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You're trying to decide whether to convict a guy like this one, do you think about his facebook post from the point of view of the impact on the viewer, on tara elonis, who was reading it, do you think it was reasonable for her to fear him? or do you think about whether he specifically intended to threaten harm? in other words, is it his perspective and what he says about what he meant or is it the effect it had on the person who was reading the post and was the target? >> you've written about that specifically. the choice in this case is between points of view, his or hers. it has also garner...

It shows us the dramatically different ways that black and white people see violence. if we talk about racial polarization, i wonder if we've gotten better in the last half century. the general assumption is that the moral arc of the universe is bending toward justice, hey, look, we have a black president. is it not just that racial stereotyping and bias is more buried underneath the surface but is as potent as ever? >> absolutely it's as potent as ever when you look at the behavior of police officers. there's one thing about attitudes and racial attitudes people have, those often get translat...

Previous decisions to side with either of the elonises? >> i think this case is somewhat of a question mark for the justices in general. this is a very pro, big first amendment interpretation, pro free speech court. we may see liberal and conservative justices airing on the side of giving more breathing room to free speech. you're right that they're not necessarily masters of technology. i can't imagine they have their own facebook pages -- >> i feel like they don't even communicate by e-mail, if that's correct. >>en. they like to fax a lot. do you remember faxes? but hopefully they all have p...

Lose by being more forthright about racism among whites directed towards black americans, but it's certainly the case that there are political repercussions to talking about this because, frankly, people just don't want to hear that much about it. in talking about it could harm them. >> sam, i want to ask you about that. you're standing as you are on the north lawn of the white house. the president has taken up a lot of things that were potentially libellous. if you talk to folks within the administration, they really bristle that the president has not talked enough on race. at the same time, ...

They really do disrupt other people's lives. people who are the subject of threats may struggle to eat and sleep. they may feel like they have to leave their homes because they're not safe there. and so that's the sort of tension here. on the internet there's obviously lots and lots of opportunity to say different things, including to post threats in a public way that we didn't really have to the same degree before the internet. and also when people put up posts that you don't get tone of voice and you don't get cues from looking at swann face to face. so that can make it harder to judge what ...