If I made the charge that “Nipsey Russell killed John F. Kennedy, and I have proof”, Nipsey Russell could sue me for libel and defamation of character and, since I don’t actually have proof, he would probably win. However, if I said “Left-handed Republicans killed John F. Kennedy” in the same source, I probably wouldn’t be sued even though I’ve just defamed left handed Republicans who were alive and of age in 1963. Is this because it’s too much trouble to file a class action lawsuit, or is it because I’m protected by Freedom of Speech?
I’m wondering this because of the absurd and utterly unsupportable comments made about gays by Fred Phelps, James Cameron, Gary Bauer, et al., or the Holocaust denial of David Irving, Ernst Zundel, et al., or the liberal bashing of Ann Coulter or the conservative bashing of Michael Moore, all of whom have made clearly demonstrably wrong statements not prefaced with “in my opinion”. Is this really protected by Freedom of Speech and, if so, how?
It seems to me you certainly could have a slander or libel lawsuit based on comments targeted at a group of people. If, for instance, I were to claim that “The New Orleans Hornets gang-raped my grandmother last Friday night,” I have no doubts the New Orleans Hornets would sue me, and win.
The difference, I believe, is that to win a libel or slander lawsuit you have to show you suffered damages in some way. There’s a lot of things that constitute damages, but if you saw “Lefthanded Republicans murdered JFK,” the simple truth is that a lefthanded Republican is going to have a hell of a time proving s/he suffered any sort of substantive damages as a result of your comments. Even if it’s something as odious as Zundel’s varying comments centring on his “Jews are evil rat-men” theme, it’s going to be hard to show damages. Most people think Zundel is full of shit, and those who do believe his lies tend to have believed them already.
The more non-specific the target of an accusation, the less each individual accused will tend to suffer as a result. Generally speaking.
