Thank god I can ridicule Glenn Beck and Chiropractors.

I think it’s sad anyone can take seriously a Glenn Beck legal claim based on the allegedly defamatory nature of a domain named “glennbeckraped andmurdered- ayounggilrl.com,” but I’m grateful at least for a First Amendment that, I believe, makes it very unlikely any such claim by Beck would prevail and that allows me to title a blog post “I don’t think Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young girl, but why won’t he deny it?”

I could, after all, live in England, where, as Olivia Judson writes,

Several times this summer, science journalists in London have leaned over to me and said something along the lines of, “I was thinking of writing,” and gone on to describe an article that was going to be critical of someone. “But then,” the speaker would gloomily conclude, “I thought to myself, ‘Simon Singh,’ and I decided not to.”

In England, as the Guardian explains, not only will the legal costs of defending a libel action will be considerable, often running into hundreds of thousands of pounds,” but, unlike in the States, “the loser almost always has to pay the costs of the winner, plus any damages awarded to the claimant.” As Judson points out, in England not only do “[l]ibel cases cost little to bring — you can make a no-win-no-fee arrangement with your lawyer” — but, most importantly, the defendant has the burden of proving the allegedly defamatory statement is true. In contrast, in the States, a public figure must prove the defamatory statement not only was false but was made with a reckless disregard for the truth. And even a non-public figure has the burden of proving the falsity of the allegedly defamatory statement.

Why is Simon Singh the person potential critics of bad science are reluctant to become? Because Singh is being sued by the British Chirpractic Association for libel after he wrote the following:

The British Chiropractic Association claims that their members can help treat children with colic, sleeping and feeding problems, frequent ear infections, asthma and prolonged crying, even though there is not a jot of evidence. This organisation is the respectable face of the chiropractic profession and yet it happily promotes bogus treatments.

At least in this country we can hear presentations like the following:

Conventional chiropractic [medicine] is a confused pseudoscience that attracts non-discerning customers and students just as surely do supermarket tabloids, astrologers, palm readers and psychics. Don Paulin, who directs the Victims of Chiropractic outreach and is a member of the National Council Against Health Fraud, will examine the status of chiropractic and illustrate his talk with videos.

You can feel the way you want to about chiropractors, but I’ve never seen any evidence that satisfies me its benefits are anything other than the result of a placebo effect, and I’m glad I can say so without any great fear of being hauled into a court on charges of libel. Though, as the Guardian article linked to above suggests, since my posts can be read anywhere, I suppose there’s some risk I could be sued by chiropractors in England.