Re: There is no truth
if I claim that something provably false is true, and this claim results in demonstrable harm, then I should reasonably expect to be challenged and, if successful, punished. By the police and courts, not vigilantes
A good principle, but how does it translate into real life? What is "provably false"? What if you had no way of knowing, when you made the claim, that it was "provably false"? What is "harm", and how do you demonstrate it?
Example: if I publish a mugshot of a 13-year-old girl with the caption "Ugly crack ho sucks for bucks", is that "provably false"? If the girl in the picture subsequently kills herself, is that "demonstrable harm" from my posting? - how do you separate it from the 100 other bullies all posting the same thing, from her boyfriend dumping her and her teachers overloading her?
What difference does it make if, instead of a 13-year-old girl, the picture is a 61-year-old woman? What if it's Theresa May?
Simple rules are easy to state, but then the lines are too easy to blur. The devil is in the detail.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
