The Spirit Of The First Amendment

Responds to Popehat's "Doctrine of the Preferred First Speaker" by defending a real "spirit of the First Amendment": Yudkowsky's "bad argument gets counterargument; does not get bullet" - extended to cover not just violence but doxxing, harassment campaigns, and getting people fired. The key distinction is addressing an idea vs. silencing it; silencing distributes power by mob size and wealth, entirely uncorrelated with whether the idea is actually wrong.

Quality 77 · Excellent. A concise, frequently-cited articulation of free-speech-as-culture (vs. mere law); the "addressing vs. silencing" distinction and the "your power to punish is uncorrelated with truth" point are genuinely useful and have entered the discourse. Low-Excellent. [RECAL 2026-06-19] 75->77: canonical discourse-norms essay ('bad argument gets counterargument; does not get bullet/doxxing/firing'; silencing-vs-counterargument; silencing distributes power by firepower/mob/wealth, uncorrelated with whether the idea is right). Under-ranked by early-cohort compression; generative and frequently cited.

Claude’s paradigm shift 58 · Moderate. A fresh, influential 2013 framing of the free-speech-culture-vs-First-Amendment-law distinction that became a reference point for a debate that grew much larger later; builds on Yudkowsky's injunction but extends it usefully. Notable shift.

Real-world impact 3 · Moderate. A concise, frequently-cited articulation of free-speech-as-culture (vs. mere law) whose 'addressing vs. silencing' distinction and 'your power to punish is uncorrelated with truth' point entered the discourse. Conceptual influence within intellectual/free-speech discourse, no material change — modest RWI.