radiolab.org/donate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt;.   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;further reading:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Thomas Healy’s book &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250058690"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes CHanged His Mind - And Changed the History of Free Speech In America&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt; (the inspiration for this episode) plus his latest book &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781627798624"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Soul City: Race, Equality and the Lost Dream of an American Utopia&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The &lt;/span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;Science&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span&gt; article that Sinan Aral wrote in 2018, along with Soroush Vosughi and Deb Roy: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6380/1146"&gt;&lt;span&gt;“The Spread of True and False News Online”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Sinan Aral’s recent book &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.sinanaral.io/books"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy and our Health - And How We Must Adapt&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Zeynep Tufekci’s newsletter “&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://zeynep.substack.com/"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The Insight&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt;” plus her book &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.twitterandteargas.org/"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Twitter and Teargas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Nabiha Syed’s news website &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://themarkup.org/"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The Markup&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EADzGGjuqI"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Trailer&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt; for “The Magnificent Yankee,” a 1950 biopic of Oliver Wendell Holmes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Anthony Lewis, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/anthony-lewis/freedom-for-the-thought-that-we-hate/9780465012930/"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Freedom for the Thought that We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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