How Comedy Saved Free Speech

There are a lot of claims of censorship wafting around public discourse, and article after article of think pieces claiming that the right to speak your mind has become embattled. To give this context, let’s talk about a different case of free speech and censorship. A situation where someone faced criminal charges for being offensive in America. This is the story of Lenny Bruce, the stand-up comic that went to bat to fight censorship. Maybe through his story, we can see how to save Freedom of Speech.

Special thanks to Danielle from The Origin of Everything: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiB8h9jD2Mlxx96ZFnGDSJw

American history gets ever weirder and more interesting. Watch some more discussions of American history and culture here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t07J0IkgjIg&list=PLnpoOo7lhNnEdPq4uuLigw3lCnuedw13S

And Special Thanks to Thought Slime: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrr7y8rEXb7_RiVniwvzk9w

Contrapoints Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGTDhutW_us

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Special Thanks to Kelly Barnes, and Benny Tan

Music by 12Tone. Check out their channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTUtqcDkzw7bisadh6AOx5w

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Five Armies, Heart of Nowhere, Lost Frontier, Oppressive Glom by Kevin Macleod

Photo Credits:
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Bonnie
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Colin W

Sources:
https://www.who2.com/bio/lenny-bruce/
http://www.lennybruceofficial.com/
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https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1013.html
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http://www.famous-trials.com/lennybruce
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https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1431/lenny-bruce
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https://lennybruce.org/2016/09/21/comedians-are-our-last-defenders-of-freedom-of-speech-comedy-hype/
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/oct/27/books/bk-krassner27
https://www.freedomforuminstitute.org/2014/04/06/50-years-ago-lenny-bruces-arrest-no-joking-matter/
http://cbldf.org/about-us/case-files/obscenity-case-files/people-v-bruce-the-lenny-bruce-trial/
https://www.thenation.com/article/free-speech-movement/
http://freespeech.berkeley.edu/history/
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https://www.npr.org/2014/10/05/353849567/when-political-speech-was-banned-at-berkeley
http://picturethis.museumca.org/timeline/unforgettable-change-1960s/free-speech-movement/info
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/04/20/berkeley-gave-birth-to-the-free-speech-movement-in-the-1960s-now-conservatives-are-demanding-it-include-them/
https://constitutioncenter.org/timeline/html/cw11_12271.html
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http://cbldf.org/about-us/case-files/obscenity-case-files/people-v-bruce-the-lenny-bruce-trial/
#history #comedy #freespeech

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Please watch: "Is America REALLY a Democracy?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxAML92SCwU
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Видео How Comedy Saved Free Speech канала Step Back