Mr Miyagi’s definitive opinion about being sued over something written on a blog

On April 30, 2005 · 38 Comments · In The Ingterneck

You want (see com­ments in that post) Mr Miyagi to say some­thing as regards the laws of defama­tion? Can!

Mr Miyagi says being ‘threat­ened with legal action’ is not a laud­able achieve­ment. Does not mat­ter if it is in con­nec­tion with some­thing you blogged. Say­ing ‘I am the first Sin­ga­pore blog­ger to be threat­ened with legal action over some­thing I said about some­one’ is like say­ing, ‘Hey, sliced bread! Cool!’.

Do not insin­u­ate that by my silence over this mat­ter I am afraid to talk about mat­ters of any impor­tance. My silence over this mat­ter is because it bores the shit outta me, and the only impor­tant les­son in this whole deba­cle can be found in any law text­book to do with defama­tion. And this is not a law text­book to do with defamation.

I do how­ever respect the right of every indi­vid­ual to talk about the mat­ter till the cows come home and place them­selves in parks and every avail­able open space in Singapore.

But if you’re dar­ing me and egging me to say some­thing about the mat­ter, here ’tis:

If you get ‘threat­ened with legal action’ because of some­thing you wrote on your blog, I could rec­om­mend a cou­pla good lawyers, but you really should know bet­ter than to run with scis­sors. Also, you’ll now be used by sev­eral agenda-laden and some­times mis­guided groups as a poster boy/girl for the poor, oppressed no-hoper Sin­ga­pore­ans who have inter­net access at the uni­ver­sity they are obtain­ing their expen­sive degrees in. That doesn’t mean the world is sit­ting up and tak­ing notice of you because you’ve achieved some­thing or attempted to make the world a bet­ter place.

I can get the same kind of atten­tion by stand­ing naked in an MRT train. Once I get arrested and make the news, there’d be at least some quar­ters who’d defend me say­ing I’ve had my free­dom of expres­sion curbed.

But I don’t need that kind of attention.

I’d much rather write some­thing about Steph Song and get strung up by her instead.

Oh, and another thing. The law’s the law, and you’re not immune even if you’re writ­ing anonymously.

Go on. More cows com­ing home.


I’d much rather look at this

iTunes’ party shuf­fle is play­ing a copy of: Abra­ham, Mar­tin And John — Mar­vin Gaye — The Very Best of Mar­vin Gaye, of which I have the orig­i­nal CD and there­fore didn’t steal music.
 
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  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/5487291 ivan

    hmmm… dark clouds brew­ing over the hori­zon i sense.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/5487291 ivan

    hmmm… dark clouds brew­ing over the hori­zon i sense.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/609447 dag­ger

    Hon­estly, defama­tion in com­mon law is bad enough already. Online defama­tion, I don’t even wanna touch with the end of a 10 foot stick.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/609447 dag­ger

    Hon­estly, defama­tion in com­mon law is bad enough already. Online defama­tion, I don’t even wanna touch with the end of a 10 foot stick.

  • Anony­mous

    oh some­body read­ing David Sedaris,
    My Hero~

    –solse­tur

  • Anony­mous

    oh some­body read­ing David Sedaris,
    My Hero~

    –solse­tur

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/8336949 Mys­tery­Tan­Lines

    damn kids. can’t take action. always depend­ing on min­is­ter Xiaxue to fight their polit­i­cal bat­tles. Maybe she can do it in her FHM col­umn? Hmm then again, we dont really read the text in that mag.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/8336949 Mys­tery­Tan­Lines

    damn kids. can’t take action. always depend­ing on min­is­ter Xiaxue to fight their polit­i­cal bat­tles. Maybe she can do it in her FHM col­umn? Hmm then again, we dont really read the text in that mag.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/974434 Nicholas

    Some­how I doubt the brag­ga­bil­ity of ‘first SG blog­ger to be sued’ is high on AcidFlask’s list of pri­or­i­ties at the moment. Your post does him a dis­ser­vice, unde­servedly so.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/974434 Nicholas

    Some­how I doubt the brag­ga­bil­ity of ‘first SG blog­ger to be sued’ is high on AcidFlask’s list of pri­or­i­ties at the moment. Your post does him a dis­ser­vice, unde­servedly so.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1700143 Mr Miyagi

    I’d be flat­tered if it did.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1700143 Mr Miyagi

    I’d be flat­tered if it did.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2766369 shi­anux

    This post has been removed by the author.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2766369 shi­anux

    This post has been removed by the author.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2766369 shi­anux

    Hey Mr Miyagi, I hope you’re not angry, and have cooled down by now.

    Track­back:

    Here.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2766369 shi­anux

    Hey Mr Miyagi, I hope you’re not angry, and have cooled down by now.

    Track­back:

    Here.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/603515 Man­drake

    on a dif­fer­ent note, I know that girl! Sis­ter of a good friend of mine. I won­der if she knows she is on your blog.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/603515 Man­drake

    on a dif­fer­ent note, I know that girl! Sis­ter of a good friend of mine. I won­der if she knows she is on your blog.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/263597 Aga­googa

    What is legal is not always right, what is ille­gal is not always wrong.

