What's the difference between slander and freedom of speech?

in brief

Freedom of Speech is the right to say what you want. Expressing your views, but labeling them as your views, not necessarily fact.

Slander is saying something false with the intent of harming another person, and presenting it as fact.

What if you call somebody a crack addict, which one is it?

Freedom of Speech is saying whatever you’d please.

Slander is a spoken word against someone in a malicious way.

Slander is one of the few instances where Freedom of Speech isn’t legal. You can’t be arrested for slandering someone, but you can be sued and brought into civil court, which could make you lose a lot of money.

Basically, slander is saying something bad about someone that isn’t true (if you write it, it’s called libel). This is morally wrong. The difference between that and Freedom of Speech is the difference between saying, “You fuck children” and saying, “Fucking children is something that people do.” Slander personally involves someone and FoS is a statement not directed towards anyone specific person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slander_and_libel

slander is printed as well I’m pretty sure.

libel! should read posts before posting myself!

Freedom of speech is a constitutional guarantee which prevents the government from punishing you for your spoken words. Slander is the intentional use of false information to damage the reputation of someone. If you think you have suffered damages due to slander (eg, no one buys your pies any more because someone said you pee in them), you can sue in civil court.

@Ivan Stop peeing in pies, you prevert!!!!

@Ivan dude, you pee in soup and take a dump in pies. duh. everyone knows that!~

@eponymoushipster That depends on the kind of soup, really… Clam chowder is up for grabs.

@boots i think we all remember Fight Club

@boots @eponymoushipster I’m fairly certain that in some of the soups i’ve tried piss is actually an intricate ingredient

@Nially_Bob i see you eat at Panera

@eponymoushipster I live in the UK where it’s Panera day everyday regardless of what you eat

The difference is what ever a court of law says it is. These things are merely legal terms, and are not “anything” until a court of law says they are. Any person can be accused of any act, slander or whatever, but until it has been judged, in a court, it does not exist.

@eponymoushipster , @Nially_Bob , @boots…There are no hard set rules here. The type and amount of bodily discharge supplements for foodstuffs are determined by the current consistency and the desired final consistency within the limits of how much one believes they can get away with. And, this applies to all food, from soup to nuts (tho soups and stews are very forgiving, and why those are always homemade or no way, for me).

If you called someone a crack addict and they were in fact a crack addict, that’s not really slander. If you did so in front of their boss with the intention of getting them fired, you may not fully be protected under “free speech” when he punches you in the jaw.

If he is not a crack addict at all, then that is generally slander. I’m no legal expert but I do believe intent and circumstances play into effect, such as if you guys were drinking in a bar and joshing around and you said it as a joke, versus telling the police he’s a crack addict. This relates to the impact your words have and your intent in saying them, in the first case there is likely no real impact as you didn’t intend to cause him harm, but in the second case you are willfully misrepresenting him to police [which gets you another charge] who may change their investigation as a result of your words.

So the question then becomes, why are you calling him a crack addict? What is your purpose? If your purpose is nefarious, it’s generally slander. If your words have a negative result for the person, it could be construed as slander. If the words are outright lies, you are not protected via free speech.

I’m thinking plenty of people used slander and excused it as freedom of speech…and they probably got away with it, too

If you say something false that causes someone harm it is slander. You can be sued for what your allegation costed the person. For example if I ran a kiddie daycare and that’s how I made my living, and you posted some article in the paper that I molested children and was a crack addict and unsafe child care facility with a rabid pit bull I let wander loose and all the clients pulled their children from my daycare, your false “Free speech” would cost me money. If I can prove I’m NOT a crack addict, I have no pit bull, nad have never been charged with child molestation, I can sue you for all the money you cost my business and sue you for the damage you caused by hurting my reputation falsely. Especially if I can prove what your lie costed me in a solid monetary amount (by how many customers I lost , how much my profit declined after said lie was printed) you can be held accountable for the entire amount in a lawsuit. Of course going to court about anything is a long drawn out pain in the butt, and I doubt if someone would win any big amount just because you called them a poopy face online.
Deliberate false statements that cause a person to lose a job or hurt a business though, can be grounds for lawsuits.

@Nially_Bob ah, true that. a sandwich shoppe around every corner, selling little triangles of brie and ham, at exorbitant prices. cheers!

@dynamicduo: The truth is generally an affirmative defense against charges of slander and libel.

For instance, if I announce that someone is a crack addict, and he is, then he’s allowed to sue me for slander, but as what I was saying is the truth, it’s unlikely to win him anything in court. If he then punches me, that’s still assault, although the sentence might be mitigated because I incited him.

The underlying principle is that you have the right to say whatever you want—thus, you have freedom of speech—but that if what you say injures another person, you are liable to make him whole—thus, the legal concept of slander as grounds for a lawsuit.

@eponymoushipster Och, jus’ wunnae be thankful there’s a pub on every other corner eh?

Slander is a form of free speech designed to create harmful attitudes towards a thing or person. It’s the polar opposite of praise, which is another form of free speech designed to promote and give credit.

freedom of speech is NOT without consequences