RE: ISOC -Reply -Reply -Reply

["Roeland M.J. Meyer" <rmeyer@mhsc.com>]

At 01:21 AM 2/11/99 +0100, Javier SOLA wrote:
>
>I don't know the right word in English, but defamation, slander and libel
>do come to my mind. Calling somebody an idiot is usually not taken
>literally. Calling somebody a racist comes into a different category,
>because it DOES have a real meaning and it may be considered under a
>criminal category against personal honor.
>
>>Is insulting someone a crime in Spain?  
>>Luckily, in the United States it is usually still legal.  
>
>Luckily, it is not. 

You've obviously not really lived here. You can call someone a "no good
rotten dirty so-and-so" AND retain your freedom. The "fighting words" have
been officially, and irrevocably, been removed as "just cause" for
aggressive behavior. They were NOT replaced with legal remedies.
Individuals are *supposed* to have enough strength of character to
withstand such trivial insults. After all, they are only words. Only when
there is *real* damage from such verbiage do the libel and slander laws
have any effect and *only* when the allegations are provably false. Simply
look at the legal actions taken, by celebrities, against the
scandal-sheets, and you have your obvious example. Similarly, the "code
duello" has been aggressively outlawed.

Yes, some Americans say some pretty egregious things, under the covers of
freedom-of-speech, but isn't that the point? I'd say that you are doing a
good job, measuring your character out in public this way. It may satisfy
you to know that the insulter is doing the same.

___________________________________________________ 
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