Archive for September, 2010

“Emma Thompson on Making Kids Brave”

Famed for playing (among others) the tough Nanny McPhee, the actress has this to say (BabyCenter interview via FreeRangeKids):

I think it’s good to be brave because then you’re also slightly more able to cope with failure and failure of course is your best friend in every regard really. Children are brave and they’re more likely to take risks and they’re more likely to learn really important lessons.

That’s really what I mean by being brave, you know. That we take care of our children very carefully and that’s absolutely right, but in certainly my culture children are being so, I think, stifled by sort of health and safety so that they’re not climbing trees anymore, they’re not taking risks, physical risks anymore.

“People are shocked to learn they can be sued for posting, ‘My dentist stinks.'”

No disrespect to any actual dentists intended, honest. It’s just an example (from Eric Goldman) from an article on the proliferation of suits charging online defamation. “‘It was probably inevitable, but we have seen a steady growth in litigation over content on the Internet,’ said Sandra Baron, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center in New York.” [L.A. Times]

P.S.: “A Duluth physician is suing the son of a former patient for publicly criticizing his bedside manner.” [Duluth News Tribune via Citizen Media Law, McKee v. Laurion]

September 3 roundup

September 2 roundup