    Those who run afoul of ridicu­lous laws knew they were run­ning risks, but they do not nec­es­sar­ily deserve what is doled out to them.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/263597 Aga­googa

    What is legal is not always right, what is ille­gal is not always wrong.

    Those who run afoul of ridicu­lous laws knew they were run­ning risks, but they do not nec­es­sar­ily deserve what is doled out to them.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1700143 Mr Miyagi

    Well said, Aga­googa. I reckon bits of defama­tion law are ridicu­lous too, and I speak from experience.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1700143 Mr Miyagi

    Well said, Aga­googa. I reckon bits of defama­tion law are ridicu­lous too, and I speak from experience.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/3459755 Garry

    I don’t care if you say noth­ing about the mat­ter, but now that you did, what you said is a dis­grace to any self-respecting person.

    He was try­ing to speak his views, and got struck down by Singapore’s ever-so-convenient sys­tem of critic-killing. Used, of course, by the peo­ple right on top.

    Flat­tered if you do him a dis­ser­vice? why would you want to do that? UNLESS… you’re just another fear­ful gov­ern­ment dog. Are you loyal to Sin­ga­pore, or are you faith­ful to the PAP?

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/3459755 Garry

    I don’t care if you say noth­ing about the mat­ter, but now that you did, what you said is a dis­grace to any self-respecting person.

    He was try­ing to speak his views, and got struck down by Singapore’s ever-so-convenient sys­tem of critic-killing. Used, of course, by the peo­ple right on top.

    Flat­tered if you do him a dis­ser­vice? why would you want to do that? UNLESS… you’re just another fear­ful gov­ern­ment dog. Are you loyal to Sin­ga­pore, or are you faith­ful to the PAP?

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1700143 Mr Miyagi

    Aiyoh, Garry, thank you for your kind com­ments. The PAP will be so happy with me now. I will be so richly rewarded.

    This will be one of the rare times I’ve had to explain myself. And I am kick­ing myself for being so oblique in my ‘angry post’. I was not talk­ing about Acid­Flask. I was talk­ing about you. Yes, you. Garry Huang. And the like.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1700143 Mr Miyagi

    Aiyoh, Garry, thank you for your kind com­ments. The PAP will be so happy with me now. I will be so richly rewarded.

    This will be one of the rare times I’ve had to explain myself. And I am kick­ing myself for being so oblique in my ‘angry post’. I was not talk­ing about Acid­Flask. I was talk­ing about you. Yes, you. Garry Huang. And the like.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2766369 shi­anux

    lol, that was funny

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2766369 shi­anux

    lol, that was funny

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2867735 HUICHIEH LOY

    Track­back: From a Sin­ga­pore Angle, “The Acid­Flask Affair in ether and beyond”

    PS: Happy troll hunting

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2867735 HUICHIEH LOY

    Track­back: From a Sin­ga­pore Angle, “The Acid­Flask Affair in ether and beyond”

    PS: Happy troll hunting

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2867735 HUICHIEH LOY

    Track­back: From a Sin­ga­pore Angle, “Review­ing the Sin­ga­pore Blogosphere”

    (Sorry for the mul­ti­ple track­backs: two dif­fer­ent posts involved)

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/2867735 HUICHIEH LOY

    Track­back: From a Sin­ga­pore Angle, “Review­ing the Sin­ga­pore Blogosphere”

    (Sorry for the mul­ti­ple track­backs: two dif­fer­ent posts involved)

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/3459755 Garry

    Miyagi,

    Please kindly enlighten. I don’t see how you could have been refer­ing to peo­ple like me. Indeed, it’s obvi­ous to me that you’re talk­ing about Acid­flask and oth­ers who write stuff on their blogs and get threat­ened with law­suits, and/or run with scissors.

    I mean no direct attack on you — I just feel no one should be be stand­ing on the side of Mr free-speech-silencer.

    Respect­fully,
    Garry

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/3459755 Garry

    Miyagi,

    Please kindly enlighten. I don’t see how you could have been refer­ing to peo­ple like me. Indeed, it’s obvi­ous to me that you’re talk­ing about Acid­flask and oth­ers who write stuff on their blogs and get threat­ened with law­suits, and/or run with scissors.

    I mean no direct attack on you — I just feel no one should be be stand­ing on the side of Mr free-speech-silencer.

    Respect­fully,
    Garry

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/9315207 Ale­gria

    well well …

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/9315207 Ale­gria

    well well …

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/9315207 Ale­gria

    i was informed by straits times mr miyagi got a degree in jurispru­dence. can email me more about the degree and jurispru­dence?
    oxford75@singnet.com.sg
    thanks so much…

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/9315207 Ale­gria

    i was informed by straits times mr miyagi got a degree in jurispru­dence. can email me more about the degree and jurispru­dence?
    oxford75@singnet.com.sg
    thanks so much…

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