SPECIAL REPORT: Using Words as Weapons on the Blogosphere

Catholic Online ^ | 6/07/08 | Fr. Michael P. Orsi

[tcg]

There are bloggers who present their calumny under the guise of “allegations,” applying evasive constructs like “some people are saying” or “it has been alleged.” Such writers are often well educated (sometimes with a law background), skilled at parsing words in order to avoid culpability for legal defamation. In this they rely for protection on the high standard of proof required to bring a libel action.

Others recognize the evil in calumny, but see it as a compromise that must be made for the sake of a noble cause. They hope that by destroying an opponent’s reputation they will de-legitimize the position that opponent represents. This is the “greater good” rationalization, the thinking of terrorists willing to kill innocent people (even sometimes themselves) in pursuit of lofty goals.

In such manner, “cyber-terrorists” are often willing to tolerate a certain amount of“collateral damage” for the sake of what they perceive as good. They will employ pernicious lies concerning sexual matters that can wreck marriages, allegations of legal impropriety that can destroy careers, or statements demeaning the moral probity of civic leaders that can weaken society as a whole.

Sad to say, Christian circles are not free of such machinations.

[tcg]

Those involved in blogging would do well to keep in mind the words of Isaiah 33:15, which says of the good person: “He who acts with integrity, who speaks sincerely …, shuts suggestion of murder out of his ears, and closes his eyes against crime, this man will dwell in the heights.”

This article appears in the June 2008 issue of HPR.

[BenLurkin]

guise of “allegations,” applying evasive constructs like “some people are saying” or “it has been alleged.”

This technique was created and perfected by the scoundrels over at "60 Minutes"

[chaos_5]

It's been going on for hundreds of years. Today they are bloggers, then they were pamphleteer's.