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by belorn 2020 days ago
Is it legal in the US to encourage people to jump in front of a train?

If the answer is no then telling people to drink rat poison is illegal. The legal system has the power to punish the uploader, and youtube can remove it just as it do with copyright infringements.

If the answer is yes then I would suggest to change the law. Pushing people to drink rat poison sound awful close to harassment, which is just the kind of speech which the 1st amendment do not protect.
2 comments
1cvmask 2020 days ago
What if politicians do stunts and tell you to drink water poisoned with lead like in Flint, Michigan?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ZynkD3N_k

Should we censor them? Or perhaps just put up a warning sign that not everything on the Internet - like the physical world - is worth believing? Where do the guardrails end and censorship begin?

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belorn 2020 days ago
If you have a law and a politician seems to be breaking it, then the usual answer is to have a prosecutor to look into it.

Politician also have what is called a position of trust, so in addition to legal enforcement there could also be a vote at that political level to remove said politician.

In addition, I would imagine that encouraging people to drink water poisoned with lead can put that politician in legal liability if anyone got sick.

I will add that the US has a odd legal system which potentially give the president permission to ignore laws. The best way to fix that is to remove that exclusive protection, and if its a constitutional problem, fix the constitution.

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tick_tock_tick 2020 days ago
> Is it legal in the US to encourage people to jump in front of a train?

Yes

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toomuchtodo 2020 days ago
Some judicial venues say no:

“A Massachusetts woman [Michelle Carter] who sent her suicidal boyfriend a barrage of text messages urging him to kill himself was jailed Monday on an involuntary manslaughter conviction nearly five years after he died in a truck filled with toxic gas.”

She appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Court, and the conviction was upheld (unanimously).

https://apnews.com/article/320866bd419a49c8a82b55e39390f2c8

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