By The Editorial BoardRockford Register Star

We dont typically root for libel plaintiffs.

Too many Americans have sacrificed too much over the generations to ensure that we can speak our minds in the public square without fear of reprisal for us to cheer on those use litigation to silence an adversary.

Yet it is hard not to sympathize with Justin Fern, proprietor of Urban Equity Properties.

Fern, youll recall, filed a lawsuit a couple of weeks back against a handful of people Fern claims defamed him by suggesting that he set the June fire that consumed the old Hanley Furniture building in downtown Rockford. The building was owned by Urban Equity.

Its unclear what will become of the lawsuit. It was dismissed at the request of Ferns lawyer so the lawyer can add defendants. Nevertheless, theres an important lesson to be learned. Well get to that in a moment.

Decades of jurisprudence have erected a high legal par for those claiming theyve been defamed. Its especially difficult for plaintiffs whom the law considers public figures. Whether Fern meets that standard would be determined by the court.

What is clear, however, is that Fern has joined the company of those who because of their business activities, political activities, or creative or artistic talents have been subjected to the merciless torment meted out so casually by users of Facebook and other social media platforms.

Such conduct may not be unlawful. But it certainly violates the norms of civilized behavior the kind of informal, widely accepted standards of conduct for the community.

We can hear the critics now.

Youre advocating censorship!

You want to take away my right to free speech.

No and no.

Censorship occurs when the government suppresses speech it considers politically objectionable or deems a threat to national security. (In ancient Rome, the censor was an official in charge of public morality, among other duties.)

No one is trying to suppress your right to speak freely. But we don't want you to treat the right to free speech the way you would a dime store toy, as a source of personal amusement. Be responsible. Be civil. Be constructive. And remember that freedom of speech doesnt mean freedom from consequences.

The surest way to avoid running afoul of the law is to confine yourself to speaking from facts, truth being an absolute defense. That, of course, rules out of bounds an awful lot of the poppycock that finds its way to social media.

It means you dont speculate about events about which you have know evidence. You dont instantly impugn someones motives. You dont demand that an adversary prove a negative. And you dont spout conspiracy theories when events dont go your way.

Its really pretty simple.

Were fortunate. There are plenty of places in the world where speaking truth to power earns you a quick trip to jail.

A substantial segment of social media users seem to get their jollies from posting incendiary comments. After all, the more people you can rile or amuse, the more people you can incite to anger, the better. Thats the measure of success on social media. And theres not much anyone can do to stop it.

What these knights of cyberspace fail to grasp, however, is that with each flaming tweet or Facebook post, they cheapen the contributions of those who've made serious use of the right to speak freely to power abolitionists, suffragettes, civil rights activists and antiwar demonstrators, among others. Those kinds of people, and their causes, are what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they enshrined free speech in the First Amendment.

It's likely, of course, that the people who took to social media to insult Fern had no clue about that history, any more than they understood their potential legal exposure or the limits on their own free-speech rights. For them, we offer this advice:

When you want to strike a blow for free speech, make sure you have something worthwhile to say.

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Our View: Case makes clear: Talk is cheap. Free speech isn't. - Rockford Register Star