Ben Goldacre on being sued for libel

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Dr Ben Goldacre talks about his experience of being sued for libel - filmed backstage at the Big Libel Gig, 14 March 2010. Find out why Ben and 40,000 others are backing libel reform in England, support the cause and sign up at: www.libelreform.org/sign

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Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Ben
• Goldacre

[Joe22c]

Ben Goldacre is what it means to be a hero. If only I could meet that man one day so as to buy him a drink!

[alien8ted]

Next time one of these charlatons makes absurd claims, we ought to organise a mass-libel, so thousands of us libel the scumbag in public at the same time, so they couldn't practically sue all of us. We can force this stupid libel stitch-up to collapse under it's own weight.

[TxSonofLiberty]

@benthejrporter The question is did he get sued for saying "I think there are other alternatives." or for saying "No, they're lying crooks". You see, if he is disagreeing with them, it is opinion, if he is claiming they're wrong & he can't prove it, then he is affecting their income. And while I agree that he should be allowed to speak his mind, I already know I disagree with his biased views, & have seen him be defamatory and somewhat misinformed on matters. The price for opening ones mouth.

[mphello]

Anyone who supports or upholds laws that force people into prison against their will just because they don't have the money had better be prepared to be killed for their stupid cause.

It's Europe, not USA. Europeans preach all this anti-violence bullshit. So then, don't go to court. Ignore the lawsuit. If they don't like it, then they will be forced to used violence against you.

[mphello]

Ignore the lawsuit. You have freedom of speech. Tell them they have freedom of speech to threaten to put you into prison, but they do not have the right to physically do it.

If anyone dares to kidnap and drag you to court against your will,

get a bomb and blow them up. War is justified.

[SonOfRojBlake]

@synsei1 Oh, sorry, didn't realise someone had already replied. My apologies.

[synsei1]

@SonOfRojBlake Thanks for your response. Why did you assume I didn't understand that the first time someone replied to me? I'm glad reason won against magical thinking. I also watched other videos since then where he explained how these libel court cases can cost you the price of a nice house, even if you win... Or was it Simon Singh v/s british chiropractors association? I'm aware of the iniquitous libel laws in UK, and I was aware Bandershot is a lying douchebag to begin with.

[SonOfRojBlake]

@synsei1 Yes. He did win. The cost of WINNING was about two hundred thousand pounds.

Let me say that again - Rath sued Goldacre. Goldacre spent ~£500,000 defending himself. He WON. Rath paid Goldacre ~ £300,000 towards his costs. Result: successfully winning the case COST Goldacre more than my three bedroomed detached house with garage cost me.

I can understand entirely how you might not get that on first or even second attempt. It makes NO sense. Which is kind of the point.

[ShootingCans]

buy Ben a lager dot com

[sakkarinahp]

@synsei1 Yes he won.

[synsei1]

So, did he win ? (My audio sucks and I don't understand English so well.)

I just read comments from John Benneth aka Bandershot saying "Why can't you win a court case?"

[thedeeliciousplum]

My friends and I were quite thankful to a local CFI group that sponsered a symposium with Ben Goldacre. Ben is definitely a wonderful and necessary opponent to the quackery that our families and friends face when it comes to making decision about our health and well-being. Ben is an ally to reason and to humanity as a whole. Thanks for sharing this vid.