Posted on 01/21/2009 11:42:04 PM PST by stevelackner
So what if he is correct? Is it still illegal to make a negative comment if it’s true? Or is it a crime to say anything negative regardless of it’s truth?
BREAKING NEWS; I’m going to bed. Good night.
Time to be grateful that we still have truth as defense in America. In the U.K. a newspaper was found guilty of slander for saying Liberace was gay...
This is chilling!
TERRORISM PAYS!!
BTTT
I saw that Bloomberg reported that more than 40 people reported the editorial to the police...
Not that UK law has to make sense, but the definition of slander has at it's core the requirement that it's a false statement. I've wondered at terms such as "hate crimes". Why isn't the penalty for the crime itself sufficient? Why does it need to be magnified if some special group is the victim? Shouldn't all citizens be equally protected under the law?
>>I’ve wondered at terms such as “hate crimes”. Why isn’t the penalty for the crime itself sufficient? Why does it need to be magnified if some special group is the victim? Shouldn’t all citizens be equally protected under the law?<<
Agreed. Even for heinous crimes like lynching black people it would seem like terrorism laws would cover it rather than special laws for a race or religious group.
ping
Half the Koran is hate speech. The rest is Mohamed’s hallucinations
Actually, slander is a vocal slur. A newspaper commits libel.
So, the issue would be: a) is it true? Was Liberace gay? If he was, then there is no libel. Truth is the ultimate defence against any such charge.
b) if Liberace was not gay, did the newspaper know that and yet continue its assertion? In other words, were they knowingly lying? Difficult to prove.
c) Even if the assertion was true, would it still matter? Libel implies a negative connotation, but we are constantly being told now that sexuality is either implicit in your genetic makeup, or merely a lifestyle choice, and one that is “equally valid” with anything else.
In the first case if the newspaper was guilty of that they could presumably be sued for making any kind of comment on someones personal characteristis, like alleging that someones eyes are blue.
If the second, the suers are implying that gayness impugns the character and is therefore a “bad thing”. If that is so, I think they could be guilty of a “hate crime” myself :)
I noted that implication of their claim as well. I wonder if that was too subtle for them to grasp.
The reference was to the UK, not to the US.
I don’t know about Dutch laws.. but this is scary... You know who had comparable “Hate” crime laws? Josef Stalin. do you know what the “hate” was? Anything the state disagreed with..
Completely bogus. We should start a fund and do a protest.
No matter how small, the message would be delivered.
You can say whatever you care to that disparages Christianity, Jews or Hindus, ya just can’t say anything that disparages islam.
Well I would be in jail of beheaded cause I certainly say awful things about islam and its insane f-ed up followers.
Probably. Not that it would matter. To these people “rights” are the preserve of only certain sections of society.
Doesn’t matter. In either UK or US legal systems, truth is the ultimate defence against any charge of libel or slander.
The ability of “hate laws” to circumvent that long standing legal absolute is what makes them so potentially dangerous.
Agree!
We should find an effective way to show support for WILDERS and furthermore for freedom of speech about religions,thoughts or opinions...
Liberal leaders in Europe,and in USA now,are trying to appease the islamic word and the muslims...as they don’t seem exactly to get the right nature of the threat from a world-wide totalitarian foundamentaly aggressive and warrior religion fueled by a high level of frustration against the developped “free” western countries.
Muslim leaders also understand that the “western”,previously judeo-christian,world is weakened by doubdts,divisions,cultural and psychological troubles and low demography
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