Rebecca Watson has been getting lots of them, and threats of lawsuits, in a tangled web of complaints from a couple of parties fighting over porn addiction vs. no porn addiction. I don’t want to even try to untangle it, but it sounds like Rebecca is just a civilian casualty taking friendly fire, or not-so-friendly lashing out by one side of the argument. I’ll let her try to explain it.
I’ve been there. It always seems like those most religious about free speech who fling around SLAPP suits and try their hardest to silence everyone else. I’m with Team Rebecca on this one: I’m not going to sue anyone no matter what they say about me, and it’s just abuse of the legal system to play these games. Did Richard Carrier or Ben Radford improve their reputations with their shenanigans? No.
A few other comments:
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I’ve noticed that she generally seems much happier and more relaxed since she kicked the atheist/skeptic movements out of her life and replaced them with surfing and a dog. There’s a lesson there. I’m replacing them with photography and an army of spiders.
Everyone congratulate her on her recent elopement! That seems to be a wise decision, too: my parents eloped, my niece is eloping at the end of the month. Getting out from traditional demands is another recipe for happiness.
It’s appropriate to sue for libel if someone is doing material harm by telling lies (e.g. say you owned a restaurant and someone was spreading false rumors about health code violations). So while I would agree that in most cases, you’re in a position to defend yourself without legal action, I don’t think it’s a good absolute principle.
I started to watch the video. I would add that suing for copyright violation is an old Church of Scientology trick for silencing critics (I guess they’re not alone, but it’s where I first heard about it). I am not a lawyer, though I think YouTube is at fault for siding with the plaintiff mostly just to protect their bottom line. They probably don’t have the staff that would be necessary to make a reasonable judgment about fair use.
Yes, as Rebecca points out, there is a line that can be crossed: when it’s malicious and does real harm. You’d think that what someone would have to do to convince YouTube to take something down is to first demonstrate that it did harm…but apparently they only apply that standard when it’s something like Nazi race-baiting.
Yeah, we eloped to Vegas as well. Had a nice wedding at the chapel with the reverend doing the honors and his secretary as witness. Neither of us is all that fond of pomp and circumstance.
Agree it’s not an absolute principle. I support Michael Mann’s suit against The National Review, for instance.
Climate Science Legal Defense Fund
https://www.csldf.org
JoeBuddha@4 Curious. What’s the appeal of Las Vegas? I have to admit I hate that place and I was only there once for a conference over 25 years ago. By contrast, I sort of like Reno and have stayed there a couple of times because it’s close to Lake Tahoe. There are always a lot of Bay Area people there and it doesn’t pretend to be about much besides gambling. (I don’t gamble anyway.)
Anyway, it seems like if you wanted a fast, no-nonsense wedding, which I totally support, there are many alternatives.
I can answer that one! It’s cheap if you don’t gamble — I’ve been to several conferences there, cons love the inexpensive venues. There are also lot of activities available: you’re a nerd, you like Star Trek? There’s a whole museum. Music, dancing? Got it covered. Magic shows? Lots. It’s like a giant circus.
Last time I was there, the treat was something different: hiking in the Red Rocks. There are some beautiful desert sights to see nearby.
Yeah, I’ve heard that, but I still hate the place. Maybe I’m just a snob.
The DMCA is a policy compromise. And as such, it has rampant abuses, like all policy compromises; it fails to actually meet the needs of those most in need of its purported objectives, like most policy compromises; and it’s stuck in a decades-old context without regard to other changes in law and reality (which don’t overlap as much as I’d like), like most policy compromises. The problem with this post, and the related argument, is that it doesn’t insert “abusive” before “DMCA notice,” very much assuming that readers will do so themselves (and they won’t, at least not in three months’ time) while pretending that search engines will, too (they never do).
For authors, artists, and independent musicians/songwriters, the ability to file no-cost-but-the-internet-connection challenges to outright piracy that need to at least be listened to (or things get really ugly from there) is critical. Many choose not to use the system; many do.
PZ totally had all of that covered though: those artists are trolls, every last one of them.
Also, if you don’t want someone else publishing a picture of you without your permission (not necessarily made by you), then my understanding is that this makes you a corporate lawyer of some sort. The huge paychecks that come with the position should probably arrive in the mail within a couple weeks.
I, too, eloped, although it was just to the local courthouse, not to Las Vegas. Health insurance is urgent, organizing weddings is hard.
Congrats to Rebecca!
Works for me. There is strong evidence for the existence of dog.
Is it eloping if a relative knows the plans weeks in advance? (It’s not how it works on TV sitcoms.)
Yeah, the atheist shtick is getting old and stale. Not that it was wrong, in fact I think it was a sorely needed push-back that was well overdue. But perhaps it wasn’t the best basis for a movement.
I rode through Vegas at night on a road trip from FL to CA when I was 11. At that age it was phenomenally awesome with all the glitzy lights. One continuous fireworks show. I had up to that point seen nothing like it, although Disney’s Electric Light Parade was on a smaller scale and cool in its own right when I was a kid.
We didn’t stop in Vegas. Just drove through. At night. Wondrous then. Now I would probably be less enthused. Plus gambling has NO appeal at all to me. Vegas may have more to it than that.
As for getting married there…it sounds cool. Why not. Beats all the headaches of bringing extended families together in proximity to alcohol. More involved than the mere clerk of court formality, but that’s fine too. I have had way too much fun at more traditional wedding receptions though. Not quite up to Wedding Crashers standards though.
hemidactylus@14 I didn’t mean to derail the thread, but I think my view of Las Vegas is similar to this Guardian article. Just driving through and seeing the lights is one thing. Walking around the Strip (this was in the 90s) was just depressing. It’s like do you want to be America’s red light district or do you want to be Disneyland for adults? You can’t have it both ways. Or at least to me it feels very dishonest to try. No judgment. To each their own. I can just state categorically that I don’t plan to go back unless I’m compelled by some other reason.
I did take a walk in 105°F dry desert heat from the Strip to Glitter Gulch and that was an interesting experience coming from a much more humid environment. Doesn’t say much about the city itself.
Reno has much more of a wild west feel to me, and I can respect that. I like gritty. I also like seedy urban places. I don’t know what Las Vegas is trying to be, but I don’t want any part of it.