# Should it be illegal to insult authors? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 20, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-insult-authors/752684 "2016-04-20T00:17:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-insult-authors/752684/61 "2016-04-25T00:40:42Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Credible (assuming that’s what you meant) being the key word. Saying “I hope you get raped” over the internet is nasty and mean and vulgar, but not a credible threat. Tracking someone down in their personal life and taking pictures they don’t know you’re taking of them and emailing the pics to them with the message"soon you’re gonna take it from me, whether you want it or not" is a credible threat. Everything is decided by courts in USA. In UK, the rules are much stricter. ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-insult-authors/752684/62 "2016-04-26T05:28:51Z")
First of all, the title of the article makes it clear she feels they should _ **not** _ have to endure threats. Second, I doubt she feels they should be completely immune, just that the volume is a problem. I agree with her: people should not behave that way. If they had been properly raised, they wouldn’t behave that way. And they only behave that way because they believe they will not suffer any consequences for their actions. I do not think this is an area where a law would help. At least not more than the harm it would cause. We already have enough laws in this area: making threats is a crime, for example. The law recognizes it for the attack it is. The problem is the anonymity. If posters were easily identified, they could be charged with the crimes they commit. This would also help address the insults that do not rise to the level of crime. People would be more careful about who they called a “whore” if that person (or their supporters, or the self-appointed “decency police”) could show up at their door and punch them in the face. The Guardian lives in a different legal reality: I don’t know exactly where Britain draws it’s line in slander and libel, but I have seen several occasions where folks from the UK, trying to come up with something slanderous to say, had to be reminded that in the US an expression of \*_opinion_ is not slander. So to slander a public figure, in the US I would have to say something derogatory about him that was factually untrue, while in the UK apparently it would count if I called him a jerk. Thus, the Guardian is protecting its poster from committing slander, and no doubt also protecting itself from accessory charges. ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-insult-authors/752684/63 "2016-04-26T05:41:40Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I’d prefer that it be illegal to suppress free speech that hurts your feelings. > > We’ll call it the OH GROW UP ALREADY bill. That would be an excellent name for the bill to punish people who commit harassment online, too. If it would be illegal to do it in person, it should be illegal to do it online. If you followed a woman down the street yelling “Bitch” and “whore” at her, you can bet you’d get arrested. (Well, you’d get astern talking to from a cop, who would tell you to stop. If you didn’t stop, then you’d get arrested.) See, problem solved and we don’t need any new laws: insulting someone isn’t illegal, but burying them in a barrage of insults is. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-insult-authors/752684/64 "2016-04-27T01:45:12Z")
When do insults become more than insults? When they’re relentless? And vile? And hateful? And violent in their language? Sometimes? Never? > **[This Video of Men Reading Disgusting Tweets to Women Is Painful to Watch](https://www.esquire.com/sports/videos/a44351/female-sports-reporters-mean-tweets/?src=social-text)** > > Now imagine how painful it is to be on the receiving end. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-insult-authors/752684/65 "2016-04-27T01:48:28Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > When do insults become more than insults? When they’re relentless? And vile? And hateful? And violent in their language? Sometimes? Never? Threats are illegal even in USA, but expressing contempt for anyone is legal, and it is a part of a political statement. In USA expressing contempt by using strong language is legal. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-insult-authors/752684/66 "2016-04-27T02:08:31Z")
There have been some explorations, in the civil courts, about actionable language, such as saying things that are so hateful that the victim commits suicide. I think this needs to be pushed back against, on slippery-slope grounds. I might say, “Well, that novel wasn’t very good,” and the author might commit suicide. What responsibility do I bear? In moral terms, no one should say really hateful things…but we need to continue to protect our legal right to do so. (And anyone who disagrees… Yeah, well.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-insult-authors/752684.md?page=3)