The Word Cloud

8 Comments

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  by Skylark 7 months ago

  Yes, I agree. I think that genuinely defamatory statements - certainly anything that could be considered libelous - should be dealt with but it's very worrying when someone gets hauled up for stating an opinion. Freedom of speech applies to the written word too!
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  by stephenterry 7 months ago

  An unsubstantiated opinion can never be challenged if it is prefixed by the term: ‘Provocatively’.
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  by Caducean Whisks 7 months ago

  Seems it's OK to have an opinion that everyone else agrees with though, which makes us all a bit like Stepford Wives and dead boring. Wake me up when someone says something interesting on fb.
  (not here, by golly - everybody's interesting here! As are the Clouders who are also on facebook. Oh dear, digging myself a hole. Stopping right away sir.)
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  by Aonghus Fallon 7 months ago

  In Ireland - I'm guessing in the UK as well - we have what is called 'fair comment'. A statement is only slanderous if it alleges a criminal act on the part of the person to whom it is addressed.
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  by Caducean Whisks 7 months ago

  ... and it has to be prove-ably true. i.e. there has to be independent evidence that your 'fair comment' is accurate. Your word against t'others - isn't enough.
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  by Kate7 7 months ago

  Fair comment can work. however what I am refering to is when someone in thier own time (aka not at work etc) using thier own pc (again not a work computer) makes a comment on thier own facebook page or blog etc (aka not something run by the place they work, the works website etc). That comment is general or unkind to a group then they lose thier job because of it. I find it daft. Again just to reiterate if it involves named individuals, companies etc and is openly defamatory (aka damages them and/or thier ability to work, not just something thats a bit rude) then action can be taken. But I really do not think people should be punished for voicing an opinion no matter how unpopular.
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  by CJ 7 months ago

  I learned a very long time ago that there is no such thing as free speech. In fact, when you're a teacher, there's no such thing as your own life - not when you can get into trouble for posting up pictures of you on holiday enjoying a pint (bad role model), or relaxing by the pool in your bikini (... uh, pornographic?). The last government wanted to bring in a 'role model' charter that said teachers wouldn't be allowed to smoke or get drunk in public, just in case they came across pupils or pupils parents. Thankfully, it never saw the light of day - but there are rumbles from this current government along the same lines.
  
  And a friend of my father's (who isn't a teacher) lost his job over something he said on Facebook - and it wasn't even connected to his job - they just didn't like what he was saying, on his own time, in the privacy of this own home (to be fair, I don't know the details, but my Dad was pretty shocked by it all. I think it was to do with a stag weekend he went on, and he was foolish to talk about it publicly, but at the same time, if it's not on work's clock and it isn't breaking the law, what you get up to in your own time is your own business). You have to be so careful nowadays - Big Brother isn't so much watching as studying you intently...
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  by Kate7 7 months ago

  Ely: This is exactly the point of my outrage. If it was done on your dad's friend's own time, not work related in any way then it should have no effect on his job. I find it so annoying that I struggle to find the words.