If "free speech" is only allowed when the timing is acceptable to the authorities, then what value does it have?

I realize the irony of having to defend simulated auto-erotic asphyxiation as "free speech", but to paraphrase a favorite quote of mine, "We'd all like to go to the wall for Jefferson or the Rights of Man, but if you aren't willing to fight for 'Gag Factor', then pretty soon Jefferson will be the next on the list."
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[The movie business] is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There is also a negative side. - Hunter S. Thompson