"I know when the tofu stinks, because I smell it" ~ Binston ChurchillIf you have read my previous post about the legal case of the blogger, who was punished for insulting a restaurant owner, you probably have noticed that it sparked a very heated debate in the comments. It seemed to me, that some English speaking bloggers and twitterers, who so fiercely advocated "freedom of speech" in their own blog posts felt very insulted, that I have put them on the spot by mentioning some of their bogus claims, that were full of factual errors and unflattering interpretations. When criticizing them, I have chosen my words wisely, however I've been called "delusional, naive, sexist, creepy, rude, unstable, entitled, immature" and have been challenged with sarcasm and underlying hostility in many of the comments. Luckily there were voices of support and they were much appreciated. As this is my 4th year of blogging, I have had my fair share of heated debates and ad hominem attacks, that's why I was just smiling, when I saw how Forumosans flooded my "avoided" blog. Maybe I'm too immature and should've insulted them back, because it's very mature to support your argument with insults. Anyway, I'm happy, that they taught me some valuable lessons today.
However, I was wondering, what would've happened, if I had singled out one of these commentators and written another post, mentioned their real name and address (or the address of the company, where they work), called them [insert whichever insult] and fabricated a story about them, that would tarnish their reputation. Would they still support my freedom of speech?
Somehow I'm not sure about that anymore. How about you?
No comments:
Post a Comment