4 ms·
I'm struggling not to repeat myself, but suppose I wrote a book with the first chapter titled "Inside mikeash's Mind" that purported to diagnose you with the pr
by twoodfin 13y ago
I'm struggling not to repeat myself, but suppose I wrote a book with the first chapter titled "Inside mikeash's Mind" that purported to diagnose you with the propensity to make irrational decisions, and proceeded to document this inability by referring to a former employee who resigned after a year rather than be fired and selectively quoting something written about you by a non-associate...and nothing else. It's hard to see how that would not be a slander[1] on you, regardless of whether you've done more good or ill in your life.
[1] Not in the legal sense, of course, since it's written, not spoken.
- mikeash 13y agoIf I had had a long public life filled with actions whose only explanation are malice or irrationality, I don't think it would be slander, no, even if the argument wasn't very well constructed. That doesn't make it a good argument, I just don't think it qualifies as slander. (Or libel.) For one thing, slander or libel in the US has to be actually false.
- Millennium 13y agoThe flawed assumption in your argument is that malice and irrationality are the only possible explanations for his actions.
- mikeash 13y agoI'll grant assumption, but flawed? What else is there? I recognize that there are some people who will explain his actions as "brilliant, wonderful, generous, pure of heart, etc." but I have no qualms simply calling them wrong.