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THE PERSON WHO YELLS “FIRE!” IN A CROWDED THEATER

In a case against free speech, the “fire!” screamer is Exhibit A. Even those who argue in defense of civil liberties and the right of free speech stipulate that these rights do not include the right to yell “fire!” in a crowded theater. This is the one case where all parties seem to agree that the right to free speech is not as important as other rights.

IV. OUTLAW

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THE GYPSY CAB DRIVER

The taxi business in the United States usually works to the detriment of the poor and minority groups in two ways—as consumers and as producers. As consumers, their plight is well demonstrated by ethnic “taxicab jokes,” and by the subterfuge and embarrassment blacks undergo in order to get a cab, which they are frequently unable to do. The reasons are not difficult to fathom. Taxi rates are set by law and are invariant, regardless of the destination of the trip.

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THE TICKET SCALPER

Webster’s dictionary defines “scalper” as one who “buys and sells in order to make quick profits,” and “scalping” as “cheating, defeating, and robbing.” The latter definition is the one used by the public in its hostility toward “ticket scalpers.”

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THE DISHONEST COP

The hero of Serpico, a best selling book and movie, is a renegade, bearded, hippie cop who refuses to obey the unspoken code of policemen, “Don’t turn against your fellow officers.” As Serpico states, “The only oath I ever took was to enforce the law—and it didn’t say against everybody except other cops.”

V. FINANCIAL

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THE (NONGOVERNMENT) COUNTERFEITER

The dictionary defines “counterfeit” as “forged; false; fabricated without right; made in imitation of something else with a view to defraud by passing the false copy for genuine or original.” Thus, counterfeiting is a special case of fraud. In a general case of fraud, the “falseness” consists of passing some good or article off in return either for another good or for money. In the case of counterfeiting, what is passed off as genuine is not a commodity or an article, but money itself.

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THE MISER

The miser has never recovered from Charles Dickens’ attack on him in A Christmas Carol. Although the miser had been sternly criticized before Dickens, the depiction of Ebenezer Scrooge has become definitive and has passed into the folklore of our time. Indeed, the attitude pervades even in freshman economics textbooks. There the miser is roundly condemned and blamed for unemployment, changes in the business cycle, and economic depressions and recessions.

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THE INHERITOR

Heirs and heiresses are usually depicted as irresponsible, idle, lazy individuals who enjoy lives of unearned luxury. This is perhaps a true characterization of many in the class. But it does not detract from the heroic role played by the inheritor.

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THE MONEYLENDER

Ever since Biblical times, when the moneylenders were driven from the temple, they have been scorned, criticized, vilified, persecuted, prosecuted, and caricatured. Shakespeare, in The Merchant of Venice, characterized the moneylender as a Jew scurrying around trying to exact his “pound of flesh.” In the movie, The Pawnbroker, the moneylender was an object of loathing.