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April 12, 2005

Blogging and meanness and lawsuits, oh my!!

Alesia, tired of meanness . . .

Can’t we all just get along? In my (admittedly simplistic) view of the world, you get bad karma spearing right back at you times three when you’re mean and catty and vicious to other people. Okay, we all snark and snerk and snorfle to our friends over coffee, or on the phone or, today, via e-mail. The problem comes when we start snorfling in cyberspace, in a forum where oh, say, MILLIONS of people can read a personal and vicious attack that somebody felt like making on another, IDENTIFIABLE person.

Did I mention the lawsuits??

Yep, lawsuits. Ever heard the word LIBEL? Here’s what Black’s Law Dictionary, Seventh Edition, has to say about it:

LIBEL: To defame (someone) in a permanent medium, especially in writing.

(DEFAMATION is the act of harming the reputation of another by making a false written or oral statement that DAMAGES ANOTHER’S REPUTATION. And cyberspace is pretty permanent as media go these days; I’ve got a law professor friend researching the issue for me right now.)

“So, what’s it to me?” you may be asking. “The mean stuff I blog about is always true.”

Well, OK, but really? If you want to learn about how many versions of “true” are possible, sit in on a legal trial sometime. ANY trial. Is your truth the same as the truth of the person whose reputation you’re damaging? Enough to withstand a possible lawsuit? Or even a tidal wave of negative buzz?

Plus, really, is this the kind of reputation you want for yourself? As someone who goes out of his or her way to say mean and spiteful things about other people in print? If you’re a writer, for example, there’s a pretty fair chance your editor, publicist, agent, and other people in the industry will check out your blog at some point. Is that really the impression you want to portray?

I don’t mean to go all preachy here, but so many friends have been hurt by vicious and ill-considered blogging, so it’s been on my mind a lot. I know there’s diatribe as schtick; the shock jocks of the blog-o-sphere. I just don’t read it. I wouldn’t buy books written by those people, either. Does that make me too naïve to live? Maybe. But it’s easier than dodging all that bad karma in these three-inch heels . . .

Hugs,
Alesia

Posted by Alesia at 5:03 PM