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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 8th, 2023

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  • Yeah you totally should. I have had some of the most peaceful moments in my life when stargazing. Sometimes I feel like it connects me spiritually with every human that ever lived across time and space. We are all equally insignificant in the context of the universe, and yet equally blessed to witness its grandeur.









  • Good stuff, it seems that he probably has no chance with this lawsuit. But still

    a false statement purporting to be fact

    Leaves a lot of wiggle room. How is “a false statement” defined? It’s ultimately a matter of semantics.

    I read this article which indicates that the truthfulness of the statement isn’t even the relevant legal issue, and even if it were partially false it would still not constitute defamation.

    Erroneous statement is protected, the Court asserted, there being no exception “for any test of truth.” Error is inevitable in any free debate and to place liability upon that score, and especially to place on the speaker the burden of proving truth, would introduce self-censorship and stifle the free expression which the First Amendment protects. Nor would injury to official reputation afford a warrant for repressing otherwise free speech.

    The fact that expression contains falsehoods does not deprive it of protection, because otherwise such expression in the public interest would be deterred by monetary judgments and self-censorship imposed for fear of judgments.

    https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-1/defamation-and-false-statements-overview

    This agrees with what you are saying about knowingly false statements. But I never meant to say he could prove defamation, I just thought it was easier to claim than falsehood, because the story is obviously true 😅

    But I guess defamation is actually harder to prove than I thought.


  • I dunno about that, because many statements are unfalsifiable. If someone accuses me of being a witch, how can I be expected to “show it’s false”? If you can show that they

    acted with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not

    Then it’s not necessary to prove that it’s false.

    I understand and agree that the burden for proving defamation in the US is quite high, but it’s not always possible or necessary to demonstrate that the accusation is absolutely false.



  • Sure, but you don’t need to prove that it’s false to claim defamation. As long as the defense is unable to prove that the accusation is definitively true, it could still be considered defamation. If he were to claim the report was false, then he’d have to provide evidence to that effect. By saying that it was defamatory, he only has to demonstrate that there is a lack of 100% certainty as to whether it is true or false, shifting the burden of proof onto CNN.