At 04:29 PM 5/28/98 -0700, Dale Goble wrote:
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>A week or so ago I asked the people who have been making unsubstantiated
>accusations about the police, the judiciary, and others to state the facts
>on which they base their conclusions. Jack Porter made a similar (and
>more eloquent) request recently.
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>The response was more of the same: unsubstantiated accusations -- the
>everybody-knows-that-x-does-cocaine type of statements. If there have
>been any factual statements that support the accusations, I have missed
>them. We who fail simply to accede to the truth of the statements are in
>denial.
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>On the one hand, it is tempting simply to note that at least two of the
>people who have made the accusations were apparently convicted of some
>crime; they believe that their convictions or subsequent problems were
>unjust. Every attorney has stories of clients who believe that they are
>the object of a conspiracy, that "the system" has treated them unjustly.
>They are people who will let no opportunity pass to tell you of their
>wrongs. Such stories soon assume an air sheer implausibility. We are
>being asked to believe that everyone from the local police through the
>federal government has conspired to deprive these people of what they
>believe they are due.
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>On the other hand, however, the accusations that have been made are
>extremely serious: named individuals in this community have been accused
>of illegal drug use and other crimes. Such statements damage individuals
>and their standing in the community. It is unconscionable for a list that
>is committed to building community to tolerate such statements
>particularly when the accusers have repeatedly failed to provide any
>factual support for their statements.
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>How can we build community when we tolerate such nonsense?
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>Such statements are defamatory. The individuals who have made them have
>failed to provide appear to have no reasonable basis for making them. As
>such they are subject of liability for the damage that they cause.
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>The internet is widely hailed as inherently democratic and empowering: it
>allows individuals to broadcast their beliefs widely. This list seems
>dedicated to the proposition that free exchange of ideas is good. But
>democracy requires that speakers accept responsibility for their
>statements. There is no place in the free exchange of ideas willful or
>reckless defamation of individuals.
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>Dale Goble
>Moscow
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