Posted by Mary_Bowers on October 21, 2004, at 13:45:38
In reply to Re: A civil venue for accusations » Mary_Bowers, posted by SLS on October 21, 2004, at 7:10:00
Persistent offerings of opinions by a psychiatrist deliniating what is civil and what is not civil can be viewed as medical opinions about appropriate behavior. If a licensed plumber called people uncivil for posting information that conflicts with the opinion of the plumber, he could potentially face action by other plumbers whose opinions he has called people uncivil for embracing. People can civilly call other peoples opinins wrong, or specious. But they may not call other people uncivil for holding those reasonable opinions contradicting the opinions of others. The plumber can offer contrary opinions, but when he calls expressin of those respected opinions of other professionals uncivil, he would seem to be committing an element of a libelous offense, specifically by suggesting that others are earning a living my innappropriate means.
I am starting to wonder if the interpretation of civil Hsiung proffers is in fact composed by attorneys. Statements that could make others feel hurt or put down could be interpreted as libelous, so he might have a compelling reason to systematically exclude them. But since an attorney might have offered a legal opinion that Hsiung offers as the opinion of a phsyciatrist about what is "Civil", it is easy for clients to reach the conclusion that civility is a medical, rather than a legal standard. Civility, from the perspective of a doctor, implies behavioral and character standards. The standard at play, however, seems to be a legal standard designed to protect Hsiung not from malpractice suits, but from libel suits for facilitating the publication of libelous statements.
From a medical regulatory standpoint, questions might arise over his failure to recognize as an artifact of his experience repeated misunderstandings among those he says have not been civil. I don't think we will find any other places on the Internet, certainly not at medically oriented sites operated by medical professionals, where a mental health practitioner persistently identifies writings of invited guests as not civil.
In case anyone is mulling over the related question, criticisms posted here of Robert Hsiungs practices are not liable to be seen as actionable libel because this is a context in which Hsiung has invited review of his administrative practice.
poster:Mary_Bowers
thread:403360
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20041012/msgs/405501.html