by 773491 on August 1st, 2009

773491

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Should truth be protected? How about laws that prohibit false advertising (i.e. healing powers of homeopathy) or false scientific claims (like the cloning humans that was later exposed as fraud)?

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  • by Chaoticgood on August 2nd, 2009

    Chaoticgood

    It is hard to say if truth is always absolute. Some truths can be easily proven to be subjective. It is hard to make absolute laws about truth in general when some subjects have obvious grey areas. Legislating truth restricts freedoms and so in passing any law that claims truth I would think we should require large amounts of evidence of harm if that truth isn't defined.
    Sometimes it simply isn't worthwhile to waste the time and effort to debunk fraudulent claims. Things like homeopathy, cultural rituals, and superstitions are simply not worth the effort to dispute until they reach the point where they harm people. The fact is that no institution can protect people from their own willful ignorance. The cost in time and resources to challenge every stupid claim made by advertisers would be prohibitive.
    As far as the scientific claims go, the scientific method is supposed to be self regulating with peer review and repeatable experimentation. Science does occasionally get bastardized by people who are more interested in personal gain than truth. Usually these cases get sussed out in due time. Yet again, unless there is personal or monetary harm in the case it is not worthwhile to prosecute.

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  • by Gingerminx on August 1st, 2009

    Gingerminx

    There are already laws to protect against false advertising.

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  • by Darth NANAME on August 1st, 2009

    Darth NANAME

    As much as people try to deny it, freedom of speech can be abused. However, current laws against false advertising and the like are pretty much all that's needed.

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