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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   33194 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022

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There is no way in 1000 years that someone can be successfully sued in the US for simply claiming that the Ann Frank diaries are not authentic, unless they target a particular person and claim that he or she faked them. And even then, any damages that person would suffer would be likely be relatively low.

Of course, if someone aids and abets a campaign of harassment against that person, that would be a different matter. But that is what takes it out of the realm of mere advocacy of an idea (the Holocaust didn't happen; the diary is fake; Sandy Hook was a hoax), which is protected speech, and into the realm of defamation or another tort.

Of course, if someone aids and abets a campaign of harassment against that person

What would this consist of, exactly? I think this is the area most ripe for attack. Under the theory of stocahastic terrorism, public criticism itself, however valid, could certainly be considered "aiding and abetting a campaign of public harassment."

There is no way in 1000 years that someone can be successfully sued in the US for simply claiming that the Ann Frank diaries are not authentic, unless they target a particular person and claim that he or she faked them.

"Defamation" (stating insufficiently contexualized facts) of a person dead for more than a millenium, is illegal in Austria.

  1. That is not a defamation case. It is a hate speech case.

  2. I specifically said "in the US."

  3. US courts will not enforce a foreign judgment imposing liability for speech protected in the US

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