Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - How to Handle Snarky Messages.
View Single Post
 
Old 05-18-2016, 12:52 PM
Taltarzac725's Avatar
Taltarzac725 Taltarzac725 is offline
Sage
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 52,216
Thanks: 11,694
Thanked 4,108 Times in 2,490 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by outlaw View Post
As soon as you start determining "consequences" for what is otherwise free speech, then you really don't have free speech anymore. Your list of non-approved speech seems to be endless. GB passed a law making it a crime to utter any speech that offends someone. I think a man was arrested in Chicago or NYC, maybe GB, for saying a policeman's horse looked gay, another arrested for "barking" at a police dog. When are we going to do something about mean stares and looks? Or a mean spirited disapproving head shake?
Actually, the TOTV Administrator does a pretty good job of weeding out personal attacks on people. If you have a Facebook page or Twitter account you can make attacks on people but people can just refuse to stay in the same room with you so to speak.

And Free Speech in public life is very different than what is on a message board.

I expect Free Speech on a restroom wall for a while but then the janitor will come and wipe it off.

I refuse to look at Topix the Villages and Talk of the Villages' site for instance-- except once in a great while-- because so much of it looks like mean-spirited and often libelous attacks on people but since no one really takes it all that seriously because it is Topix known for being often in the gutter I doubt if anyone could collect much for what is on Topix.

There is a reasonable person test I assume for what is mean spirited but it would vary from community-to-community. Elements of Libel and Slander - FindLaw

Last edited by Taltarzac725; 05-18-2016 at 01:00 PM.