From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Wed Jan 29 2003 - 14:28:36 MST
> (Kai Becker <kmb@kai-m-becker.de>):
> Am Mittwoch, 29. Januar 2003 18:36 schrieb Lee Daniel Crocker:
> > here have a very high bar: they have to prove that (1) the statements
> > were false, (2) that the speaker knew or should have known that they
> > were false, (3) that they were presented as factual (i.e., not
> > parody or satire), (4) that actual harm was caused by them, and in
> > the case of "public figures", (5) that there was actual malice in
> > the speaker's intent.
>
> The drawback of this is that persons like Fred Leuchter can publicly deny
> the Holocaust or even that people were killed in german KZ. IANAL, but
> IMO, this violates (1), (2), (3), causes significant emotional pain (4)
> and intents to fuel hate and violence. German authorities may be a bit
> too nitpicking about symbols and literature from that time (bavarian
> state attorneys even tried to put Art Spiegelmanns "Maus" on the black
> list). Perhaps a middle course would be best.
It doesn't surprize me that a German would think it's acceptable
for the government to step in to prevent that kind of speech. I
guess the European attitude is that using force against your own
people's fundamental freedoms is OK, but using it to free other
people is unacceptable.
Screw the "middle course". Even American law goes too far--there
is no reason to have libel and slander laws at all. If person A
makes slanderous statements about person B, and person C takes some
action against B because of them, it is person C who has committed
the crime, not A. Rational people realize that /all/ speech is
biased, and all speech should be judged against the credibility of
the speaker.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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