NJ Help, arrested for blog????

[Stephanie1988s]

New Jersey

I have had the worst past year of my life because of my future family in law. They have done things to me that no one would believe and put me through hell. I wrote a blog on myspace about how my fiance's family is crazy. All of it is 100% true. The grandfather did take my lisence plate number down and stalk me, they somehow found my poor old grandparents' number and harassed them, they threatened me, they did everything to me that I put in the blog. It was me talking about that and how insane they are and how scared and frustrated it made me feel and was meant for only my friends. They have put me through hell in the past year and last night they kicked my fiance out and confronted me with the printed blog which means they looked up my myspace. They were all gathered around me jabbing me and getting my face as they were screaming at me and then the grandfather got in my face and said he was going to have me arrested for it and sue me for defamation of character and slander. That he was taking it right over to the police. Blogs are for opinions and self expression, can they take action over one?

sorry if this is posted twice, I don't know whether this is criminal or not and need an answer now, I'm scared!

[moburkes]

Yes, they sure as hell can take action over what you wrote.

[gawm]

If what you wrote is a 100% true, and no threats of harm or anything liable was said, I would not worry about it.

[racer72]

My question is, why would you stay in a relationship with a family like this? I would have been gone months ago.

[quincy]

Stephanie1988s -
It is a common misconception that, because you are writing on a personal blog, all that you write is free from legal action. People are increasingly being sued for what they write on the Internet.

There is a VERY fine line between opinion and fact, and if you are implying fact, you can be sued for defamation. As for being safe from a defamation suit because everything you are writing is true, truth is only a DEFENSE to a defamation suit....which means you can use it once this grandfather takes you to court....but this also means you will have to incur the costs of appearing in court in order to prove that what you wrote was true.

Defamation is not the only area you would need to be concerned about, either. Invasion of privacy actions can occur when you identify and/or malign someone online. Even if everything you write in a blog is true or positive - if someone feels they have had their privacy invaded by your public writing, you can face a lawsuit.

Another word of warning: Employers are increasingly checking out MySpace and LiveJournal and personal blogs before hiring someone. There are many instances where what was written on a blog or MySpace has prevented the hiring of a person or has resulted in the firing of a person.

I am with racer72 in that there is no way I would stay in any relationship with someone whose family was that crazy - you are not only marrying one person, you marry into that person's family....and it sounds like they would make your married life miserable.

[outonbail]

I am with racer72 in that there is no way I would stay in any relationship with someone whose family was that crazy - you are not only marrying one person, you marry into that person's family....and it sounds like they would make your married life miserable.

I agree. Besides, what decent fiancé would stand there and let his family attack you like a bunch of vultures anyway? If his family is as nuts as you seem to believe, then he certainly must be aware of it (or part of it) I find it tacky that he hasn't shielded you from their dysfunctional behavior.
The fact that they had to kick him out, speaks volumes about his concern for their abnormal behavior. Why didn't he leave the funny farm a long time ago? Answer: Because he has come to enjoy the crazy comfort it provides him.
Dump him and don't look back, you really don't want to be swimming in that gene pool without a wet suit on anyway.

But then again, after giving this a little thought, I have heard of some families doing some pretty screwy things and going to some crazy extremes when their son/daughter plans on marrying outside of their particular ethnicity and/or religious convictions.
I was born and raised in New Jersey and I remember my best friend dating an Italian girl for a while. My girlfriend and I went with him to pick her up one evening and when we went to the door, she invited us in for a minute.
This, is word for word, as closely as I can remember, what the conversation consisted of from there:

"Grandma, come out here, I want you to meet my boyfriend!"
Grandma replied, "Is he Italian?"
She answers, "No, he isn't"
to which Grandma shouted, "I don't like him!"

After I got up off the floor from my laughing fit, we all went to the movies.
No, we never did meet grandma,,,,

Could this be the type of situation that the OP has been dealing with?

[quincy]

Ha!

Your story, outonbail, reminds me of when my sister's boyfriend asked my dad for my sister's hand in marriage. My dad asked, "Will you be able to support a family?" and her boyfriend said, "Yes" and my dad said, "Good. There are 7 of us."

(the boyfriend is now my brother-in-law, so he married into my family in spite of the gene pool )