What To Do About The Lying Charlatans?

Ok. So I was reading a bunch of blogs from news sources that I have trusted in the past to give me the unvarnished truth regarding various issue of the day. What I typically found was that credible news sources would blow the lid off of some fear/smear/info-tainment from the radical/right/ranters and then a bunch of anonymous goobers would comment by saying some version of, "right on!" or, "you’re full of it!" What nonsense! I mean the whole Kabuki dance.

How about a serious discussion about expanding liable/defamation laws to cover hateful trash designed to incite insurrection, murder, or ruin the careers of public figures? First Amendment problems? Public Figure exception? How low does the bar have to get before it is hate speech? Before it is like yelling fire in a crowded theater? These are the topics we should be discussing.

These trashmeisters aren’t misinformed. They are doing it for Rupert, or ratings, or just for cold hard cash. They’re not going to simply go away. 22% of the population either suffer from single-digit IQs, or are already so paralyzed with fear, that they buy whatever snake oil these charlatans are selling. Printing the truth and then clucking our tongues at the filthy liars is a start, but not an antidote to the venom they spread so quickly.

I have an idea to kick around. How about, the next yahoo who screams "liar" during the President's State of The Union speech, gets arrested and jailed, for contempt of congress? That ought to get the discussion going, don't you think? Or we could take another look at the Sedition Act of 1798? How about the one in 1918? You know how fond those strict constructionists are of old laws!

Sincerely,

J. Brandeis Sperandeo