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by pvaldes
1653 days ago
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I can think that somebody is a bad person, even suspect that is a criminal. This is a personal opinion. Not problem with it. But If I say in a public media that a known public figure is a criminal or eats children alive for dinner, and I repeat this for months with a clear purpose of obtaining a personal benefit for me. If I do this while refusing to show any real proof of it and, when cornered by the truth, I claim that it was just my opinion and should be respected... well, this is a different issue. We would be moving in the field of defamation. Libel can destroy lives and is not a thing to be taken lightly. > You would say other thing if it was somebody from "your party" Or maybe not. This is a perfect example of your opinion about a strange on internet. I really couldn't care less about if who says it is red, blue or multicolor. |
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If that 'public figure' is the government itself, or a member thereof, then making 'false' statements was, at one point, criminalized in the Sedition Act of 1798 [1]. This was extremely unpopular, and while never directly ruled upon in the Supreme Court, is roundly assumed to be unconstitutional [2].
Making up shit about the federal government is simply a protected right of free speech in the USA.
> > You would say other thing if it was somebody from "your party"
Not sure where this is coming from, but I think you are responding to someone else.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts#cite_n...