On Wed, Feb 03, 1999 at 11:52:29AM -0800, Gill, Kathy wrote:
> CREATORS OF ANTI-ABORTION WEB SITE TOLD TO PAY MILLIONS
> Issue: Free Speech
> A federal jury has ruled that Planned Parenthood and a group of doctors
> should receive more than $107 million from 14 militant anti-abortion
> activists.
This is great news -- and before someone jumps down my throat, please
note *carefully* that I am not expressing an opinion about the topic
of abortion here.
I am, however, going to express an opinion about the subject of this
ruling, which has nothing to with abortion, and everything to do with
the distinction between speech and conduct, and with constitutionally-valid
imposed limits on speech (e.g. the old "fire-in-a-crowded-theater" argument).
I think both factors are at work here. It's very clear from the content
of these sites [I'm aware of two; don't know if either or both are covered
in this ligitation] that the intent is to pose overt and implied threats to
physicians and their families, and to encourage and support aggressive
conduct (including criminal conduct) against them. This intent is made
unambiguously and undeniably clear by the materials on the sites themselves,
by the public statements of their creators, and by their endorsement of
acts (including violent acts) directed against the subjects of these materials.
This is unacceptable.
Moreoever, it's unnecessary: it's unnecessary to exceed the (wide) bounds
of the First Amendment in order to effectively lobby and organize in
support of political/social/religious/etc. causes.
And beyond that, it's counter-productive: threatening members of one's
audience or acquaintances/relatives/supporters/etc. of one's audience
is not an effective communication technique. It's far more likely to
polarize the audience (at least that segment of it which is equipped
with spines) *against* the speaker's message.
Bluntly, I'm surprised the defendants were this stupid; but given
just how stupid they were, I think $107M is appropriate. Given that
figure, my guess is that this will be appealled and that we can eventually
expect a Supreme Court ruling on it.
(I'm pretty much in favor of the Stupidity Penalty on a global basis...
otherwise known as "Hey! You! Out of the gene pool!")
It will be interesting to see -- once that ruling is made, *if* it's made --
what effect that has on similar web sites run by other groups or individuals
which contain similar content.
---Rsk
Rich Kulawiec
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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