Speaking today with Zorpheous, I confessed to having the worse case of writer's block ever as an explanation as to why I have not been blogging. Where once I managed multiple posts per day on two blogs, I now do nothing.
This block is unlike any other I've had before. It's not that I lack anything to say, it's that I'm afraid to write for fear of falling once again under the shadow of Canada's backwards libel laws.
This is not a creative block, it is truly a block of stone hard fear.
You may recall that I am being sued by Wayne Crookes. Well, as I approach the one year anniversary of the lawsuit, I have little to report. A good hunk of the claim has been thrown out, but that is, last I heard, under appeal.
I am unable to pay for any legal bills. The LibelChill.ca site I put up to gather donations broke due to a server crash, and I just didn't have the time to put it back together. It seems not worth it as the donations I received after all that work were quite small.
People need to realize that Canada is not America -- you can most certainly be sued for libel in Canada for writing well-researched posts, or simply for stating opinions regardless of the level of public interest. You can most certainly be sued for writing the truth, and unless you have the tens of thousands of dollars required to defend yourself, you will find yourself publicly retracting that truth.
I try to write, but everything I publish concerns politics, and writing about politics often requires me to criticize people. Our libel law basically says that any negative comment about a person is libelous, unless, under reverse onus (guilty until proven innocent), the author can prove what they wrote is defensible.
And so, despite my many concerns about the direction of this county, and of our global society, this space now sits empty.
Consider that a political statement.
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Posted By Mark Francis to Section 15 at 1/07/2008 02:14:00 AM
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