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I suggest we make individuals or organizations that spread lies without evidence liable on a civil or criminal basis. The root reason for the violent riot at t

I suggest we make individuals or organizations that spread lies without evidence liable on a civil or criminal basis. The root reason for the violent riot at the Capitol last week was that many people have been lied to, and the lies are things that would incite people to fight. If you believed that America's democracy is no longer in place and has been replaced by a deep state dictatorship, you would probably fight against it yourself. We must fight the beliefs at the source - stop the liars by making them liable for the damage they cause.

gameswithgo 6y ago
It is tough when the liar is the president and somehow the learned justices of our nation have decided the president is above the law and can only be held to account via an impeachment process.
- jsight 6y ago
  Would you prefer a system where an unelected justice system has the right to remove the president?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
moron4hire 6y ago
You sound almost like you want to give these people a pass. People get lied to all the time. The vast majority of them don't respond by forming an unruly mob of slathering idiots.
- netsharc 6y ago
  Not grandparent poster, but what's the other option? If somehow we could give everyone god-esque knowledge and wisdom (e.g. make them able to be able to travel through time and space and check all those claims of voter frauds so they can deduce themselves, that, well, maybe there were fraudsters here and there, but not enough that it flipped the states from Trump to Biden; or to show them that no, there's no basement in some pizza parlor where the Democrat cabal are hiding Epstein and all the missing children), it would be great to be able to make the insurrectionists realize that they've been lied to. A lot of the mob on 1/6 probably really thought they were taking back the country from some corrupt Deep State and that Trump was this great guy who tried to fix the world, but has ben thwarted (although, saying all the non-Christian and non-Whites are not entitled to live here is not defensible). Like the lady who was shot, if you check her Twitter, she really bought into the whole QAnon brainwashing.
blisterpeanuts 6y ago
What mechanism would you propose to implement your suggestion? Some kind of Ministry of Truth, or Council of Honesty? Or maybe just run everything everyone says through a fact-checker app and if they fail, lock them up? We have laws for actual harmful lies, such as falsely shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater. But beyond that, it's a grey area, slippery slope, etc.
- tuesdayrain 6y ago
  The amount of people advocating for a literal Ministry of Truth is very disappointing. It's almost like they read 1984 and thought "hey, that's a good idea!". Although in reality I think they just don't realize the implications of their suggestions.
  - ralph84 6y ago
    They think they'll be the ones running the ministry.
- silexia 6y ago
  We already have a mechanism for harm from lies - libel and slander laws. Just expand these laws to make lying to the public about something that if they believe it could cause them harm a tort.
- jmull 6y ago
  We have existing criminal and civil laws and courts of laws for this. The system is very sophisticated, though can certainly be improved. You have to take each case on an individual basis, meet a standard of proof, follow strong processes, convince a jury, survive appeals, so it’s not easy. But it can handle the grey areas that worry you. And while we’ve had ample opportunity, it doesn’t look like we’ve gone down a slippery slope.

gameswithgo 6y ago

It is tough when the liar is the president and somehow the learned justices of our nation have decided the president is above the law and can only be held to account via an impeachment process.

jsight 6y ago
Would you prefer a system where an unelected justice system has the right to remove the president?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

moron4hire 6y ago

You sound almost like you want to give these people a pass. People get lied to all the time. The vast majority of them don't respond by forming an unruly mob of slathering idiots.

netsharc 6y ago
Not grandparent poster, but what's the other option? If somehow we could give everyone god-esque knowledge and wisdom (e.g. make them able to be able to travel through time and space and check all those claims of voter frauds so they can deduce themselves, that, well, maybe there were fraudsters here and there, but not enough that it flipped the states from Trump to Biden; or to show them that no, there's no basement in some pizza parlor where the Democrat cabal are hiding Epstein and all the missing children), it would be great to be able to make the insurrectionists realize that they've been lied to. A lot of the mob on 1/6 probably really thought they were taking back the country from some corrupt Deep State and that Trump was this great guy who tried to fix the world, but has ben thwarted (although, saying all the non-Christian and non-Whites are not entitled to live here is not defensible). Like the lady who was shot, if you check her Twitter, she really bought into the whole QAnon brainwashing.

blisterpeanuts 6y ago

What mechanism would you propose to implement your suggestion? Some kind of Ministry of Truth, or Council of Honesty? Or maybe just run everything everyone says through a fact-checker app and if they fail, lock them up? We have laws for actual harmful lies, such as falsely shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater. But beyond that, it's a grey area, slippery slope, etc.

tuesdayrain 6y ago
The amount of people advocating for a literal Ministry of Truth is very disappointing. It's almost like they read 1984 and thought "hey, that's a good idea!". Although in reality I think they just don't realize the implications of their suggestions.
- ralph84 6y ago
  They think they'll be the ones running the ministry.
silexia 6y ago
We already have a mechanism for harm from lies - libel and slander laws. Just expand these laws to make lying to the public about something that if they believe it could cause them harm a tort.
jmull 6y ago
We have existing criminal and civil laws and courts of laws for this. The system is very sophisticated, though can certainly be improved. You have to take each case on an individual basis, meet a standard of proof, follow strong processes, convince a jury, survive appeals, so it’s not easy. But it can handle the grey areas that worry you. And while we’ve had ample opportunity, it doesn’t look like we’ve gone down a slippery slope.