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Pastimes : THE SLIGHTLY MODERATED BOXING RING -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (19759)	8/26/2002 2:01:22 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21057

"Slippery. If the gov't is allowed to determine what speech is permitted and what is not, there will be no speech against the gov't." We are the gov't. So we decide what is permitted. "Currently most speech is free. If a question arises as to slander or libel, the matter at some point ends up in the hands of a jury who are not part of the gov't. They decide if the slander or libel laws have been violated, not the gov't. And saying someone is a jerk and an idiot is not going to be sufficient to get them to convict you.", The judicial system is a branch of the gov't and courts (juries) represent gov't action. "Some times speech can be devastatingly destructive (gossip, rumors, lies, etc). That depends on the gossip, rumors, or lies. If someone says I am an idiot, I am going to have to grin and bear it. If they claim I ran someone down and took off, leaving on the street to die, that is slander and I am entitled to take them to court and win. Courts can only act on the laws that have been presented to them by the legislative branch. Clearly you can have an opinion about someone's character and there is a gray area that represents opinon. I don't think it is harrassment to call some one a jerk who has been annoying for self gratification. There is also a clear area of intent to do harm. Slandar is not gray, libel is not gray, harrassment is not gray. Harrassment is rarely or maybe never acted on unless someone gets provoked strongly enough to react violently. It is not a gray area. When you are calling someone names or repeatedly hounding them with the clear intent of provoking a hostile reaction, that has no other reasonable function than provoking interpersonal conflict, it is not simply expressing an opinion. It is harrassment. I would like to see this become actionable.